One day, there was a man called Mr Don't Know. He went shopping with his girlfriend. His girlfriend is called Ada. Mr Don't Know loved Ada very much. He wanted to give Ada a beautiful gift. He wanted to make Ada happy.
Then, I opened the door. Oh! He was Mr Don't Know! Hi! I said. What are you doing here? He said rudely. Which floor do you live on? The 26th floor. Here is the 27th floor. Sorry, I don't want to bother you but you know…I'm so stupid. Please forgive me. Never mind! Did you have your dinner? I don't know! He answered. Why do you act so strange? Are you sometimes forgetful? No, I don't know because I don't want to know, but I'm not forgetful. I just want to live happily.
In the first few days of this agreement, Thomas almost had no money for lunch after putting in five to six coins a day. But as days passed by, he started to decrease the number of times he says the three words, I felt happy to see the improvement.
A month went by, Thomas didn't say "I don't know" for totally three days, he succeeded in breaking the habit! That day, Thomas broke the piggy-bank and found $580 inside. All of his friends gathered around and asked, Thomas, 'what are you going to do with the money?'
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I had a lot of good neighbours. They were kind, friendly, and also talkative. I enjoyed talking with them very much.
One day, we talked about a strange person called Mr Don't Know because he would only answer I don't know when we talked to him. Actually, I always met this strange man in the lift, but I never talked to him. I did find him difficult to talk to because he never looked at me, and he looked so sad. One day, when I was reading a book at home, I noticed that someone was opening my door with keys.
I get something to eat when I feel hungry, and I go to bed when I feel tired. I don't want to know that I'm a lonely man. Suddenly, his mobile phone rang, it was a long distance call from his son in the USA. My son is going to come back to Hong Kong tomorrow! He said happily. I won't be alone! It was my first time that I saw him smile.
"Thomas, where're we going to have lunch at?"
"I don't know."
"Thomas, when are you getting a haircut?"
"I don't know."
This is his problem, all he can say for an answer of any question is 'I don't know.' It seems that he never has any ideas or maybe he doesn't have a brain. He has no thinking at all! All his friends started to feel annoyed every time Thomas says that he doesn't know, they even made a joke of calling him "Mr Don't Know."
I'm only friend in school, nobody wants to talk to him because they already know what the next three words that comes out from his mouth. I became a friend of his because he helped me a lot in the last year's exam, but sometimes I also get annoyed of him saying 'I don't know,' I never liked questioning him neither. Thomas became unpopular among classmates and even teachers, he felt very lonely. As I am his only friend, I would like to help and turn him into a popular character in class.
To understand his problem, I made researches in some psychology textbooks, I found that the reason Thomas says "I don't know" is not because he really doesn't know, its just a bad habit. This can be easy if it's only a habit. I suddenly came up with an idea, so I decided to let him know. My idea was to make him insert a five-dollar coin in a piggy-bank every time he says "I don't know" as a punishment. Thomas agreed to this idea and bought a durable piggy bank.
"Um…I don't know."
Everyone stared at Thomas.
"Just joking folks! Let's take the money for BIG dinner!"
They were walking around the shopping center. When they were at a shop that sold clothes, Ada took a fancy to a set of clothes. Mr Don't Know bought the clothes that Adas liked. Ada asked Mr Don't Know why he bought that clothes suddenly. Mr Don't Know answered her because Ada loved it. Ada said that she just loved it and Mr Don't Know has no need to buy it. Mr Don't Know said that he doesn't know anything, he just wanted to buy it for Ada. Ada was happy. Ada said that she was very happy that Mr Don't Know remembered her birthday. Mr Don't Know said he doesn't know Ada's birthday. Ada was surprised. 'Why don't you know?!' Ada asked. 'I don't know.' Mr Don't Know answered. 'Hey! Don't answer me "I don't know".' Ada got more and more angry. 'Er…I…don't …know…' Mr Don't Know said. Ada was very angry. She ran away.
Mr Don't Know asked himself 'why Ada wasn't happy?' 'Why did Ada run away?' Mr Don't Know only has an answer. That was 'I don't know.'