Mom & Dad Stop By
Ruth a woman with no family to speak of, went to her mail
box and saw one letter. She picked it up and looked at it before
opening, but then she looked at the envelope again. There was
no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address. She
read the letter:
Dear Ruth,
We are going to be in your neighborhood Saturday afternoon
and We'd like to stop by for a visit.
Love Always,
Mom and Dad
Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the table. "Why
would the Lord and Lady want to visit me? I'm nobody special. I don't have
anything to offer." With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty
kitchen cabinets. "Oh my goodness, I really don't have anything to
offer. I'll have to run down to the store and buy something for
dinner."
She reached for her purse and counted out its contents. Five dollars
and forty cents. "Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at least."
She threw on her coat and hurried out the door. A loaf of french bread,
a half-pound of sliced turkey, and a carton of milk...leaving Ruth with
a grand total of twelve cents to last her until Monday.
Nonetheless, she felt good as she headed home, her meager offerings
tucked under her arm. "Hey lady, can you help us, lady?" Ruth had been
so absorbed in her dinner plans, she hadn't even noticed two figures
huddled in the alleyway. A man and a woman, both of them dressed in
little more than rags.
"Look lady, I ain't got a job, ya know, and my wife and I have been
living out here on the street, and, well, now it's getting cold and
we're getting kinda hungry and, well, if you could help us, lady, we'd
really appreciate it." Ruth looked at them both. They were dirty, they
smelled bad and, frankly, she was certain that they could get some kind
of work if they really wanted to. "Sir, I'd like to help you, but I'm a
poor woman myself. All I have is a few cold cuts and some bread, and
I'm having important guests for dinner tonight and I was planning on
serving that to Them " "Yeah, well, OK lady, I understand. Thanks
anyway."
The man put his arm around the woman's shoulders, turned and headed
back into the alley. As she watched them leave, Ruth felt a familiar
twinge in her heart. "Sir, wait!" The couple stopped and turned as she
ran down the alley after them. "Look, why don't you take this food.
I'll figure out something else to serve my guests." She handed the man
her grocery bag. "Thank you lady. Thank you very much!" "Yes, thank
you!" It was the man's wife, and Ruth could see now that she was
shivering. "You know, I've got another coat at home. Here, why don't
you take this one." Ruth unbuttoned her jacket and slipped it over the
woman's shoulders. Then smiling, she turned and walked back to the
street...without her coat and with nothing to serve her guests. "Thank
you lady! Thank you very much!"
Ruth was chilled by the time she reached her front door, and worried too.
The Lord and Lady were coming to visit and she didn't have anything to offer Them.
She fumbled through her purse for the door key. But as she did, she
noticed another envelope in her mailbox. "That's odd. The mailman doesn't
usually come twice in one day." She took the envelope out of the box
and opened it.
Dear Ruth,
It was so good to see you again. Thank you for the lovely
meal. And thank you, too, for the beautiful coat.
Love Always,
Mom and Dad
The air was still cold, but even without her coat, Ruth no longer
noticed.
Written by: Silver Phoenix
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