10 cents

When I was 15, my mom sent me into the grocery store with my younger sister to buy some items off of a short grocery list. They were typical things; milk, bread, eggs, etc. My mom gave me a $10 bill and said that it should be fine. I did the math, and I figured, sure, it would be fine too. When I got to the checkout however, I realized not everything on the list was gonna make it.

I hurried up, hopped back out of line and diligently put back items we couldn’t afford. My little sister was so mad. “Kara!? Why can’t we get cereal?! Why can’t we have chocolate?! Kara!!! Talk to me!”

I had to explain to her that mom didn’t give us enough money to buy everything on the list. What I didn’t realize, was the store had increased prices on nearly everything. We hadn’t been in this store in a long time, and since we were just trying to get what we needed, I decided to put stuff back.

I had noticed an older gentleman was following us through the store on the way back to the checkout aisle. I was tempted to drop everything and just leave, I was so embarrassed and frustrated.

My sister, bless her, convinced me to let her get a small candy from the check out last minute. “To make up for dragging her all over the store. We could afford that much right?” Ouch.

The total came up to 9.89 with tax and I was so relieved to get out of there. I left with only half the list, even though it had been short. But I at least had the “do not leave the store without these” items.

On the way back to the car we tried to pick up the pace, as the older gentleman was following us to our car. He called out “Excuse me! Young ladies! A moment please!” My little sister tugged on my arm and said “Kara let’s get to the car!”

But, I’m me, and I turned and asked him if I could help him with something? He said “As a matter of fact you can. Here.” And he handed me two bags very carefully filled with the things I’d put back.

I was so confused and in shock I didn’t know what to say. I dumbfoubdedly tried to hand him the $0.11 that I got as change to try to pay for it in some way. He chuckled and said “Ten cents is all it’s worth to me, your future kindness towards others is priceless.” He bent down to my sisters’s eye level and handed her the penny. “Luck and goodness be with you girls always.”

My mom at this point had come to try and talk to the man but he just smiled at us and winked and then walked through the parking lot, never getting into any of the cars that we could tell.

I’ve never forgotten the kindness that 10 cents can bring. I’ve also never seen my sister without a penny for luck after that.