The year was 1919 and Angelina was tending to her modest fruit store on the main street of town. It was an average day of serving her regular customers, tending to her 2 toddlers and 1 swaddled child in a basket under the front counter so she could keep a close eye on him.
Recently widowed, Angelina had taken over ALL aspects of her family’s life so they could continue to survive in her newly adopted country. As a recent immigrant of only five years or so she already had 3 children under 5 years old to care for by herself and this tiny store where she honed her entrepreneurial skills; nearly unheard of for a women in the early 20th century and raising her children alone. Life was difficult to say the least.
Her husband had passed away after a brief fight with the Spanish flu which at the time was ravaging the world with ferocity much like the Great War that had just passed.
Having tended the store and her children all day Angelina was exhausted as usual and looking forward to going home and preparing her little families dinner and getting much needed rest when another customer came through the open door of her shop. He was wearing a bulky coat and looked disheveled and oddly dressed for the weather but she approached him to offer service.
As she walked toward him from the rear of the small store he abruptly turned around as she stepped behind the counter. She felt fear tighten her chest as the man now with a crazed look in his eyes leveled a pistol at her and demanded all of her money or he’d killer her. He was sweating profusely and motioning with the gun to put the money in a bag fast. Angelina glanced at her older children cowering down at the back of the store aisle she had just come from and coolly ignored them so as not to draw attention to them, She turned to the edgy robber, smiled and in her broken English asked him if she could get him some food as well since he looked hungry. Taken aback he yelled at her for just the money FAST.
Her earnings were meager at the best of times from the store and every penny counted to support her and her children. She reached for the cash box, opened it and then reached for a bag under the counter. Instead of bring up a bag for the money she lifted the tiny basket that held her smallest son and set him on the counter. She pleaded with the man not to shoot her since she was all her children had and there were 3 of them. She put the money into a bag then walked to a table of fruit and vegetables with a larger bag and filled it.
It was then the gunman noticed her other 2 children huddled together on the floor frozen in fear. Angelina was holding the bag of food and a smaller bag containing her day’s receipts facing the man who now had lowered the gun and was leaning on a rack with tears streaming down his face. He told Angelina that he was out of work now for months and couldn’t find a job. His own family was in dire straits and that he had no money for food or rent. He told her when she offered him food as well as money he knew he was at the lowest point in his life.
He put the gun away, walked up to Angelina and took the bag of food only and asked that she not notify the constable and that he would do all he could to repay her for her kindness. She told the man that she would pray for him and his family and would remain quiet about the incident thanking him for the mercy he had shown her and her children at which point the man left the store quickly with his head lowered.
Angelina then rushed to hug her two frightened children and to comfort her baby and when she looked in the basket her smallest child was sleeping so peacefully that it brought tears to her eyes. She wept briefly for her children, herself, but mostly for the man who had so desperately just impacted their lives. Life always seemed a bit easier for Angelina after the incident and she remained quiet about it for many years after.
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