A True Story

This evening I was volunteering at my local Junior League nearly new store. A few minutes before closing an older woman named Berniece came in to buy a couple of pairs of shoes. Berniece was jauntily dressed wearing a fedora, but a little shabby. She had 15 dollars crumpled in her hand that her son had given her. That would just about cover the shoes. She handed the money to me and said that that her money did not go far enough.

As she went to leave Berniece saw a dress she liked, a warm jacket and a christmas sweater. She asked if I would put them on hold for her until Monday. She said somehow she was coming back to get them. Just as I was about to write a hold ticket for her, a woman came up to me and asked me how much the items in my hand cost. I told her they weren't for sale. She insisted so I started to tally the items up, when she said to me "Never mind, it does not matter whatever it costs I am buying them." and winked at me. She handed the items to Berniece whom she'd never met and wished her a happy holiday.

Berniece said thank you and gathered her items and left. One of my fellow volunteers saw her outside. She was crying. Berniece told the volunteer that just last night she had given her neighbor the last of her groceries because she needed them worse than she did.

Happy Thanksgiving Berniece wherever you are.