Stranger

The man plodded towards the house, the house of the Perez sisters who lived a peaceful life with their parents up in heaven. Stepping in front of the house, the man stood there, thinking for a very long time. He didn’t knock, but stood there for hours, without a break taken at all. It was indeed a very quiet town in Spain. The man was dressed poorly with holes in every piece of clothing he had worn & he was holding an extremely antiquated looking rucksack. He stood there. Thinking. Waiting.

Meanwhile, Maria Perez came strolling back from the market & was aghast by looking at the man standing in front her house’s door. She rushed to his aid, wondering who he was & what he would be doing outside her door. “ Um… Hello Sir? How may I help you? “ asked Maria. “ Water… Food.” the man reluctantly replied. Maria could tell the man was struggling to speak for he seemed uneducated. Maria opened the door & took the man inside with her & provided him with a substantial amount of food, a meal technically, & enough water to fulfill his thirst.

On the other hand, Pia Perez was inside the bedroom, having a nice nap, snoring & dreaming for about hours while Maria was busy comforting the stranger & trying to figure out who he was & where he had come from. After a good two hours of a nap, Pia came out of the bedroom like a zombie & was shocked to see the stranger in the house. “ Oh my god! Who the heck is this?” yelled Pia. Maria turned around instantly, hoping her older sister would agree to her decision. “ Um… Hi Pia. How was your nap?” questioned Maria wearily. “ My nap was excellent until I saw this garbage sitting on our couch!” moaned Pia, annoyed. “ Dear sister, that was not very nice to say at all. How dare you call this man garbage! You know, sometimes strangers can end up being god or someone really special!” exclaimed Maria, shocked by her sister’s expressions.

“ Oh, whatever. As if anyone even cares…” started Pia just when Maria interrupted. “ Excuse me? I care a lot for this man over here even though I have know clue on who he is. It’s good to treat strangers like your family because doing a good deed will always pay you back with a good deed.” Pia never really cared about these sorts of things but only really cared about herself. Days went by & the man stayed in their house, thanks to Maria, who made himself at home pretty quickly. He ate whenever he wanted to, watched TV & many more things he had wished to do. 

Maria was a very generous & indulgent person, as you can see, & helped anyone along her way in life. Pia on the other side was very much bothered by the new person in the house who seemed to eat all the food from the pantry.“ Why did you have to bring this man in here! He eats all the food from the pantry & leaves nothing for us. After all, this is our house!” Maria just couldn’t think of anything, a way to explain to her sister that helping someone will always pay you back in a good way & will benefit everyone around you. 

Maria was very compassionate & had made up her mind to teach others about the value of kindness & had decided to start it off with her very own sister. Pia was getting very impatient day by day which soon resulted in her yelling at the poor man. “ Will you stop eating! You are gonna get fat while we starve to death! Put that down… now!” Pia screamed at the man everytime Maria wasn’t around because she knew that Maria was always there to support the old man.

Poor Maria was very anxious about who this stranger could be. She tried everything she could to ask the man but failed because he was struggling to speak every time he had attempted. One day, Maria felt a spark of light in her that lit up her thoughts about the man. She had a sense of who this man could be. “ Oh Pia! Just listen! I think I know how this could be!” mentioned Maria. “ Uh! Who can it be? I know! Some random stranger! Right?” interrupted Pia. “ Um… no. You know how our brother, Moncho, had got lost before I was born? I thought it could be him. What do you think?” explained Maria. 

Pia thought that was just hideous. How could it be their brother? He was kidnapped, around 22 years ago & she wasn’t expecting his brother to still be alive anyway so Pia disagreed straightaway. “ No no no no. That can't be. Moncho must have died years ago!” Maria still thought this man could be her brother because he seemed to look a lot like her & her sister, specifically their father who was now looking down at them from up in heaven. 

Maria went straight to the man & asked him spontaneously. “ Um… excuse me? Are you Moncho Perez?” The man looked up instantly. He stared into her eyes as if something surprising was coming out. He attempted to speak but just couldn’t. He thought. Thinking whether he should reveal it. Maria signalled him to answer her. The stranger’s face suddenly lit up. His face glowed like anything. “ Y..y...y...e…s...s “ he reluctantly replied. 

Maria couldn’t be happier. Pia stared at them, still trying to figure out what was going on. Moncho quickly grabbed a piece of paper & wrote on it - Yes Maria. I’m Moncho Perez, you’re brother. I’m unable to talk as you can already guess. I went through many challenges to get here, it took me so many years. Now that I’m finally here. Let’s go to my house in London. Leave Pia here. 

“ You want me to come with you? To London?” questioned Maria, astonished. Pia stood there in total silence & disgust. “ Why not me! Why can’t I come?” yelled Pia. Moncho scribbled something on the paper once more & Maria read it out. “ You aren’t allowed to come. You’ve treated me so badly these days. You don’t deserve to be with us.” Pia had learnt her lesson. She begged for her siblings to take her too & after a bit of consideration, Maria forgave Pia for she was a girl who always gave people a second chance in life.

Whatever good deed you do to someone, it always comes back to you. 

Kindness is the key.