The £10 man

I do not know who that man was or where he came from, but I will remember this encounter until the end of days.

You see, kindness has been becoming rare in this modern world. Like it is something nasty, no one wants to touch and feels disgusted by it.

Everyone has been being busy with themselves, with viruses, protection, handwashing, face covering, complaining. People have been throwing their hands in the air, complaining they cannot go to the pub, they are locked in. It has been annoying to watch you know, it still is. We have been wanting to ensure we do not touch each other as humans anymore. The emotional connection has been lost since a long time.

I did not expect anything that day. People have seemed to bury their kindness within their troubled souls and were hiding their smiles behind masks.

I always thought, we are from the same species, so we need to look out for each other.

The man I met on that day, did look out for me. And I was, still am, grateful for it. He had made my day and showed that people still can do good deeds indeed.

It was summer of 2020, the hottest summer we had so far. The sun was glaring down the streets. It was unbearable hot. Every piece of clothing seemed to be too much. Every step of the way seemed to be too hard. There was not much shade to hide in. Not much to do.

I decided to be brave and go for a short walk with my dog. Well, it was supposed to be short, but we ended up spending time in the shade, she was not even in the mood to chase a ball. She was panting heavily, and I realised that I had to do something.

I looked around like I was looking for clues, not sure what to do.

It was too far to get back home. She would not make it. She was too heavy to carry, in that heat anyway.

I glanced over to the street, shading my eyes with my hand and spotted a small store, through the heavy traffic.

I saw people walking in and out. Laughing, holding ice cream in their hands, quickly licking it before it melted away in the blurring sun.

I quickly checked my pockets for my credit card and heavily lifted myself onto my feet. My dog looked at me like I was crazy. Why the heck was I moving in this heat?

I only had to say one word for her to understand what we were about to do.

“Water”.

She stood up and slowly walked next to me to the store.

Dogs were not allowed inside, so I tied her up in the shade, constantly reassuring her it won’t take long.

I stormed into the store, toward the cold drinks section, nearly stumbling over my own feet, yanking two bottles of water off the shelf, and slithered across the tiled floor in my worn-down flip flops until I reached the till.

“£7.45”, the man behind the till said. “Sure, here you go” I said, and handed him my card.

“It is declining madam”, he mumbled underneath his beard. “Oh no, ahem can you try again please?” I stuttered. I started to feel extremely uncomfortable now. Sweat was piling up underneath my mask.

“Still declining, you got cash?”

I could not believe it. I was devastated.

“I…I don’t have cash. What about if I only buy one bottle of water?”.

He tried again, now swiping my card through the reader more aggressively. I could tell he was becoming impatient.

“Nope, no money”

I barely noticed the bell ringing when the store door opened behind me. I heard steps walking towards me, but I did not want to acknowledge them. I was busy dealing with this.

“Look I just need water for my dog. It is so unbearable hot. I would be only 10 minutes to get home and get some cash but I won’t make it with her, not without water. “

“Nope, can’t give water for free”. I was running out of ideas now, also not capable of processing the information the store manager was giving me. I was uncapable of processing, he was uncapable of uncapable of helping.

“Please! Or any tap water perhaps?”

“Nope, no tap water in store. You need to buy water”.

I gave up and buried my head in my hands.

“How much is it? Ah does not matter. Here is £10 pound mate. Now give the lady her water for her dog and herself!”.

A hand appeared behind me to put down a tenner on the cashier’s desk. I stared at it for a second.

I turned around by the sound of this calm voice. I was stunned. Who I was seeing, was a small man in a white shirt, brown khaki shorts and flip flops. I also noticed a necklace with a stone on him. He had sunglasses on, his mask half pulled down his face, he was smiling at me. It was a warm smile. The first smile I had seen this summer.

“Oh Sir, you really don’t have to do that. It is fine. Thank…”

“No, no you take your water and help yourself to some ice cream. It is hot and you need the strength to walk your dog home. I insist!”

I could tell he meant it.

“Thank you so much! I really appreciate this.”

I wanted to say ‘thank you’ a million times to you but I noticed my dog staring through the window, panting heavily. I returned the smile. Which felt good.

I again mumbled a quick 'thank you', grabbed the water and a magnum ice cream and ran outside.

I opened the bottle and filled the water into my cupped hand. My dog drank greedily off my hand, whining for more. Once she had finished the whole bottle. I drank my own water.

I tasted good. It went down my throat like oil. It only quenched my thirst a little bit but enough to take on the journey home. I held the ice cream in one hand and the dog in the other and started walking.

When I looked back, the man was gone, but the kindness remained within my heart.