We begin with a story, some of which actually happened, and some of which did not. It will be left to the listener to try to imagine which parts are which.

A young schoolboy was accustomed to having his father come to fetch him at the end of each class day and bring him home. Since he was only a first-grader and the school was located in a large metropolitan area, there was no way his parents would allow him to walk home by himself. Because his home was not within the zone where the school buses ran, he understood he should wait for his father to come.

And so he did — faithfully, day after day. But on one occasion, because his father was busy doing errands connected to his profession, he simply forgot the time and did not come to pick up the youngster. And so the boy sat on the front ste…