A poor elderly man is unexpectedly rewarded for his kindness to a stranger when he leaves his home one morning to find a brand new sports car in place of his old car.
80-year-old Gregory Smith stood on the front porch of his home, stunned. He pinched himself twice to make sure it wasn’t a dream and called out to his wife Cynthia, looking at the contents of the envelope in his hand and then at the gleaming sports car in front of his house.
‘Cynthia! Cynthia! Come here quick!’ – he shouted, his hands trembling with excitement at the sight of the new car and the old one gone.
‘What’s wrong with you, Gregory?’ Cynthia came out of the house, wiping her hands on a towel and frowning. ‘I burned a pancake because of you! In case you don’t know, we have the last packet of pancake mix left! And you’re just standing here? When do you plan on going to the shop?’
Gregory waved his hand dismissively. ‘Look, Cynthia,’ he said, showing her an envelope he’d found on the front porch. ‘The envelope contained the car keys, and our old car is gone! Look over there,’ he added, pointing to where he had parked his old car last night. ‘It’s a brand new car! Who could have done this? What am I supposed to do now?’
‘And there’s no note or anything inside indicating who sent this?’ asked Cynthia, confused.
‘I’ve already checked the envelope twice. There’s nothing! What do we…’
Gregory had no time to finish his sentence before he was interrupted by the honking of a car horn. Looking out of the front door, he saw his old car parked in front of the house and a man getting out of it.
When Gregory saw who it was, tears came to his eyes. ‘Oh my God, he kept his promise, Cynthia!’ – he said, turning to face her. Cynthia smiled as if she knew this was coming.
The man hugged Gregory warmly. ‘How are you doing, Gregory? It’s been a while, hasn’t it?’
‘Jack? Oh, I can’t believe it… I’m perfectly fine, dear. How are you? And please tell me you didn’t do it!’ – he exclaimed, hugging him back.
‘I should have, Gregory. After what you’ve done for me-I mean, who shows such kindness these days? And you can’t blame me entirely for it. Mrs Smith helped me carry out what I had planned,’ he said, smiling.
‘I evidently didn’t take him seriously! But now that I see this shiny new car standing outside our door, I regret it.’
‘Honestly, I tried to turn him down, dear,’ Cynthia told Gregory. ‘But that boy wouldn’t listen to me! And it was so hard for me to play along with him! I’m terrible at playing, aren’t I?’ – she asked, wrinkling her nose, and Jack laughed.
‘I don’t think so, Mrs Smith!’
Gregory shook his head several times. ‘So this old man was being played, and he didn’t realise a thing? Oh, what am I even saying…..’
Both Cynthia and Jack laughed. ‘All right, all right, enough talking,’ Cynthia finally said. ‘Since Jack came all this way for us, we can’t just let him go. Come over for breakfast, Jack, and no need to go to the shop, Gregory. We have enough groceries for at least a week… It was all part of the plan,’ she grinned as she entered the house and Jack followed her in.
As everyone sat around the dining room table, Cynthia served breakfast and Jack began to recall his first meeting with Gregory. Cynthia knew scraps of their history, but was not privy to the entire episode.
‘So, three weeks ago, Mrs Simpson,’ Jack began. ‘I met your husband at the airport. I was supposed to be on the same flight as him to see my wife. She was in labour and I was very worried. In my anxiety, I didn’t notice that I had mixed up the date on the ticket. It was for the next day. I only realised it during check-in.
Since there were no more seats available that day, Gregory offered me his ticket and said: ‘Boy, you should be with your wife! You use my ticket and I’ll use yours.’
‘Okay,’ Cynthia said slowly, nodding. ‘I know about the ticket exchange. But what about the cars? I’m still wondering what this car exchange has to do with anything…..’
Gregory chuckled. ‘That’s another interesting detail… Before we went to check-in, Jack and I met in the waiting room. We chatted casually, honey, and I mentioned that we were still paying off our loans, so we couldn’t afford a new car, and the old one was giving us trouble… After we exchanged tickets, this boy said: ‘Today we exchanged tickets, in a few weeks we will exchange cars, that’s a promise!
‘ I obviously didn’t take him seriously! But now that I see this shiny new car parked outside our door, I regret telling him we wanted a new car. He took my address before he left, and look what he did! We can’t let this go, Jack. We appreciate your intentions, but this is unnecessary, boy…’
Cynthia nodded. ‘Gregory’s right. We won’t be able to keep the car. I didn’t think long when you met with me yesterday and told me about the whole surprise thing, but I regret agreeing to it. Please, it doesn’t need…..’
But Jack shook his head. ‘Believe me, it’s nothing that will make up for what you’ve done. Thanks to your husband, I can be with my wife and child. Please, I would hate for you to refuse my gift. I insist…..’
Gregory and Cynthia couldn’t refuse Jack. They accepted the car, but Jack’s generosity didn’t end there. He knew that since Gregory had retired, he and Cynthia had struggled to pay off their loans and as a result had not been able to finish renovating the house.
So Jack took care of it for them. Then one day he came to visit them with his wife and young daughter.
Although they live in different cities, the Smiths feel as if they have become one family with Jack. The young man visits them from time to time and makes sure they don’t miss anything, especially after learning that the elderly couple had no children of their own.
What can we learn from this story?
Kindness never goes unrewarded. Gregory offered Jack his plane ticket so he could be with his pregnant wife, and in return, he and Cynthia received so much love and respect from Jack that they didn’t even know they had. Jack was like a son to them and took care of their smallest needs. Help someone always and in whatever way you can. Gregory could have offered Jack his ticket to help him, and he did. In return, he and his wife were blessed with the love of the son they never had.
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