When Daniel saw his older neighbor arguing with her son about her plants, he decided to help her. He offered to water her garden while she moved. Later, he discovered a note hidden in the soil that changed everything in an unexpected way.
“I can’t believe you would ask that of me! I can’t come here every day to water your plants! If you gave me the house, I would do it!” Daniel heard someone shouting as he stopped his bike in front of a pretty little house with a lovely garden. He knew Mrs. Carrino lived there, but he had never spoken to her and didn’t know who was yelling.
Suddenly, he saw a man leave the house, still shouting, with the older woman following behind. “Arnold, I asked you to help me, but all you care about is getting this house! Are you crazy? Do you want me to die so you can have my house?” she exclaimed.
Daniel’s eyebrows raised in surprise, and he thought about leaving, but he couldn’t move.
Then, he heard a loud crash of metal. “What the—” he said to himself.
“You’re being dramatic, Mom! This house will be mine anyway. I can’t believe you’re acting like this when I’m trying to help you move!” Arnold shouted.
“Leave right now if you’re going to act like that!” Mrs. Carrino replied. Arnold angrily stomped to his car and drove off. They were so caught up in their argument that they didn’t even notice Daniel standing there with his bike.
Finally, Mrs. Carrino looked over and noticed him. “Oh, dear. What are you doing here? Do I know you?” she asked.
“I live two houses down the street. I’m Daniel, Caroline’s son,” he said, pointing back to his house. “I’m sorry, but I was biking around and heard the yelling. Are you alright, Mrs. Carrino?”
“Oh, I remember you now! It’s nice that you know my name. Don’t worry about it. It was just my son being difficult,” she explained.
“Why is he acting like that?”
“Well… I’m moving to a nursing home, and I asked him to help me. But he only came here to ask if I could give him the house. He wants to move in, but I know he’ll just sell it. He doesn’t value it like I do. I worked hard for this place, and as long as I’m alive, I won’t sell it,” Mrs. Carrino said. “Then he threw a fit when I asked him to water my plants. I guess you saw the rest of the fight.”
“I can do that,” Daniel said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Do what?”
“Water your plants.”
“I can’t pay you, dear,” Mrs. Carrino replied, looking sorry.
“I know. But I live so close. It’s not a problem,” Daniel insisted, making her smile brightly.
A few days later, Mrs. Carrino moved to a nursing home nearby, and Daniel kept his promise. He visited her home almost every day to water her plants and was happy to help. Before long, he started to love gardening and would visit Mrs. Carrino to ask about adding some new plants.
Dropping the shovel, Daniel used his hands to dig up a mason jar with a metal lid and found a note inside.
“Dear Daniel! Thank you for your help. This house is now yours! Go inside and find all the paperwork. You and your family can move in whenever you want!”
Daniel couldn’t believe his eyes. He rushed inside, using the key Mrs. Carrino had left him. On the kitchen counter, he saw the title to the house. Although he didn’t understand most of it, he saw his name at the bottom.
Still in shock, he called Mrs. Carrino, who confirmed everything. “You’ll need to sign it to complete the transfer. But I wanted you to find the note first!” she said.
His mother couldn’t believe it either. They could move into the house and stop paying rent. There was no mortgage, which would help their family a lot. They were so grateful for Mrs. Carrino’s gift that his mother and siblings started visiting her often, thinking of her as a grandmother.
But during their move, Daniel discovered something even more surprising. In Mrs. Carrino’s old room, he found another note. It was similar to the first one but said “Arnold.”
It turned out that Mrs. Carrino had originally planned to give her son the house if he helped her with her plants. However, after his rude behavior, she changed her mind and decided to give the house to Daniel instead.
This unexpected gift came just for being kind and helpful. It was a lesson Daniel would never forget.
When the captain’s voice is heard speaking to the poor, heavy woman on the plane, the rich man mocks her. -A
An affluent man becomes displeased with being seated next to a corpulent woman in first class and begins to voice his complaints to the flight attendant.
The instant James Courtney spotted the woman seated beside him on the flight, he knew it was going to be a rough one. She was enormous! With her seated next him, how in the world was he going to travel in comfort?
The woman took a seat, jabbing at James with her elbow as she fastened her seat belt. “Observe it!” She turned to face James as he aggressively yelled at her.
She sobbed, “Oh, I’m so sorry. Please pardon me.”
“Pardon me?” sarcastically questioned James. Or pardon the three thousand doughnuts you consumed to reach that weight?
The woman gave him a startled gasp, and James noticed that she was rather young with a weak but sweet face. He was inspired to scoff, “Lady, you need to book TWO seats when you travel!”
The woman’s eyes welled up with tears, but James was in the mood, especially after noticing how cheap and dated her clothes were and how worn out her shoes were.
“I assume your entire budget goes on nachos and hot dogs, right?” he asked. So you’re not able to afford two seats? The next time you pass the hat, I’m sure everyone on the plane will be quite giving!
The woman turned to face the window, and James saw the tears streaming down her cheeks in the reflection. He said, “Listen.” “I’m sure my friend who owns a clinic down in Mexico would give you a liposuction for a lot less money!”
By the time James felt his discomfort from being pressed up against her soft weight had subsided, the young woman’s shoulders were quivering with sobs. He thus requested a Martini when the bartender arrived with the drinks cart.
In his best James Bond voice, he said, “Shaken, not stirred,” and then, “I don’t know what Moby Dick here will drink.”
The attractive attendant gave him a snide look while pressing her lips together tightly. Next, she spoke to the woman seated beside her. “Madam, what would you like to drink?”
With a nod, the woman dabbed at her eyes. “Please, give me a diet Coke.”
James sneered. “Don’t you think a diet Coke would be a little late in the game?” Though James felt a slight glow upon realizing he’d upset both the flight attendant and the woman, they both chose to ignore him.
While the woman next to him sipped her diet Coke, he reclined and bit on an olive and sipped his Martini. With a shudder, he realized she would eventually need to use the restroom and would be squeezing by him.
Shortly after he had finished his last drink, the flight attendant arrived carrying food. She placed a lovely tray in front of him and another one in front of the passenger next him.
“Are you certain that will suffice?” The flight attendant was asked by James, “Why do you think it would take a village to feed this lady?”
Disregarding him, the flight attendant continued serving the other first-class customers. “She really was impolite, wasn’t that?” James questioned the person seated beside him, saying, “I think I’ll complain about her.”
However, the other traveler disregarded him as well, and James proceeded to enjoy the genuinely superb meal. When the flight attendant returned, he was finishing the last of his wine, and she was beaming.
“Pardon me,” she began. “The captain would love to have you come up to the cockpit. He’s a big fan.”
After being startled, James noticed that the large woman sitting next to him was being spoken to by the flight attendant. She was flushing, nodding, and smiling. This implied that James needed to stand up and give her space.
After guiding the woman off of the aircraft, James resumed his seat. He expected to be forwarding a good deal of venomous emails concerning the first class service and conditions on the company’s flights to the management.
When the captain’s voice came over the speakers, he was mentally crafting some great diatribes. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said. One of us is a celebrity! You will recognize the voice if, like me, you are an avid listener of “I Love Opera.”
When a beautiful voice began singing a few bars of a well-known aria in the cabin, the other passengers began to applaud and make joyful comments to one another. “That’s correct,” declared the captain. “We’re flying with the lovely Miss Allison Jones to perform a charity concert for world hunger.”
James winced as the entire aircraft broke into spontaneous applause. The flight attendant then approached. “Listen up, buster,” she replied in a harsh, icy tone. “I’m putting you in economy if you upset that girl again, no matter how many millions you have.”
James noticed the sparkle in the flight attendant’s eye as he opened his mouth to object. “I apologize,” he muttered.
“You don’t have to apologize to me!” said she.
After some time, Allison Jones, the large woman, reappeared, grinning and signing autographs for the other travelers. James shot to his feet to give her room to sit.
He smiled his most endearing smile and said, “Listen.” “I apologize if I offended you a little; I didn’t know who you were.”
James saw that Allison had the most stunning eyes when she turned to face him. It makes no difference who I am. Never, ever treat someone that way! Furthermore, you’re not sorry. If I wasn’t sort of famous, would you even be saying sorry? I mean, I can’t control my weight, but you can alter your mindset. Give up passing judgment on others.
James stopped talking, lowered himself back into his chair, and remained silent until their arrival in Portland.
Leave a Reply