By: fractalman.near
She was preparing sandwiches in the kitchen when the doorbell rang. She glanced up at the clock. It was just a few minutes past ten and she was not expecting anyone.
“Who’s there?” she called, drying her hands as she headed to the door. She heard no one as she approached the door. The gentle knock came again and she opened it. And then she looked down, and there was Mike, the kid from a few blocks down the street.
She was surprised to see Mike. He never really did speak much. But she continued to invite him anyway – she knew it did him good to spend time with others even if he didn’t interact very much. She smiled at him and stepped aside, motioning for him to come in. She hadn’t been sure he would show up for today’s picnic. His parents had reached out to MarmaJ to see if she could get him to talk or communicate with his peers.
“Come on in,” she said, smiling. The boy made eye contact and walked in with a smile, which surprised MarmaJ. He handed MarmaJ his lunch pack in which he had three omelettes and a bottle of orange juice. MarmaJ carried the lunch pack into the kitchen and the boy followed.
“You really love the beach don’t you?” MarmaJ asked him as he stepped into the kitchen. MarmaJ found something for Mike to do as they waited for the others. The task made him feel useful and he began to open up. They talked, laughed, and danced, and more kids came one by one and joined the fun.
At eleven, they headed to the beach for a beautiful day, but the beach was littered with trash. Apparently, there had been a huge beach adult party the night before and nobody had cleaned up. It was sad because the whole beach was littered with plastic cups, bottles, and snack packs. The kids were disappointed, and so was MarmaJ. Then an idea hit MarmaJ, and she smiled. She set down the picnic basket, and the tote of towels.
“What if we clean up this beach kids? Can we do that?” she asked the children. They weren’t excited about it at first, the beach was huge and there were just seven kids. How were they going to clean up the whole beach? MarmaJ decided to turn it into a game. She walked back to her car and got some bags and gloves. “I have some delicious cookies, kids. I might be willing to trade a few cookies for each bag full of litter. Who’s in?”
The kids rushed in for their bag. One girl looked up and asked, “The beach is real big. We don’t have enough bags!”
“Don’t worry about it kids, if we do our part, the world will be a better place eventually,” MarmaJ replied with a smile. The kids began picking up happily, with MarmaJ leading them, playing “all about that bass” with her JBL speakers.
Soon, people who saw what MarmaJ and the kids were doing were intrigued. One by one, people joined the kids to clean the beach. Soon, there were a large number of people. The kids and MarmaJ were surprised,
“What is going on MarmaJ?” Mike asked, surprised as people trooped in numbers to help clean the beach. She smiled.
“When you do your part, people will do theirs and make the world a better place, ” she smiled, rubbing his hair. Soon the press was all over the place. Soon the Mayor of the city called them and they were given an honorary award for selfless service.
“You see kids? Never forget to do some selfless service wherever you go,” MarmaJ told the kids as they rode back home with the Mayor’s official escort.