A little boy went to visit Grandma's house. While he was there Grandma pulled out her game of Monopoly, spread it out on the dining room table, and the two of them sat down and began playing Monopoly. Now Grandma was a killer Monopoly player. She rolled the dice, started whipping around the board, buying up all the properties and accumulating huge sums of money. Within a short period of time her grandson was slammed. He was bankrupt and the game was over. Eric asked Grandma if she wanted to play again? She said, "Son, you need to learn how to play the game. When you have learned how to play the game, you come back and we will sit down and play."

That really motivated this little fellow. He decided that he was going to learn to play the game.

He went home and persuaded Mom to buy him a game of Monopoly. He asked Dad to read and explain the rules. He began playing the game all on his lonesome, but it gave him the opportunity to hone his skills. Then he played the game with his older sisters till he could beat them. He played the game with Mom and Dad till he could beat them, and he played the game with the neighbors till he could beat everyone in the neighborhood. It did not take too long before he knew the game of Monopoly backwards and forwards he was an ace!

He picked up the telephone, "Grandma, are you ready?"

Over to Grandma's house he goes. Out comes the Monopoly board, the dice begin to roll and they both tear around the board buying up everything in sight, accumulating property and money. Then suddenly with a role of the dice the little guy gets a big break. He lands on Broadway and buys the property. Then he buys the other properties that accumulate wealth like none other. In less than two hours Grandma bites the dust. Wow! This little guy feels so good! Grandma says, "Son, you have learned to play the game. And you have learned well. Now you have to learn the toughest part of the game."

All wide-eyed the little fellow looks at his Grandmother and says, "What's that Grandma?"

She replies, "The toughest lesson to learn about the game is this: ''When the game is over, it all goes back into the box."''