The Bug found himself in free-fall, with Allison's screams trailing off behind him.

The other workers at the office had rushed to the window, and looked down in horror.

Fortunately for him, even at this desperate time, some deep instinct took over, and he refused to yell. The Bug showed very little. It was a little eerie, in fact, seeing someone fall from a window but hearing not a syllable, not a note, not a sound -- not even a Whisper! -- escape his lips.

As he plummeted down toward an iron fence which ringed the green grass of the golf course behind the building, most of those watching (though not all) hoped he'd land on the soft green grass, and not on the iron fence, upon which he would be impaled like a shishkebab.

It may be thought that if a man plummets toward his death, his life flashes before him. The Bug, however, as he rocketed toward the green grass and the iron rods, toward the green on hole #16 (par 4) of the Whisper Lake Golf Course, thoughts of a different kind flooded him. Thoughts of a lawn care company (the green), of an iron works company (the fence) and of par (the golf course).

He thought over the balance sheets for Iron Machinery, Inc. [Nasdaq: RUST ] and Tumbleweed Garden Supply, Inc. [Nasdaq: TUMB], and was seized with this question: "Well, then, if par value is neither market price, nor the amount for which shares were originally issued, where can I find these amounts?"

With respect to the market value and original issue price of shares of stock, the reader of a balance sheet:

1) Can find market value, but cannot find amount paid originally.

2) Cannot find market value, can find amount paid originally.

3) Cannot find market value, cannot find amount paid originally.

4) Can find market value, can find amount paid originally.

The answer is 2) Cannot find market value, can find amount paid originally.

As we continue with our examination of the balane sheet, we find that the market value of shares is independent of balance sheet values. A company could go along its merry way for years without even knowing what its stock was bringing in the market.

You can find the amount originally invested in the company, though. It is the sum of the par value, and capital in excess of par. (Some exceptions exist, but are not serious.)

Fortunately for The Bug, the wind whispered through the trees, and a sudden gust blew him not just away from the threatening spikes of the iron fence, but into a tree branch, which he snapped off on the way down to his meeting with the ground.

And the breeze was all he felt, as he lost consciousness.

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