This is the story of a businessman who was spending some days in a very small town in Patagonia, far away from big cities. He was there on medical advice to relax from business stress but he had begun to become bored with not having much to do.

On a day while the man was taking a walk through the town, he met a little boy who was selling some curious little stones collected in that region. The man stopped wandering to see the stones and took one of them which impressed him by its brightness.

While he was inspecting this stone, the boy told him that it was compounded of mica, a mineral which reflects light; and taking the stone from the man's hand, showed how it could reflect the sunlight, using the deflected beams to draw some figures over the shadow of an old building.

"I call it the little mirror. Do you want to buy it?" said the kid offering the stone again to the man.

The man hesitated for a moment. He was interested in the stone but as he was going to be there for several more days, said to the kid that would buy it later, at the end of his holidays there, and gave the stone back to him.

What the man was really doing, like a professional deformation acquired in his daily business, was speculate on the constant haggling and renegotiation that he would make every time the boy would try to sell him the stone, until he reached a much smaller final price.

It was only a game for the man, a small challenge to pass the time and practise some techniques learnt during his professional life.

But the boy never offered him the stone again.

Surprised by this behaviour, the man attempted to talk to the kid everyday, trying to lead the conversation on to the subject. But the boy didn’t speak anymore about the stone; what is more, he talked about other different things. He asked the man about big cities, how was the life there, asked him about his family and friends and, on the other hand, the boy told him some stories about his little town.

As the days passed they got involved in an unexpected friendship and the man was rediscovering himself, experimenting feelings that he didn’t remember and forgetting all about business. He realized and understood that he was a good man and not a business machine.

But when the man's holidays finished he felt very sad at having to leave the little town and particularly the boy. The man was fascinated by him and they really got on well, but he had to come back home. For this reason he went to chat with the boy for the last time and say goodbye.

It was an emotional farewell. Then the man started to walk slowly to the train station and when he had nearly arrived at the platform, heard the kid's shouts: "Wait sir, wait, the stone, the one that you liked, the little mirror. Do you remember?" said the child offering him the stone of their first meeting.

The man seemed shocked for an instant and when he understood he felt betrayed. The boy had been planning that parody of friendship only to sell him a stone. He felt like a fool. He, who was the clever man from the big city, the negotiator, the intellectual, the one that was going to obtain the best price; had been surpassed by a kid.

The man took his wallet out of his pocket with an expression of bitterness in his face, not for the money that he didn’t lack, but to realize he had been cheated by a little boy with an impeccable technique of manipulation where not even he could request him a better price since now they said themselves that they were close friends.

Without looking at the child, the man handed him the money. Everything is not lost, the man considered, trying to recover from this situation and thinking that at least he had learnt a lesson which could apply in his business.

And it was exactly at that moment when the man got the real lesson from the boy when smiling he said: "No sir, I can't sell you the little mirror, now we are friends. Accept it as a gift to remember our friendship".

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I am that man and when I remember that boy and miss him until the tears flow, I grasp firmly the little mirror. Since then, I wear it hanging from my neck to remind me what is the important business in life.

Darío Granato