After seeing a poor old man being kicked out of a store, a woman decided to pay for his groceries. She did this despite not having a lot of money herself, which ended up being a blessing in disguise when she received an unexpected reward.
Anna Collins was a 34-year-old single mother. She lost her husband to an accident while he was at work, leaving her to raise their 11-year-old twin sons alone. The loss devastated Anna; she and her husband had been together since they were teenagers. She had no idea how to live without him while navigating the role of being a mother to twin babies.
When the twins turned one, Anna experienced yet another challenge. One of her sons, Adam, couldn’t walk due to leg length discrepancies. After consulting several doctors, the best suggestion they could give was for Adam to undergo therapy for a chance to walk properly. By the time Adam was diagnosed, Anna could barely make ends meet. She worked two jobs – one as a waitress at a fast-food chain and another as a pizza delivery staff. Although she worked day and night, the amount she was taking home was not enough to cover Adam’s surgery and the physical therapy to come afterward. Moreover, she had her family’s daily expenses to worry about.
Every single day, Anna tried to find more ways to earn more aside from her jobs. She would make hand-poured soy candles at home, which she would sell to her co-workers. On some days when she couldn’t sell candles, she’d only eat once a day, hoping to save money.
One Friday afternoon, Anna decided to go to the grocery to buy her twins’ food for the week. It was a busy day at the store with customers cramming to get their supplies before the weekend. As she lined up to pay, she noticed an older man in front of her looking confused.
“What is it?” the cashier asked him. “Where’s your wallet? I already told you the total amount you need to pay,” she said, growing impatient. The old man looked around and patted his pockets for his wallet.
“I thought I had my wallet with me,” he said weakly. “I don’t know where it is.”
“Stop wasting everyone’s time,” the cashier yelled. “You brought an entire cart of groceries to the counter, and now you’re telling me you have no money? You’re holding back the line. If you have no money to pay for what you got, then get out.”
The old man looked at Anna apologetically, and he looked like he was about to cry. He turned to the cashier one more time in one last attempt.
“I really need to take these groceries home. My son won’t have anything to eat, and it’s his birthday.”
“I don’t care, sir. If you don’t have the money to pay for these groceries, it’s not like I’m going to let you walk out with them for free. Please step aside; you’re holding the line,” she said once more.
Anna felt awful for the old man who looked genuinely confused. It was as if he could not understand why he had gone to the grocery without a wallet and didn’t know what was happening around him. Although she knew she didn’t have much money to spare, Anna took a deep breath and decided to take a leap of faith.
“You know what,” she suddenly said, speaking to the cashier, “give him his groceries. I’ll cover the bill.”
The cashier was surprised, and so was the old man. Anna herself was surprised that she was willing to do such a thing, especially when she was already having a hard time saving up for Adam’s treatment. However, she knew it was the right thing to do, so she did it anyway.
“You are an angel,” the old man told Anna. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me,” he told her, extending a hand for her to hold.
“I know I don’t have anything with me, but do you mind giving me your name and phone number? I want to do something for you when I get the chance,” the old man told her.
At first, Anna found it strange that he asked for her number. She didn’t expect anything in return from the old man, especially since he looked like he could barely help himself. Despite this, she wrote her details on the old man’s grocery receipt.
“Do you know your way home?” she asked him. The man stood still, looking confused yet again. It was then that Anna realized the man was likely suffering from memory loss.
“If you could just give me an address, I can take you to your house,” she offered. Luckily, the old man had a dog tag on his neck, which had his address written on it, and Anna recognized the street. It was only a couple of blocks from the grocery store.
“Thank you, sweet angel. I really appreciate you helping me. I am so forgetful,” the old man admitted. Anna helped him carry his groceries, and they walked towards the parking lot where she parked her pizza delivery service car.
After she took him home, Anna went straight to work. She delivered pizzas the entire night and almost forgot about what happened just a couple of hours prior.
A few days later, Anna was reminded of the old man when somebody called her cellphone. The person on the other end of the line introduced himself as the old man’s son, James.
“I just wanted to thank you for helping my dad out the other day. You see, he has Alzheimer’s disease and had an episode that day. If it weren’t for you, something might have happened to him,” James said.
“It’s no problem,” Anna replied. “I’m glad I was able to help him. Is he doing alright?” she asked.
James revealed that his father was in the hospital receiving treatment. “I’m a doctor, so I’m doing everything I can to give him the best care possible,” he explained.
“I see,” Anna said. “I’ll be visiting the hospital soon too. I’m currently saving up for my son’s operation. He suffers from leg length discrepancy, and he needs surgery,” she revealed.
There was silence on the line. “Hello, Anna?” James said.
“Sorry, I’m still here,” James replied. “It’s just that I’m one of the only doctors who do leg length discrepancy surgeries in the state, and I’ve never heard of your son’s case. I would really like to help him.”
James asked Anna to take Adam to him the following day so he could study his case. After seeing Adam, he offered to do the surgery for free. Anna was shocked; it was a $35,000 surgery.
“You’re willing to do the surgery on my son for free?” she clarified, tears streaming down her face.
James nodded. “You paid it forward at the grocery store with my father. I want to do the same, this time for your son.”
If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about an old man who visited the grocery store with a list of things to buy for his wife, only for the cashier to find out that he didn’t have a wife at all. A grocery store cashier decides to check on an old man who frequently buys groceries for his wife. When he doesn’t show up one week, she discovers that he doesn’t have a wife to buy groceries for at all.
Emma enjoys her job as a grocery store clerk. She’s been working in the same store for years and knows all of her regular customers. Every week, an old man named Roger would come to the store to buy groceries. He would have an extensive list of things to buy, including the ingredients needed to make chicken pot pie. “You must really love your chicken pot pie, Roger,” Emma commented once after she helped him pick out the ingredients for the nth time.
“Oh yes, I do, Emma. You see, my wife Laura makes the most delicious chicken pot pie in town,” he replied.
Emma smiled, finding it sweet that Roger would indulge himself in his wife’s delicious home-cooked specialty every week. What Emma found strange, however, was that she’s never met Roger’s wife; she never came by to the store with him. What made Emma even more curious was that Roger lived just a street away from the grocery store, and yet she’s never seen Roger’s wife enter or leave the house in all the years that she’s worked there.
Nonetheless, she brushed the thought aside and bagged Roger’s groceries once they finished gathering them.
“See you next week,” she said as she handed the bags.
“See you next week, Emma,” Roger replied, like he always did every single week. However, the next week came, and Roger did not come by the shop like he always did on a Saturday afternoon. Emma thought this was weird; he never missed a grocery shopping session before.
She waited another day, and still, Roger did not arrive. She grew concerned, especially since Roger did say, “See you next week,” when they last saw each other. After Emma finished her shift, she decided to check on Roger, as his house was nearby. It was easy for her to walk there.
When she arrived, she rang the doorbell, but nobody came to the door.
“Roger,” she called out. Emma paused for a moment, but no one came to the door. She was about to turn and leave when she suddenly heard a large cough coming from inside the house.
Emma took her chance and twisted the doorknob; it was unlocked. She let herself in and called out for Roger again.
“Roger, are you here? It’s me, Emma, from the grocery store,” she said.
“Emma,” she heard Roger say from a room. The sound sent shivers down her spine, but she decided to walk toward the room. She saw Roger lying on the couch, looking weak and pale.
“Roger, are you alright? Where is your wife?” Emma asked slowly.
Roger turned his head towards the table in the same room, and Emma followed his gaze. There she saw an urn with a photo of Roger’s wife right beside it.
“I’m so sorry to hear that your wife had passed away, Roger. I grew worried when you didn’t show up this weekend, so I wanted to check on you,” she told him.
Emma helped Roger up so he could sit down. “Thank you,” he told her weakly. He was suffering from a fever and looked as if he hadn’t eaten a proper meal in days. Emma gave him some medicine and told him to wait in the living room while she cooked something for him to eat.
She walked towards the kitchen, where she was surprised to find cans of peas and carrots on the counter.
“I don’t understand,” she said to herself. “All the ingredients are unused. Has his wife been dead for a while now?” she thought.
She opened the freezer to get some chicken breasts and an unbaked pie crust. She decided to cook Roger a chicken pot pie, hoping it would make him feel better.
Once she was done cooking, she took the pie to him in the living room.
“I know it’s probably not as good as your wife’s chicken pot pie, but I hope it makes you feel better,” she told him.
Roger smiled at her. “Thank you, Emma,” he said, digging in. “I haven’t had chicken pot pie in over four years.”
That statement answered Emma’s lingering questions; Roger’s wife had been dead for a while now, and yet he continued to buy ingredients for her chicken pot pie. But why?
Emma’s mind swirled with thoughts once more, and she was happy to see Roger’s energy slowly getting better. She waited for him to finish his food before deciding to ask him a question.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, Roger, but why would you buy ingredients for chicken pot pie every week and stack it in the kitchen? Do you cook it yourself?”
Roger shook his head. “To be honest, Emma, I’ve been living in a fantasy where I think my wife, Laura, is coming back. So I prepare all the ingredients for chicken pot pie every week for when she returns.”
Emma was saddened by what Roger said, as she knew he was still mourning the loss of his wife. She didn’t know what to say, so she glanced at Roger’s wife’s photo again.
“She’s beautiful,” she said. Roger smiled, “She’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. I miss her every day, but you’re right, Emma. Maybe it’s time to snap out of my fantasy world and face the reality that she isn’t coming back.”
“Always be with you, Roger. She might not be with you physically, but she will always be in your heart,” Emma assured him.
Roger nodded, “Thank you for making me realize that, Emma. Thank you too for checking up on me. I’ve been feeling ill for days now, and if you hadn’t come in to check on me, I don’t know how much longer I would have lived,” he admitted.
Emma promised Roger that she would always come by to help him. She found out that Roger would cook himself simple meals every day, but he could never get himself to make the chicken pot pie that his wife Lara used to make. Knowing this, Emma made sure to cook him a variety of healthy meals every week, which he could reheat whenever he pleased. He started to become a lot healthier because of this, and he really got sick ever since Emma promised to take care of him.
Emma looked forward to spending time with Roger, seeing him as a father figure in her life. They became close friends, and Roger appreciated how Emma looked after him.
“You are the daughter I never had, Emma. Thank you for taking care of me,” Roger told Emma one day while they were eating dinner.
“Thank you for being my second dad, Roger. I enjoy spending time with you,” she replied.
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