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”Well shoot” I said to myself as the jelly from my breakfast sandwich spilled onto my satin white blouse as I took a bite from it. First I looked around in the bulk one are of the office to see if anyone noticed. Of course I locked eyes with Malcom from accounting who was staring at me with a slight smirk on his face. I felt my lips curl to a nervous smile and my cheeks burn from the fflush that rushed to them. He was so handsome to me and how silly I felt to know he had seen my mishap.

Masking my embarrassment I got up to head to the bathroom to see if I could was the stain before it soaked into the fabric. It was only 8:30 a.m., ,y work day was just getting started and I could not walk around with this ungodly stain for the rest of the day, especially since I had a big presentation at 3 that afternoon. After 20 minutes of trying to clean it in vain I decided I’ll go to the consignment shop up the street to see if I could find a shirt. Yes I said the consignment shop because well rent was due yesterday and my account was struggling at the moment so I had about 20 bucks to my name until payday on Monday.

Back at my desk the time seeemed to drag. I was busy going through Mr, Robinsons small black notebook trying to find the address he wanted me to locate for him before I headed out to lunch. See Mr. Robinsons a much older man who’s hard of seeing yet chooses to write down all of his appointments and contacts. And of course he can’t read his own writing so often times most of my day is left to be sorting through his messes.

Finally I find the address. I type it up in large font for him, print it out and hand it to him along with his precious small black notebook and bolt out of the office to head to the consignment shoot to but my new blouse.

Walking down Maryland Avenue I took my time to enjoy the beautiful day. It was about 75 degrees out, the sun was up high shining, not a cloud in site. The sidewalk was pleasantly crowded with people all moving at the same pace, it seems like everyone was taking the time to enjoy nature’s vitamin D. While I was at the light waiting for the road to clear of cars so I could cross, I noticed a homeless woman sitting on the corner asking for money. Now mind you, I just paid rent and all I had was this $20 for this shirt. Well I was determined to ignore her as I prayed the light would hurry and turn so I can cross and the guilt would stop tugging at me. I looked over my shoulder and that’s when I noticed the woman was not talking to herself she was talking to a child. Oh if my heart was not in a million pieces already it broke that very moment. I instantly turned around and gave her my last crumpled $20, if I had more I would’ve given her and her bag all of it. She was so grateful for the money. No one had given her or her daughter a single cent all day. I looked at the time and realized I had 15 minutes to get back to the office. I told her if she was there later on I’d bring her dinner from my apartment. With tears in her eyes she told me I was an angel and would be blessed that day. It made me cry. I walked back to the office with a heavy heart because I wanted to do more for that woman and that little girl but I didn’t even have enough for me.

I got to the office in time to heat myself up some noodle I brought from home, eat at my desk AGAIN, and prepare for my presentation that afternoon. Mr. Robinson was going to pick the best out of the 3 presenters to get the campaign. That of course came with a nice raise so I was eager to win the account. I was prepared and confident walking into the board room when I remember, my grape jelly stain in my shirt. I felt my confidence dwindling u til I heard a voice in my head, strangely enough it was of the woman who I had given my $20 to telling me “you got this”. And like that I went in and gave my presentation. By the time I was done everyone in the room was smiling and applauding, fingers crossed I’d hoped Id won. The other two presenters were impressive as well so I was t in the clear yet.

“While we were extremely impressed with all of the presenters we can of course only chose one” said Mr. Robinson. I really wish he would hurry up and announce the winner “Pam congratulations....” I didn’t even hear the rest because I tuned him out when I didn’t hear my name. I really wanted that raise, no I needed that raise, I’m so tired of living paycheck to paycheck.

I walked home that day, I couldn’t afford an Uber and my ride left early so walking it was. It was t that bad if a walk about 20 minutes so it was good exercise. I walked past the spot where the woman was earlier and noticed she wasn’t there anymore, I’m not sure why i instantly got sad.

I finally made it home, too exhausted to cook, I started to heat up a TV dinner then I remembered I promised the lady and her daughter dinner. Even though she wasn’t t out there I still wanted to go back out and see if she returned. I couldn’t bare the thought of her and her little girl not eating again, I know that $20 was only going to last her but so long.

I cooked from scratch my very best shrimp Alfredo, I mean I put my heart and love into it, I even cried a little at my loss of not getting that account earlier. I immediately cried of thankfulness for my job, the roof over my head and the food I’m now cooking for this homeless woman and her daughter. With the food done and packed I walked the 30 minutes to her location she was last and I saw her there with her little girl again. I instantly smiled walked over to her and sat with them to eat the meal, I prepared. I offered for them to come even insisted and she turned me down. After being out there for about 3 hours I noticed it was time for me to head home. As I was leaving we hugged and said our goodbyes she called me her angel once again. I told her I’d see her tomorrow and walked off.

On my walk back this time I found $1 on the ground in front of the gas station. I picked it up and bought a scratch off. Stuck it in my pocket and so tinted home. I was exhausted so I crashed on the couch for the night.

The next morning I got up and prepared myself for my Saturday morning jog. While drinking my morning smoothie I noticed the lottery ticket from the night before “oh well why not” I said to myself as I proceeded to scratch off. And wouldn’t you know it was a match 3, I scratched the first amount, $5 the next amount $20000 the next amount $5 I had one more amount to scratch off, I just knew it was gonna be $5. I start scratching and notice $2 then $20, I keep scratching until I revealed the total amount “$20,000,” I shouted at the top of my lungs! What happened next was such a blur I went to the lottery office that very moment and cashed in my winnings. I was able to Uber around this time since I had me some money. Oddly enough my next stop surprised even me. I went right to the corner where that little girl and the woman was and I gave them the whole $20000. Without thought I gave them all of my winnings just like that. The woman and the little girl cried as they kept saying “ my angel my angel thank you my angel” and how happy it made me to make their day. I gave them my number and told them to keep in touch whenever they get to a phone.

I continued my walk home happy I was richer in my heart they needed that money more than me, I get paid Monday anyways all I could think was at least I got a roof over my head and now they will too someone. When I got to my apartment door I noticed an envelope on my front doorstep, I open it and it was a letter from my company stating that they were so impressed with my presentation they were going to give me a promotion anyways that came with a...you guessed it, a $20,000 bonus check that was attached. All I could do was get down on my knees and cry.