An Act of Kindness at Wal-Mart

Last week an elderly lady came through Hiromi's checkout lane. "80-ish" Hiromi judged her to be. She had boarded the Reno County Area Transit (R-cat) "bus" in Turon, a tiny town in the southwestern part of the county, and traveled about 40 miles to Hutchinson to do her shopping. She had picked up a lot of groceries--$120.00 worth.

When her total was figured up--that's when she discovered that she had no checks in her checkbook. She already knew that she had no cash. Despair.

"I'll pay for it," the woman in line behind her offered. She did just that.

The cart and the ladies moved off.

Later Hiromi saw the elderly lady sitting alone on one of the "waiting" benches. "Where are your groceries?" he asked.

"They're at the service desk," she said. "I didn't have any checks and couldn't pay for them, so they'll have to put them back."

"Oh, but they're paid for. The lady behind you paid for them. Let's go get your groceries." They walked together to the service desk and retrieved the cart--still mercifully full. Hiromi pushed it back to the bench for her, and she sat companionably with her groceries till the R-cat came for her.

"That's such a heartwarming story," I told Hiromi.

"Well, the lady said she hadn't paid her tithes for a long time, and this was her chance to catch up a little."

Whatever the reason, I'm glad that lady from Turon didn't have to go that long way home without her groceries. People like her need able-bodied adults to look out for them just as surely as young children do. I guess God already knew that and sent help when she needed it.