Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work Page 5

  In June of 1995, I stopped at the local service station where I regularly get my gas and occasionally buy a lottery ticket. Millie was on duty. She is a kind and loving soul who always has a smile on her face and a kind word for everyone. On that evening, we joked and laughed as we had so many times in the past. I teased her by saying that I would give her $1,000 if I won the $10-million lottery. Millie said that if I won I'd better take her to Paris for lunch, and she didn't mean Paris, Texas. We both got a big "Texas kick" out of that. As I drove off, I thought how interesting it was that for me, "lottery"

  Page 32

  equaled $10 million, while for Millie, it meant lunch in Paris. Millie didn't know of my connection with the airlines.

  Around the 21st of December, I was once again at the service station. Millie was on duty. I handed her a Christmas card and asked that she open it and read it as I stood there. Millie opened the card and started reading:

  Dear Millie,

  On June 17, 1995, you sold me this lottery ticket (enclosed). Well, I didn't win the $10 million or the lottery, but you did. Pick your date in 1996, pack your bags, and get your passport ready for your luncheon trip to Paris. This is my gift to you for going out of your way to make everyone you come into contact with feel special. Thank you. God bless you, and have a Mary's Merry Christmas.

  Millie could not contain herself. She was literally thrashing around in the little cubicle. I could hardly contain myself, either. At that moment, at a soul level, I understood what it meant to create special moments for the people in our lives.

  Over the past few weeks, I've seen Millie several times. Each time I enter the service station, her face lights up as she reaches across the half-opened door to hug my neck and kiss my face. She speaks of how she still "just can't believe it," how she phoned her mom, told her boss, and on and on. But what touched me the most was when Millie told me, "Mary Ann, it says in my will that if I died before I got that lunch, my instructions were to have my ashes sprinkled over Paris."

  Mary Ann Dockins

  Page 33

  Angel on a Doorstep

  I can have peace of mind only when I forgive rather than judge.

  Gerald Jampolsky

  When Ben delivered milk to my cousin's home that morning, he wasn't his usual sunny self. The slight, middleaged man seemed in no mood for talking.

  It was late November 1962, and as a newcomer to Lawndale, California, I was delighted that milkmen still brought bottles of milk to doorsteps. In the weeks that my husband, kids and I had been staying with my cousin while house-hunting, I had come to enjoy Ben's jovial repartee.

  Today, however, he was the epitome of gloom as he dropped off his wares from his wire carrier. It took slow, careful questioning to extract the story from him. With some embarrassment, he told me two customers had left town without paying their bills, and he would have to cover the losses. One of the debtors owed only $10, but the other was $79 in arrears and had left no forwarding

  Page 34

  address. Ben was distraught at his stupidity for allowing this bill to grow so large.

  ''She was a pretty woman," he said, "with six children and another on the way. She was always saying, 'I'm going to pay you soon, when my husband gets a second job.' I believed her. What a fool I was! I thought I was doing agood thing, but I've learned my lesson. I've been had!"

  All I could say was, "I'm so sorry."

  The next time I saw him, his anger seemed worse. He bristled as he talked about the messy young kids who had drunk up all his milk. The charming family had turned into a parcel of brats.

  I repeated my condolences and let the matter rest. But when Ben left, I found myself caught up in his problem and longed to help. Worried that this incident would sour a warm person, I mulled over what to do. Then, remembering that Christmas was coming, I thought of what my grandmother used to say: "When someone has taken from you, give it to them, and then you can never be robbed."

  The next time Ben delivered milk, I told him I had a way to make him feel better about the $79.

  "Nothing will do that," he said, "but tell me anyway."

  "Give the woman the milk. Make it a Christmas present to the kids who needed it."

  "Are you kidding?" he replied. "I don't even get my wife a Christmas gift that expensive."

  "The Bible says, 'I was a stranger and you took me in.' You just took her in with all her little children."

  "Don't you mean she took me in? The trouble with you is, it wasn't your $79."

  I let the subject drop, but I still believed in my suggestion.

  We'd joke about it when he'd come. "Have you given her the milk yet ?" I'd ask.

  Page 35

  "No," he'd snap back, "but I'm thinking of giving my wife a $79 present, unless another pretty mother starts playing on my sympathies."

  Every time I'd ask the question, he seemed to lighten up a bit more.

  Then six days before Christmas, it happened. He arrived with a tremendous smile and a glint in his eyes. "I did it! I gave her the milk as a Christmas present. It wasn't easy, but what did I have to lose? It was gone, wasn't it?"

  "Yes," I said, rejoicing with him, "but you've got to really mean it in your heart."

  "I know," he said. "I do. And I really feel better. That's why I have this good feeling about Christmas. Those kids had lots of milk on their cereal just because of me."

  The holidays came and went. On a sunny January morning two weeks later, Ben almost ran up the walk. "Wait till you hear this," he said, grinning.

  He explained he had been on a different route, covering for another milkman. He heard his name being called, looked over his shoulder and saw a woman running down the street, waving money. He recognized her immediatelythe pretty woman with all the kids, the one who hadn't paid her bill. She was carrying an infant in a tiny blanket.

  "Ben, wait a minute!" she shouted. "I've got money for you."

  Ben stopped the truck and got out.

  "I'm so sorry," she said. "I really have been meaning to pay you." She explained that her husband had come home one night and announced he'd found a cheaper apartment. He'd also started a night job. With all that had happened, she'd forgotten to leave a forwarding address. "But I've been saving," she said. ''Here's $20 toward the bill."

  "That's all right," Ben replied. "It's been paid."

  "Paid!" she exclaimed. "What do you mean? Who paid it?"

  "I did."

  Page 36

  She looked at him as if he were the Angel Gabriel and started to cry.

  "Well," I asked, when Ben had finished recounting the story, "what did you do?"

  "I didn't know what to do, so I put an arm around her. Before I knew what was happening, I started to cry, and I didn't have the foggiest idea what I was crying about. Then I thought of all those kids having milk on their cereal, and you know what? I was really glad you talked me into this."

  "You didn't take the $20?"

  "Heck no," he replied indignantly. "I gave her the milk as a Christmas present, didn't I?"

  Shirley Bachelder