A second-quality shoes. ( based on a true story)

This morning Antonio, the director of the Children's Home, as always got up early. There was a lot of work like every day. As he left his room, the man passed through the dining room. The smell of the rice stew reminded him of his childhood. Two girls were serving the tables for breakfast. Soon the children arrive, as always very hungry. Later, Antonio visited the dairy. The women were boiling the milk in the huge pots. Children need calcium and good food. The future of ther health is built now. At least they will have fresh milk and cheese. As he left the dairy, the man observed the two cows that were grazing on the makeshift soccer field, that has bows made of logs tied with wire.

"We would need at least one more cow," thought the man, "so we can receive more children here."

  The Court's list was long and the capacity of the Children's Home for boys and girls abandoned by the absence of their parents because of deprived of liberty was scarce. 

Antonio found Marisa, the manager, in her office, a room with just few old furniture and the walls that missed a good painting. The woman was sat down next to two girls sitting on the floor, shaking small bottles of shampoo and rinsing cream passing the remains of the liquid to larger bottles to use. It was the courtesy of a 4-star hotel to give them the recipients used by the tenants, to facilitate some hygiene items for the Children's Home. It could be considered a donation, but even so, the future of the "William Morris" community was uncertain.

The Municipality cut the budget more and more. Antonio's frequent discussions with the directors of the Municipality did not work.

 "Soon the children are not going to have food", - thought the man, seeing that this year the Home garden brought less harvest than last year. 

  "Antonio," Marisa, the manager, called him, "we have a problem".

  "What happened?"  

   "Juan fought again. He hit Marcos."

Antonio sighed. 

"This boy has become a problem for the community. Since his mother abandoned him, Juan has become a very aggressive boy." 

" Okay," said Antonio, "I'm going to talk to him. In the meantime I'd like to ask you to send this letter to the "Crock" shoe factory."

The woman took the letter. When Antonio left the office, she opened the paper and began to read, she and the director were confident.

The text did not surprise her. It was a donation request like so many others.

 The letter read as follows: 

"To whom it may concern: Dear Sir / Madam. My name is Antonio Lopez, I am the director of the Children's Home, the foundation "William Morris" that is in charge of the care of children whose parents are deprived of liberty. Winter is coming. I wanted to kindly ask you to donate shoes for the children. I attach the list with names and shoe sizes. "

Marisa was excited. She thought that Antonio cares about children with all his heart. 

Two days later Antonio entered the office and saw Marisa with watery eyes. 

   "What happened Mary?" asked the man.

 Instead of answering, Marisa handed him the reply letter from the "Crock" shoe factory.

The text was very short and said:

 "Att. Director Antonio Lopez. In response to your request to donate shoes for the children of the Home, I would like to warn you that unfortunately the donation will not be possible since we do not have second quality shoes at the factory. Signed: Factory Manager Fernando Gallardo."

 Antonio looked at Marisa.

  "What will we do?" asked the woman.

 Antonio clenched the paper in his fist. He was angry because of so much injustice. Then he sat down at the desk, grabbed a pen, and below the factory manager's response wrote a single sentence. 

  "Take it Mary, send him this letter back."

Saying this, he left the office. A day full of work and the problems that children from complicated families sometimes present awaited him. 

Three more days passed. The weather worsened, temperatures got lower and lower and winter was already knocking on the door. This day Antonio woke up from noise that someone knocked on the door.

  "Antonio," Marisa was calling from behind the door, "Come quickly!"

 Antonio got dressed in half a minute and went out the door.

  "What happened Mary?"

  "Antonio, the truck is here!"

  "What truck?"

 The woman's face was illuminated with joy. 

  "Truck from the shoe factory. They sent us the donation. It is much more than what we asked for. The truck is full. The children are downloading it."

 Antonio smiled. 

  "Come on," he said to the woman, "we have to see if the boxes are not heavy for children."

All the inhabitants of the "Willian Morris" Home went out to collaborate. The children were very excited. They already wanted to put on new shoes. Because they were really new, of the highest quality. Among the children Antonio saw Juan unloading the shoe boxes. The boy was smiling, which the director had rarely seen since Juan appeared at the Home. It seemed that winter was also smiling, watching from the clouds this small solidarity society.

Far from that place, on the other end of the city, the manager of the "Crock" shoe factory, Fernando Gallardo, picked up the phone and dialed two digits. 

  "Vera," said the man to his secretary, "was the donation delivered to the "William Morris "Home?"

  "Yes sir. Here I have the signed receipt of the delivered cargo."

  "It's okay. Thank you." 

The man hung up the phone. He thought for a while.

 "For spring we are going to prepare another donation and we can also find out where there are other children's homes to collaborate."

In deciding this, the man opened his desk drawer and took out the letter he wrote to the Children's Home rejecting the donation. The letter that he will keep forever. He read it again. The words that marked the dry and soulless style.

 "... unfortunately the donation will not be possible since in the factory we do not have second quality shoes." 

And below was the phrase that changed his life's pursuit. In strong handwriting, the director of the Home for needy children answered:

 "Here, in this home, I don't have second-quality children either."