A poor young man working as a cashier unexpectedly lands in riches after he passes a test crafted by a mysterious blind customer.
Kyle Parker was an average American boy just trying to live the American dream. His parents, small-town farmers, had moved to the city to make a living after going bankrupt and selling their farm.
Kyle’s father grew up on the farm, and so had Kyle; it had held sentimental value for him and his family. But they had to sell it to the greedy Martin Schumacher, who had been after it for years.
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They had moved to the city ever since, and their lives, filled with ease and happiness, had become one of rushed breakfasts and petty quarrels over money between Kyle’s parents.
The quarrels grew in magnitude over time, and it led to their deaths one day. They were returning from what was supposed to be a family picnic on the beach when they started arguing over money again.
They got so carried away that they didn’t see the truck barrelling towards the car. They sure felt it, and it was the last thing they ever felt — only Kyle survived, and he had to live with that.
Life was not easy for him as an orphan who didn’t have any relatives. After grieving for weeks in the small apartment, the boy picked up a job at a grocery store as a cashier — it was where he met a blind man.
It had been a cool morning when the bell that signified someone entering the store rang. Kyle had been doodling in a small journal he always carried around, so he looked up to acknowledge the person.
But there were two people, not one; the first was a young girl who looked approximately eleven years old, and beside her, with one hand on her shoulder, an old man with a cane was beside her.
He had a wide-brimmed hat and dark shades on, and he had a peculiar air about him that told Kyle he was blind. For instance, when the girl greeted him with a “Hi,” the old man looked around as though he was looking for him.
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“Hello,” Kyle answered the girl with a smile.
She smiled back and slowly led the man towards the shelves, sometimes pausing to reach for whatever the man whispered.
Kyle watched as they finished shopping and came towards the till, but surprisingly, as soon as the girl dropped the cart on the counter, she stepped out, saying she wanted to get the man a taxi.
Kyle smiled in response and turned his attention to processing the sale. Is he watching me right now? Kyle wondered, sneaking a glance at the elderly man who stood still as a statue with his gaze directed at Kyle.
But he’s blind, why keep looking this way if he can’t see me? Kyle thought as he put the last item in the bag filled with the old man’s other purchases.
“That’ll be $25 in total,” he told the man quietly.
“Oh, my assistant stepped out, but I need to pay… Could you please take $25?” the blind man asked as he gave a stunned Kyle a bunch of money.
A quick look at the cash, and Kyle realized it was at least $1500. His heart pounded, but the blind man just stood there waiting. Kyle couldn’t believe it. He could take $1000 from the bunch, and the old man would not even notice it.
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No, I am not that person, I will do no such thing, he told himself even though everything within him screamed to take several hundreds for himself.
Kyle took exactly $25 and returned the rest to the old man and tried to look less guilty of his dirty thoughts. When the old man’s assistant returned, they whispered for some time, and after that, the old man turned to Kyle and said:
“It is the fifth time I have come to your store and repeated that little exercise, but you are the first guy to pass the test by returning my money.
Yesterday your colleague returned the bunch I gave him, but he replaced my $100 bills with $1 bills. And my assistant told me. He even tried to deny it when I asked for my money back, but there was a witness, so he had no choice.”
After revealing this to Kyle, the man placed a key on the counter and smiled. “My driver is waiting outside. I asked this young girl to bring me this because I knew you would be different from your colleagues.”
“How did you know?” Kyle asked, still stunned by all that he was being told.
“I heard you greet young Dorothy here — the others ignored us until they had to deal with us. That’s all.”
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The man once again placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder and had started to leave when Kyle remembered to ask about the key.
“Where does it open?” he half yelled.
“There is a locker room in the gym just around the corner. There is something for you in that locker,” the man said and stepped out of the store with the girl. Kyle played the scene over and over in his head as he waited impatiently for his shift at the store to end.
After several hours, he handed over his duties to someone else and made his way to the gym, where he found the locker. The key opened it as promised by the man, and Kyle found a backpack full of money inside. There was also a note.
It read, “If you found this, you must be very kind and honest! Unlike my children and grandchildren who always deceived and used me. I want you to use this money to make something of yourself and when you can, help another person out as well. Do not let this cycle end with you.”
Kyle couldn’t believe his good fortune. He took the money, and the first thing he did was buy back his parents’ farm and revitalize it in their honor.
He lived the rest of his life as a farmer in the peace of rural life, but he never forgot the blind man. Later in the future, Kyle started a foundation in his small town to help farmers in financial crisis secure loans.
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