A Short Story from Fables of Good Will:

Since she was young, she had a passion for helping people. Once, as a child, she had volunteered her help at a soup kitchen. The parents, teachers and friends thought that it must have been simply a phase, something that she was experimenting with. This trait only grew with her as she aged. And though, now as an adult, she was engaged in many other endeavors, she still volunteered her time at the soup kitchen every Friday. One Friday, after spending time with those in the soup kitchen, she was driving home across the bridge that connected the two busy parts of the coastal city. Her eyes spotted in terror a man who was standing along the ledge of the bridge. To the water below, there was a long drop. The closer she got, the more frightened she became. She watched in horror as other cars, passed quickly by, some even honking. There was no stopping along this bridge and so as she neared the man, she slowed down the car. It was too late. He had jumped. She broke into tears and stopped the car, running out to the ledge, looking into the swirling current beneath her. The cars collecting behind her car on the bridge were honking. She was terrified. That evening when she got home, she was still crying and sobbing as she called the police. “I want to report a suicide.” The police asked her where it occurred and what happened. And after she answered, her horror grew as the police officer told her that this was common. That this sort of thing happened all of the time in the city and that there was nothing they could do. Nothing they could do? Common? She could not believe those responses. She could not accept them. And so, she went on her computer and typed in to the search engine, ‘bridge suicides in the city’. She wept with what she discovered. She never knew. On the screen, came a photo of a missing person. She recognized the person. He was a regular at the soup kitchen. She closed her computer and got out a large pack of paper and a dark pen. On the paper, she wrote in large letters a different message on each. On one, she wrote, “You’re valuable. Don’t ever forget how important you are.” And on another, “Don’t give up. Things are getting better all of the time.” Afterwards, she placed each sheet of paper into a plastic covering and drove back to the bridge. It was very late then and there was little traffic. The cars that would pass could simply go around her car. Until, on the bridge, she stopped every fifty yards and stapled the posters up on the ledges. Afterwards, she returned home and slept. She knew the posters would be torn down by the city in time. She did not care. She would continue putting up the signs if she had to. A couple of days later, she was at home watching television when the news came on. She was surprised to see that photos of her signs were being aired and the reporter was speaking to two young people who were saying how they were going to commit suicide the night earlier. That was until they came across one of these signs. The two young people started to cry. “Whoever created these signs, we just want to thank you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You saved our lives. Things do get better.” She turned off the television and smiled warmly as a tear fell down her cheek.

A Short Story from Fables of Good Will:

There was a woman, in her thirties who received disability pension. She struggled with depression and PTSD. Her husband had been in the military and died in combat. Every month, she would ensure that she had the rent paid and her groceries paid for. She attended church every day but always refused help from them, saying ‘others need it more than me’. With the rest of her income, she would offer half of it to the church. The rest, 100$ or so, she would take to the bank and asked for it to be changed into loonies. ‘One hundred loonies?’ the bank teller would ask a little suspiciously. She would nod solemnly and then walk to the dollar store close to her home. She would walk around the dollar store for nearly an hour, pretending to inspect goods for purchase while she secretly, lay the dollars, one by one in places that wouldn’t be entirely visible but that would be hard to miss if close enough to them. When she had finished laying the final coin down behind a roll of toilet paper, she smiled and went to leave the store. The employees would, each month, eye her with a mildly more serious suspicion, as she would simply sit near the exit of the store and watch people as they, one by one came across her gifts. She would eye them with delight and joy and even greater joy as these same customers passed her as they left. Not knowing who was responsible, but only knowing they were slightly richer. With joy, at the end of the night, she would walk home, maker her supper and watch Mass on television. This was surely the part of her month that she looked forward to the most.

A Short Story from Fables of Good Will:

The child was very young when he first met him. He was just recovering from brain surgery. He developed a brain tumor when he was two years old. His parents, though they visited, were not entirely supportive. They had their new family, two other children who they would drag along to each visit with their child in the hospital. Between visits, it almost seemed as though they had forgotten entirely that they had another son. This little child, though, never forgot and always looked forward to his parent’s visits. He had met this little one at the children’s hospital, when he was signing autographs and taking pictures with the patients as a promotional event for his sports career. He played for a popular team and was very successful. The moment he set foot in the children’s hospital, everything changed for him. He met so many beautiful people. In hindsight, he considered himself naïve that it came as a shock to him that children could be subject to such unfortunate situations. He always believed that only bad people, people who in some way deserved it, were saddled with these sorts of fates. The first time he met this little boy, the boy was five years old. He was seated behind a long table and signing autographs for the other patients, nurses and family members when the little boy came up around behind the table and held out his arms to him. The football player was nothing of a family man, lived a party lifestyle and didn’t have much experience with kids. The manager came over to scold the child when he pushed the manager away and reached out to pick up the little one. As he picked him up, the boy turned his head so that he could see the large scar across his head. A tear formed in his eye as the child put his arms around him and held him. The boy clung to him for a minute until patiently, the football star placed him down on the ground and continued to sign autographs and to pose for photos. But afterwards, he asked his manager to find out where the child was so that he could send him a personalized autographed photo. The manager did as he was asked and the football player sent a photo and a gift basket with toys and movies and games. He was very surprised when he received a letter in response one day from the boy, written in illegible handwriting with a copy of what he had written underneath it in clearer handwriting. The boy expressed his love for football and how he wished he had a dad like him. He loved watching him play on television in the hospital common area. And so, the two, the boy and the football player exchanged letters for a couple of years. They both sent a letter a month until one day, the football player received a letter in a different envelope. This letter didn’t have the boy’s handwriting on it. Reading the letter, he started to cry. The boy had developed another tumor and had to go for surgery again. The boy wished that he could see the football player one more time. Getting in his car, almost immediately, he drove to the hospital, which happened to be fairly far away. When he got to the boy’s room, he watched the boy through the window. The boy was watching one of his football games and was jumping up and down with joy as his team made a touchdown. Slowly, he pushed aside the door and when the boy saw him, his joy increased. “I have to go back for surgery,” he said sadly. “I know,” the football player responded. “But you will be okay.” The boy looked down. “The only thing I want is to run a touchdown. I’ll probably never get to do that.” The football star left that evening with conviction and sorrow. He knew he wanted to do something for the boy but he didn’t know what he could do. Besides, he had a football game coming up that he had to concentrate on. When he thought of the football game, something in his mind clicked. That’s it! He knew what he would do. He called his manager that evening. The morning after, he called the hospital, looking to speak with the boy. They said that was impossible. When he said who he was, they recognized him and his friendship with the boy. He asked them if he could arrange to come and pick the boy up that Friday. And after some convincing, they agreed. That Friday, when he picked the boy up, the boy was curious but overjoyed to see his friend. “Where are we going?” He asked. The football star smiled coyly and handed him a football. “Where are we going?” He repeated, with enthusiasm. The football player kept quiet until they were in front of the city stadium. “We’re going to see a game?” The boy cried with excitement. Entering the building, the football player knelt down held the boy’s shoulders gently and said, “I have to go get ready. I’m going to leave you with my manager.” The boy nodded and smiled. The manager took him to his seat at the front row behind the middle of the field. The game passed very quickly, so great was the boy’s excitement. The manager got him some popcorn and a soda. Towards the end of the game, there were about thirty seconds remaining when the whistle was called. His team was down a couple of points. When the boy looked up, he saw his own face on the screen. He smiled shyly and looked to the manager beside him. The manager smiled at him. Then, the referee spoke into a microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a very special guest here with us today. He is a friend of one of our football players. We would like to invite him onto the field right now.” The manager stood and walked out onto the field. The boy watched him and followed slowly when he turned and beckoned to him with his hand. Then, when they were all in the middle of the field, his friend the football player, helped the boy to put his team’s jersey on. It was his size. When he had gotten it on, the team lined up and the whistle was blown. The boy was given the ball. He ran with all of his might, with all of his strength and with all of his heart. The other team followed him slowly, trying to tackle him but failing. The rest of his team cheered him on until he made his touch down. With victory, he held the football in the air and threw it at the ground, like he had seen so many times on television. The crowd went wild and his friend picked him up on his shoulders and the rest of the team came and gave him high fives. That evening, when he returned to the hospital, he hugged his friend and said to him, “That was the best day of my life. Thank you.” The boy was operated on a week later. He made a miraculous recovery within a week. His friend, the football star, visited him every week until he was eventually discharged from the hospital.