An unusual Loan

“I was thinking about taking out a loan, please,” I mumbled and felt a little embarrassed. I wouldn’t be in this situation if I would have planned better.

“How much were you thinking about?” she asked while she typed all the information in the machine.

“One extra day each week for about three months,” would that be possible?

“So you want to take a loan of 12 whole days?” she asked and looked at me without a smile.

“Yes, Ma’am that would be great. I have fallen behind in my work and these 12 days would help me to catch up.” I still didn’t know how it had happened. I had been so careful, but somehow lately it seems that time can fly.

I knew what she would ask me next. I had read about it, and I was prepared.

“Do you have any collateral?” she asked, and the way she looked at me made me feel very uncomfortable.

“You mean extra time? No, not really, but I am fairly healthy, and I am only 52 years old. I thought you could take 12 days away at the end of my  life?” I am not planning on leaving this earth before the age of 94, and by then I will probably not care if they shorten my stay by 12 days I thought to myself.

“I will have to charge you interest as well,” she informed me, and that’s when I started sweating. I was wondering about the interest rate. Surely it couldn’t be that much, after all, I was only asking for a short loan of 12 days.

“How much?” I managed to ask.

She sat there, didn’t say much, just looked at me long and hard. “You are asking for an unusual amount of time. Generally, people ask for weeks and months, sometimes even for years, only once did we have a request for a few hours,” she explained. “Double,” she said, “We will charge you double.”

“24 DAYS…that’s almost a whole month,” I cried in disbelieve. That was much more than I had planned to spend. 24 days that could hurt…even at 94.

“So, do you want the loan?” she asked with a smile. Oh, she knew I needed the extra time, I could tell.

I thought about it long and hard.

“No Ma’am you can shuffle it. I will work harder from now one, and I will make sure that I will never need the service of your time bank. Have a beautiful day,” I said cheerfully on my way out.

I left here confused, and it felt good.

Confused