A week ago, on Monday morning, Elaine was on the school bus, on her way to school. The ride was extremely boring and Elaine woke up early today because she wanted to study for an exam in the morning. The bus driver pulled over at the bus stop. Once the bus doors opened, all of the pupils scurried out in a hurry so they wouldn't be late. Elaine ran over to the crosswalk. An old lady carrying a bag of groceries and a walking stick was standing next to her. Elaine walked over to the old lady and offered to help her.
"Ma'am, would you like some help?" Elaine asked, giving the old lady her most charming smile. The old lady smiled back at her happily.
"Oh, well thank you, dear!" the old lady said, handing Elaine her groceries. Elaine grabbed the plastic bags and looked at the traffic light, which had just turned green. They crossed the road. Elaine gave the groceries back to the old lady.
"Once again, thank you for your help, dear." After hearing old lady's words, Elaine nodded and smiled.
"Oh, no worries, you're welcome!" Elaine said before she started walking towards the main entrance of her school. She saw her two friends, Emma and Sadie, in the halls and ran towards them.
"Guys! Hi!" Elaine's friends heard her joyful squeal, which was contrary to her friends' worried faces.
"Elaine! Oh, thank God you're here!" Emma said turning to Elaine.
Sadie asked Elaine whether she studied for the mathematics exam, immediately cutting to the chase. Elaine nodded. She always studied for the exam. An idea popped into Elaine's head.
"I can just give you guys the quick notes that I wrote yesterday! They basically have all the things you need to know for the exam. Read it thrice, that is enough to remember a couple of sentences!"
"Thank you so much, Elaine!"
"You're a life saver!"
The three of them walked to maths class. After three school hours, the fifth to eighth graders had school lunch. They all grabbed their lunches from their back packs. Elaine stood next to her friends. Her best friend Stella walked over to her with a disappointed facial expression.
"Hey, Elaine. I forgot my school lunch, again! Can you believe that?" Stella genuinely asked. Elaine giggled at her outburst.
"Well, you are quite clumsy and forgetful, most of the time, at least," Elaine said truthfully. Elaine grabbed her sandwich, took a plastic knife and cut off half the sandwich, holding out her hand to Stella, wanting to give her the half. Stella smiled and took the half.
"Thanks so much, Elaine! I thought I was going to starve again!" Stella stated overexaggerating a tiny bit. Elaine laughed as she continued to munch on her apple. As Elaine was walking towards the school library, she bumped into her friend Ashley who was carrying a bunch of books, notebooks and what not. Ashley's things were all over the floor so Elaine crouched down to pick up Ashley's things.
"Oh! Hey, Ashley! Sorry for bumping into you. I didn't quite see you there. I wasn't looking, " Elaine apologized and smiled at Ashley.
"Uh, it's ok! I wasn't looking either, " Ashley replied. She was surprised that Elaine was helping her pick up her stuff. When everything was finally picked up, she thanked again and smiled back at Elaine as she was giving her things back.
After school, Elaine sat down on a bench in a park at her district. She took her smartphone out of her backpack and saw a text from her mum. Elaine was told to go to the supermarket to buy some food and a list of things to buy was quite long but she didn't mind. She walked over to the supermarket, got a basket, took all of the things from the list and walked towards the checkout. There was a young mother with a toddler in front of her, she was rummaging through her wallet. It seemed like she forgot some money at home. The young mother sighed and was about to remove something that she was originally going to buy. Elaine tapped her on the shoulder,
"Excuse me? I have some money I don't really need right now. Do you mind me paying?" Elaine asked politely. The young mother's eyes widened and she gratefully nodded.
"Yes, thank you so much! I was prepared to drive back home! Once again, thank you so much!" the young mother said as Elaine gave her some of her money. The young mother paid for it and walked out with a smile on her face. Her child was laughing, too. Elaine was walking home after shopping and thinking about all the people she has helped today, in any way. She enjoyed helping people, she really did, it made her happy and the other person happy as well. Once she walked into her house, her mum called her into the living room.
"Elaine, I have just got a phone call from an old lady. Apparently, one of our neighbours gave her the phone number...anyway, she is a retired travel agent who occasionally helps in the agency and when she came to her former office, all she could think about was you, helping her with the groceries. Not everyone would do a good deed without expecting something in return, so as a thank you, the old lady wants us to go on a trip somewhere, anywhere we want, if we agree,..." Elaine's mum excitedly retold the conversation. The smile on her mum's face was contagious so Elaine started laughing.
"Yes! Of course! Yes...of course!" Elaine was repeating while hugging her mum tight. As they were hugging, Elaine realised that a small act of kindness can bring you something huge in return as long as you do it genuinely.