Kindness costs nothing, but cruelty can cost you the person you love.
“I’ve heard that before,” George said in an angry tone. “Pay or get off the bus and go home!”
“I swear on everything, this is the truth! My wallet is gone, and I have no way to get home!”
George glanced at the clock on the dashboard. He was already late! He drove away from the woman and the bus stop, certain he would never see her again.
George started thinking about Angie. She was something! Angelica was beautiful and smart—way out of his league, all his friends thought. When has the daughter of a millionaire ever fallen for a bus driver?
But from the moment they met, they fell for each other. Her parents weren’t exactly thrilled about a bus driver marrying their only daughter, but Angie insisted.
So tonight was his first time meeting the Westerly family, and he wanted to make a good impression, which meant he had to get home in time to take a quick shower and change into a nice suit.
Three-quarters of an hour later, George was standing in front of the door of the beautiful Westerly house in Tribeca, nervously adjusting his tie and ringing the doorbell.
“I’ll take it!” George heard Angie’s cheerful voice, and then the door swung open and there she was! George stared at her, before he was embraced by Angie and her perfume enveloped him. Angie whispered in his ear, “Don’t be nervous, I love you!”
Angelica led George to a beautiful room where a slender woman who looked like her was sitting. The woman stood up and smiled stiffly.
“You must be George!” she exclaimed. “I’m Meredith, Angie’s mother. My husband is a little late—he has to pick up my mother-in-law from town…”
“That’s all right, Mrs. Westerly,” George said politely, searching for something to say. “Your home is lovely, did you decorate it yourself?” It was the right thing to say.
Meredith brightened and began to give George a tour of the room, talking about various trinkets that all seemed to have some boring story from the Westerly family’s travels around the world.
And then George’s heart leapt. In a heavy silver frame on the mantelpiece was a photograph of the old lady he had thrown off the bus. “Oh my God!” George exclaimed. “Who is it?”
Meredith waved it away. “That’s my husband’s mother, Angie’s grandmother. That woman is a real ordeal… Can you believe she actually lost her wallet today or had it stolen or something?”
“Really?” George asked, an icy shiver running down his spine. Then the key clicked in the front door and a tall, middle-aged man stepped in, his arm protectively around the old lady from the bus.
“Meredith,” he called. “Please ask for some hot tea for my mother. The poor darling is freezing!”
Angie immediately ran over to the old lady and wrapped her arms around her. “Oh, Gran Millie,” she cries. “You have to be more careful…”
The old lady shook her head. “I’m careful. I think someone stole my wallet after I bought your present. I had it at Bloomingdale’s, but it was gone on the bus.”
Gran Millie shivered. “The bus driver was the most unpleasant man! He refused to listen and he refused to help…” Then the inevitable happened. Her eyes fell on George and she recognized him immediately.
“You!” she yelled. “What are you doing here? If some kind lady hadn’t let me use her cell phone, I would have been left standing in the blizzard!”
Angelica frowned. “What do you mean, spruce?” she asked, confused. “This is George. Do you remember we’re supposed to have dinner with him?”
“I’m not senile, Angie!” the woman yelled. “This is the driver who kicked me off the bus and into the blizzard and said I was a fraud!”
Angelica turned to George, her face turning deathly pale. “Did you do this?” she asked.
“Look, Angie,” George said. “I was late and I didn’t know it was your grandmother…” The words faltered in his dry mouth. Angelica looked at him as if he were a stranger. Then she pulled the ring off her finger.
“Here,” she said, handing him the ring. “Take it back. I don’t know who you are. I will not marry you.”
George cried and knelt at her feet. He begged for forgiveness, but nothing he did or said could change her mind. George was too old for her world, and as he walked out of the house and into the snow, he knew he had lost her because he simply wasn’t good enough for her.
