a penny for your thoughts

Penny was on the verge of breakdown she was so tired. She worked day and night and was at the beck and call of the family she had been hired to cook, keep house, and nanny for. Though never alone, Penny was lonely. On her night off, she decided to attend a local poetry reading club in hopes that she might meet other people with whom she had something in common and make some new friends.

After a month of attending and enjoying the group immensely, it was time for the group to take a break for the holidays. The leader of the group got paid a generous sum for giving his time to organize the group, research the best literature, and talentedly share the beautiful lyrics with the group.

After the last meeting, Penny was talking to a newfound friend. While half-listening to this friend, she saw the leader standing outside the doorway of the room talking to a volunteer who had come almost every week to set up chairs for the group to sit in while listening to the readings. Out of the corner of her eye, Penny watched the leader covertly hand the young volunteer the entirety of his night’s commission. The volunteer was stunned and stammered that he didn’t need it and hadn’t expected to be paid for setting up the chairs. But the leader gently refused to take it back and quietly told the volunteer to use it to buy Christmas presents before walking away.

Penny can hardly remember the power of the poetry that had so moved her at that last meeting, but through the ensuing weeks that singular act of secret generosity, which no one had been meant to observe, has repeatedly played out over and over again in her head.