Mrs. Blurrie was very old and lived alone. She liked living by herself.
And though her children begged her to move in with them, she continued to live alone.
One day her independence faced a problem, however, when she noticed that she could not see very well.
She had been making pancakes for breakfast and thought she had added oil to the batter.
However, when she put a bite of pancakes into her mouth, they tasted awful!
She realized she had added soap by mistake!
"I must get my eyes checked," she said to her favorite plant Harry.
So she called Dr. Snatch that afternoon and asked him to come over and examine her eyes.
"I will be there tomorrow morning at nine," the doctor said.
At nine o'clock the doctor arrived. He pulled out his scopes and charts and checked Mrs. Blurrie's vision.
He said "hmm" and "ohh" a lot.
When she looked at his face, Mrs. Blurrie couldn't tell if he was rubbing his head or if it was growing.
Even though Dr. Snatch was sitting close, he looked all blurry.
"I have some bad news, Mrs. Blurrie," he said.
"Your eyes are very old, and you are quickly going blind from a terrible disease."
"Is there nothing you can do to make my eyes better?" Mrs. Blurrie pleaded. "Please, I will do anything!"
"Well, I could do something, but it would be very expensive," Dr. Snatch said.
"Oh, please. I will pay whatever you ask if you will only help me see again," she said.
"Very well," he agreed, "but it will mean that I must come here every day for two weeks to give you a special treatment."
"Agreed. You may come anytime you wish."
Dr. Snatch shook hands with Mrs. Blurrie, and then he left.
For the next two weeks, Dr. Snatch came to Mrs. Blurrie's house every day.
He would begin by having her lie down on the couch for ten minutes with a cloth over her eyes to relax the muscles.
Then he would remove the cloth and place a special lotion on her eyelids.
Finally he would put some drops into her eyes and have her lie down in a dark room for thirty minutes.
When the thirty minutes was over, Mrs. Blurrie would come out of her room, and Dr. Snatch would be gone.
Though Mrs. Blurrie was very patient, she didn't seem to be getting better.
In fact, after every treatment, she couldn't see anything except big shapes and colors.
But every evening she would start to see a little better again, so Mrs. Blurrie told herself the medicine was starting to work.
What Mrs. Blurrie didn't realize was that Dr. Snatch was deceiving her.
He was covering her eyes and having her lie down to trick her.
In fact, the drops that he put in her eyes made her see even worse for a few hours!
Mrs. Blurrie didn't have a terrible eye disease.
Dr. Snatch was making her vision worse so that he could steal from her while she couldn't see!
On the last day Dr. Snatch came to visit, his medicines were different.
He did not ask Mrs. Blurrie to lie down.
He did not put lotion on her eyelids. And he did not put drops in her eyes.
"You are finally ready for the last step, Mrs. Blurrie," he announced proudly.
"I have saved you from an illness that would have made you blind, and that the disease is gone, we can correct your vision."
With that, Mrs. Blurrie heard the doctor remove something from a paper bag, and then she felt something heavy on her nose and ears.
When she looked straight ahead, she could see perfectly!
Mrs. Blurrie went over to the mirror to see someone she had not seen for a very long time: herself!
In the mirror she saw that she was wearing glasses.
"Why, it's just these glasses that are helping me see," she said, a little disappointed.
"Yes, first we had to cure the disease that was in your eyes so that the glasses could work.
And now you can see!" Dr. Snatch turned to his bag and pulled out a piece of paper.
"Here is my bill for saving your sight," he said, handing her the paper as if he had done something very great.
"My, that must have been very expensive medicine, but we did have an agreement.
Let me go get some money." Mrs. Blurrie turned to go to the kitchen, where she hid her money in the cookie jar.
When she looked at her kitchen, she noticed something strange.
Mrs. Blurrie screamed, "My kitchen is empty! Where are my dishes?
Where are my pictures? Where is my cookie jar?"
All that was left on the counter were the soapy pancakes she had made two weeks ago and Harry, her plant.
When she returned to her living room, she realized that valuables were missing there as well.
"I have been robbed!" Mrs. Blurrie cried.
"I cannot pay you, Dr. Snatch," Mrs. Blurrie said with suspicion.
"I have been robbed, and everything I had that was valuable is gone."
"I am sorry you cannot find what you are looking for, but you must pay me, Mrs. Blurrie.
We had an agreement," he reminded her.
"Yes, but I have nothing with which to pay you," she said.
"Well, then, I will be forced to have the judge put you in prison for failing to pay your bills!"
he said angrily, and he stomped out of the house.
The very next day, Mrs. Blurrie and Dr. Snatch stood before a judge and told their stories.
"Your Honor, this woman agreed to pay me if I helped her see again.
Now that she can see, she tells me she cannot pay," Dr. Snatch said.
"Is that true, Mrs. Blurrie?" the judge asked.
"Yes, Your Honor, it is true. I did agree to pay Dr. Snatch if he helped me see again.
But it is also true that we agreed I would not have to pay him if he did not restore my sight," Mrs. Blurrie replied.
"Well, can you see or not?" the judge asked.
"Sir, Dr. Snatch says I can see. However, I believe that I still cannot," she said.
"Why is that?" asked the judge.
"Your Honor, before I lost my sight I loved to look at all of the valuable things in my home: my silver, my china, my pictures, and my cookie jar.
To this day, I cannot see any of those valuable things.
Thus, I have not been healed, and I don't owe him anything," Mrs. Blurrie insisted.
"I see your point," the judge said as he rubbed his chin.
"Dr. Snatch, since Mrs. Blurrie is unable to see what she once loved to look upon, she has not been cured and owes you nothing.
Thank you and have a nice day."
And with that, the judge dismissed them from his court.
Mrs. Blurrie went home and celebrated with Harry.
Though she didn't have her valuables, she did have what was most valuable to her―the ability to see.