Richard, a fresher, at USC [University of Southern California] ‘phoned his Mother one evening from his college room and asked her for some money because he was flat broke.

His Mother sighed, ‘OK, Richard. I will send you some money. Then she added, ‘Oh by the way, you also left your economics book here when you visited two weeks ago. Do you want me to send that up too?’

‘Ummm, oh yeah, you better, yes, OK,’ Richard replied vaguely.

So his Mum wrapped the book along with the cheques in a package, kissed Dad goodbye, and went to the post office to mail the money and the book. When she returned, Dad inquired, ‘Well how much did you give the boy this time?’

‘Oh, I wrote two cheques, one for $20, and the other for $1,000 out to him.’

‘That’s $1020!’ yelled Dad, ‘Are you mad, have you gone totally bonkers?’

‘Don’t worry darling,’ Richard’s Mother answered with a wide grin, ‘I taped the $20 cheque to the cover of his book, but I put the $1,000 one somewhere between the pages in chapter 19!’