his momma and daddy were very poor and they never went to school billy followed in their footsteps like a lot of children do he had to get a job to help pay the bills so his younger brother ben might go to school and learn to read and write and maybe he could teach all of them but billy can t read no billy can t read but he gives two hundred percent for the minimum wage that he receives sometimes he pretends like he can as he looks and he laughs at the pictures in the funny books but it really ain t funny you see that billy can t read then the boss man came around talked to billy one day he said now billy you re the hardest worker i ve got and you sure deserve more pay but the boss at the top says i have to give each foreman a written test billy hung his head cause he knew right then he d always have to settle for less cause billy can t read no billy can t read but he gives two hundred percent for the minimum wage that he receives sometimes he pretends like he can as he looks and he laughs at the pictures in the funny books but it really ain t funny you see that billy can t read little ben never took for granted all his brother billy s sacrifice every night while the family slept they would sit up late by that old lamp light sounding out the a s and the e s and the i s and the o s and u s now he is reading everything from the cereal box to the bible three times through cause billy can read yeah billy can read and now the rest of his life will be different because of the special gift he received now he don t have to act like he s laughing as he looks at the silly pictures in those funny books they re as funny as they can be now that billy can read  yeah his life is much better you see now that billy can read