The Ledger

The Ledger (dah, dah, dah!)

Ben Alley, Christmas 2008

Circa, 1980

Just like the Big Bang, I remember the day that the ledger was born into existence (ripples were felt throughout the universe). Dad took a white, vinyl covered three-ring binder; he neatly lettered “Ledger” on a piece of lined paper, which was slipped under the clear cover. On lined paper punched for a three-ring binder, he created four columns of varying widths by drawing vertical lines from top to bottom. The columns were labeled:

• Date
• Description
• Amount
• Total

Pages of the ledger were separated into three distinct categories:

• Income
• Missionary
• Tithing

Marc, Brandon, and I each had a page for the three sections (totaling 9 pages in all). As weeks and months passed, the pages of the ledger were filled with various descriptive entries for work completed, jobs skillfully done, blood, sweat, and tears sacrificed.

I believe Dad’s intention of the ledger was to wisely teach his sons responsibility in fiscal matters. He explained to us that he would act as the “bank” and the ledger would be the “passbook.” We could “withdraw” and “deposit” funds by making a direct request to Dad. Furthermore, we would learn the principal of tithing by contributing a tenth of our earnings to the church. Finally, we contributed an additional tenth to a missionary fund which would allow us to start saving for our missions at an early age.

There were clear advantages to this arrangement for all parties involved. In addition to learning valuable information about money in general, we could easily track how we earned, saved, and spent our earnings. It also served as a vehicle of credit for our parental units; they didn’t need to have cash on hand to pay us for our toils. Just make an entry and you were as good as paid.

We felt good, responsible, and mature. We quickly adopted the system and trusted it implicitly.

Unfortunately, when the ledger was created, we weren’t apprised of some of the non-financial institution disadvantages we would be subject to. Namely, the practice of anti-income. I don’t think any of us realized that money earned could be just as easily taken away. And, by the way, the ledger was not FDIC insured; these funds had no guarantee.

I was looking through the ledger one day after school to record some income earned from the previous Saturday. The last entry stood out as if displayed in Broadway lights. “Socks on floor” was the description and $1.00 had been deducted from the total column. I was appalled, I quickly turned to Marc and Brandon’s pages and they too had amounts deducted for clothing items not put away. Mom was fed up with the condition of our rooms and decided to punish us where it hurt most – our pocketbooks.

Even after much protest, we were informed that deductions would continue for chore infractions. Horrified, we watched as our hard-earned money dwindled away due to perceived sub-par performance of our chores.

The last straw came one day as I returned home from basketball practice. Marc was ranting and raving about some issue in the ledger. “It’s not fair!” he yelled. “How can you deduct the value of something that I just borrowed?” Mom’s ice-cold calm reply was, “You should’ve asked permission.” I realized that another punishment deduction was handed down and went to the bookcase where the ledger was kept to assess the damage. There, in the description column was the entry, “Took Megan’s stereo without permission.” In the amount column an entry for $30 had been deducted.

I felt hollow inside. I went back to the kitchen and witnessed Marc making the futile argument that if the purchase amount had been deducted then he should be able to keep the stereo. No such luck.

I resolved at that point that I would no longer be subject to the arbitrary and unforeseen consequences of the ledger. That week, I withdrew as much money as I could from the ledger without drawing too much attention. I looked up the closest bank (located on 1300 South just east of the Top Stop) and opened my own savings account. Here, I could only access my savings on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., but it was safe from forced withdrawals.

I knew that income earned from Mom and Dad would be subject to sacrifice, but outside earnings (from mowing lawns, gardening at Sister Sutton’s, and re-inking printer ribbons) could be protected.

Eventually, we began to negotiate cash payment in return for jobs completed and stopped using the ledger altogether. I believe both Kristen and Megan used the ledger at some point, but it was after we were free of it. Both Brandon and Marc were able to utilize their carefully earned missionary funds as documented in the ledger.

Where is it now? I like to think that my missionary fund went to help fund the missions of my siblings, but ultimately, it was sacrificed on the ledger altar as well. I sometimes imagine it tucked away on a shelf, dusty; full of yellowing pages chronicling the earnings and financial endeavors of the Alley brothers.