A MOTHER’S DAY SURPRISE

The twins were filled with excitement as they thought of the surprise they were planning for Mother’s Day. How pleased and proud Mother would be when they brought her breakfast in bed. They planned to make French toast (吐司) and chicken porridge (粥). They had watched their mother in the kitchen. There was nothing to it. Jenna and Jeff knew exactly what to do.

The big day came at last. The alarm rang at 6 a. m. The pair went down the stairs quietly to the kitchen. They decided to boil the porridge first. They put some rice into a pot of water and left it to boil while they made the French toast. Jeff broke two eggs into a plate and added in some milk. Jenna found the bread and put two slices into the egg mixture. Next, Jeff turned on the second stove burner (炉子) to heat up (加热) the frying pan. Everything was going smoothly until Jeff started frying the bread. The pan was too hot and the bread turned black within seconds. Jenna threw the burnt piece into the sink and put in the other slice of bread. This time, she turned down the fire so it cooked nicely.

Then Jeff noticed steam (蒸汽) shooting out of the pot and the lid (盖子) starting to shake. The next minute, the porridge boiled over and put out the fire. Jenna was afraid. Thankfully, Jeff stayed calm and turned off the gas quickly. But the stove was a mess now. Jenna told Jeff to clean it up so they could continue to cook the rest of the porridge. But Jeff’s hand touched the hot burner and he gave a cry of pain. Jenna made him put his hand in cold water. Then she caught the smell of burning. Oh dear! The piece of bread in the pan had turned black as well.

It was a warm summer morning. I had just finished reading the grocery specials in the paper. I didn’t really need anything for the next few days. Nothing stuck out as a particularly good deal except the bonus chicken packs.

Five minutes later I headed to the store on my bike: helmet on my head, old pack on my back, and five bucks in my pocket. The temperature seemed to have gone up a little. I locked up my bike and went in. I headed straight back to the meat counter. I grabbed a package weighing slightly over ten pounds, and then headed for the checkout.

“Paper or plastic,” the clerk asked. She gave me a whole lot of change for so much meat and slipped the family pack into a sack, with most of it sticking out the top.

I headed outside, pleased with my purchase and with visions of fried chicken and chicken and rice in my head. Reality set in when the air hit my face. Not warm air, but really hot air. I realized I didn’t have the car, so the chicken would be riding on my back.

Actually, the partially frozen chicken felt cold against my back. In my head I began to count the number of stop signs left before I got home. The signal light turned yellow so I stopped.

For a moment at the signal, it was quiet. Then I heard a woman start screaming. The light turned green but the cars didn’t move. Maybe there had been an accident? I looked behind me even though I never heard any cars’ crunch.

What I saw was a small herd of people coming up the road towards me. There was a man in a suit, a woman with a beach towel, and a few others. I heard someone yell, ‘I’m a nurse. " I looked around again and still, no visible accident. Moving faster, this herd of folks started talking loudly in my direction.

“Were you in an accident” Are you alright?” Who are they talking to, I wondered?

I had no idea what was wrong. I was puzzled!

“Look, you are bleeding! Why don’t you get off your bike and take off your backpack?”

“It’s my chicken;” I told the group of people.

It had been a hard year for Anna and her twin girls. A few months before the pandemic hit, her parents had moved out of Kansas. No other relatives lived nearby. As COVID-19 spread, the family felt lonely, scared, and isolated.

On a particularly tough day last December, Anna came up with an idea of having the girls send letters to Santa by balloon. She told them that Santa would catch the balloon while he flew through the air on his sled. The twins, at the age of six, named Atlas and Emma, were excited at their mother’s idea. They clapped and hopped around. Then Anna took out a note and a pen. “Now, girls, let’s make our Christmas wish list to tell Santa what you are eager to get. I will help you with the note.” Finally, the handwritten note read “Dear Santa, we are Atlas and Emma. We live in Liberal, Kansas. This year we have been nice. We would like candies, Spider-Man balls, Frozen dolls, and a puppy. With love.” Atlas and Emma checked their wish list by counting the words as their mother read it out loud. Made sure that there was nothing wrong, Atlas folded the note into a small piece and Emma attached it to a balloon.

It was a cold, windy but sunny morning one week before Christmas. Anna dressed the girls in identical pink sweatshirts, and then she took them outside to release their wishes to the universe. “Bye, balloon! ” the girls called, waving as the balloon floated away, sailing above the trees and into the sky.

The family enjoyed a modest Christmas together, and then the calendar turned to a new year. One day in early January, Anna noticed that a friend had been calling her all morning. When Anna finally called her back, the friend cried out, “Someone found your balloon and posted it on Facebook.”

Anna was surprised and logged on Facebook to find out what happened.

Kindness from strangers drives away the cold weather and the haze of the pandemic.