A little splash of kindness

The moody woman at the counter told me these boots were waterproof.

There couldn't have been a worse day for me to find that this wasnt true.

The Cat.

As the sun flickered through the gap in the curtains, pestering me to awaken from my oh-too-short slumber after a long night of writing, I restlessly opened my eyes to the blurry sight of my usually ginger cat, perched on the end of the bed. He sat there with his head slightly cocked, gazing silently and waving the end of his brown tail at me. A warm tingle filled me up, letting go of the irritation at the slightly open curtains, and regret for staying up so late, he is so cute...wait...brown tail? Sunni is ginger?

I placed my glasses on my nose and the warm feeling suddenly vanished, my lovely ginger cat was caked from ear to tail in thick, wet mud.

I told you he was sitting on the bed? There was also thick, wet mud on the bed. My mind suddenly flashed to how, to get to me from outside, he would have had to climb through the window (that I had obviously forgotten to close), over the worktop, over the kitchen floor, the living room floor, the carpetted stairs, the equally carpetted landing, and then hopped onto the bed.

Marvellous.

So that was my morning. I had to spend it washing the cat, washing the bed sheets, washing the cute little paw prints off the carpet, the stairs, the floors, the worktop and the window sill.

And now my boots were wet.

Why? Well after I had cleaned the bedsheets once, the stains were still there. I opened the cupboard to look for more detergent...and then, upon finding none, remembered I had lent my box to my mum.

To the supermarket I went, making sure I had firmly shut all of the windows so the cheeky critter wouldn't decide to paint the town again. My umbrella had gotten lots of use the last few weeks, and today was no different as opening the door explained exactly how the mud could be so wet and spread so far. It was torrential out there. No storm, just dark, grumpy clouds spitting all over the street.

Usually I quite liked the rain, it freshened the muggy air, giving it a sweet scent as it hit the grass. It also set a perfect atmosphere whilst spread out on the sofa with my laptop and Sunni.

But not today.

The Shop

The shop was packed. No one expects for everyone to be in the shop on a Saturday morning, and usually comment on it as they watch people bustle by them through the aisles. What they dont realise is that they, themselves, are 'unexpectedly' in a shop on a saturday morning too. And so was I.

I had to shop that day anyway; the cat food was getting low, as was milk, bread, the essentials.

I bustled through the aisles as everyone else was doing, minding my business, thinking the usual 'I'll just go in and out, no dilly-dallying'. What a cute phrase.

But as usual when you go to the shop, waiting a little impatiently as the elderly lady at the cashier was beeping the items a little to tortoise-like for your liking, finally getting to the front, unloading your items on to the conveyor; you take a look at this seemingly mountainous pile of supplies that you definitely did not plan on getting before you came in.

Sigh. Oh well.

With a smile, a 'have a good day! (better than mine at least), and a pound in the collection box for the local dog's shelter, I leave the bustle behind me and breathe in the moist air of the weather outside.

I walk home. Its about a 20 minute walk, but the bus just pulled away as I waddled towards it with my million plastic shopping bags. Typical.

As I trudged home, a little more moody and feeling-sorry-for-myself than I'd like to admit, the rain fell harder. And harder. And, somehow, even harder.

It was that incessant rain that falls diagonally, coming down in sheets, due to the wind; working its way into every dry crevice in your supposed-to-be-waterproof clothing...and boots.

Well, moody woman at the counter, my assessment of these boots would be: not very waterproof, in fact, I may even go as far to say they are extremely un-waterproof.

Every part of me was freezing, and emitting this squelching sound that was oh-too-funny as a kid, and maybe I'd have laughed some other day, but not today.

The Catastrophe, and the angel.

Snap.

Two of my shopping bags burst all over the wet pavement. The cat food box rolled and stopped in the road beside me, bread plopped down to my right, cartons of juice and milk sadly sat below the remnants of the bag they were just snugly packed into, their cardboard shells melting from the rain.

My mind went back to me, in the shop, placing that triangular sandwich packet with the sharp corners at the bottom of the bag and thinking, oh I'll just leave it, I'm sure it'll last until I get home; I was going on the bus away! The bags wont be moving on the bus, just sitting on the floor. It must have split one bag, and then poked through and rubbed against the other.

Thanks for that!

I let out a surprised squeal and managed to catch a cucumber before it rolled it's way into the road, thinking how much of a soaking disaster this was, when a car pulled up to the pavement a few feet ahead of me.

How embarrassing.

A burly, bearded, leatherjacketed man got out of the car, and rushed towards me, ducking from the rain.

'You doin alright? nice weather int it?'

He poked his hooded head down and started to help pick up my shopping from the pavement, the rain running off his shoulders and onto his greying beard.

I laughed 'yeah, gorgeous'

It had seemed like an impossible task, picking up all the shopping on my own, but with this nice man it was all scooped in our arms in no time, a bit soggy mind you, but not on the pavement.

'Thankyou so much, you're a life-saver,'

'No worries, you were havin' a bit ofa mare weren't you. You live far?'

'10 minutes, round the corner'

'I'll drive you, I dont see you walking with all this on your own'

The quick flash of uncertainty that most have when confronted with a stranger soon was washed swiftly away with the reality of how impossible it would be for me to walk home with two arms full of shopping and the unsplit bags. Maybe if I was an octopus. I was wet enough to be one.

We rushed to his car and slammed the doors.

It seemed so quiet in the car, compared to the slicing rain and wind outside. The warmth from the heaters at my feet was heavenly, and my hands started to tingle as they were thawing out. The car smelled of pine, one of those tree shaped smellies was hanging from the rear-view mirror. Nice.

'Your car seats are gonna be all wet'

'nehh, they'll be dry soon enough, the heater's on, don't worry about it'

I directed him back to my house where he helped me carry soggy shopping to the front door. His eyes were slightly wrinkled around the edges, as I looked up to him to thank him again, and hardened with life full of determination and wisdom, though right now they were kind and a hint of a smile touched the corners.

'Thankyou, so much, for your kindness. I would have been a wreck out there. Do you want to come in?'

'Its no problem, I'm glad I could help. I wont, I've got to get home.'

We shared a smile and a wave and he drove his car off into the rain.

The End.

I stood in my warm house, dripping on the doormat, and smiled. That man saw me struggling and just stopped to help me, no thoughts about it.

Sunni padded over to the hall and eyed me with a happy flicking of his tail.

I flashed a little grin and a nose scrinch at him as I put my sodding clothes straight in the washing machine, got changed, and put the soggy shopping in their correct homes.

My mood had been lifted, the mud and the rain and the shopping didnt seem all too bad anymore.

As afternoon waned into evening, I sat on the sofa with my laptop. The rain pattering against the windows gave off a melodious and calming song as the dim yellow lights around the room gave everything a subtle, warm glow. Sunni hopped up next to me and curled into a comfortable position, his furry head resting on my foot.

I smiled.

Someone was really kind to me today, and it made it a whole lot better.

Thanks for reading! Please give this a share to anyone who you think needs a nice story to make their day a little better, and consider giving me a tip for more stories like this!