Tina could not help but break down when she realized she had run out of money. She would’ve never guessed the person behind the miracle she found in her purse the next day.
Six-year-old Jim was running out of ways to keep himself entertained while waiting for his mom to pick him up from school.
Sure, a teacher was waiting with him, but Ms. Rose was busy arguing with her husband on the phone.
Jim was dragging his shoes through the gravel and counting the number of iron bars that made up the school gate.
‘Any moment now,’ he thought, looking at the farthest point on the road, ‘she’ll be here. And then we go for ice cream! It’s Tuesday; I hope she remembers!’
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The vroom of an approaching car got louder and louder. That sound was music to little Jim’s ears.
“Mom!” Jim ran out of the gate straight into his mother’s arms in the car.
“Bye, Ms. Rose!” Jim was in a hurry to leave and could already visualize the blob of ice cream he would be feasting on.
“I’ve already picked my flavor for the day! I’m going to go with mango!” Jim jumped in his seat.
He expected his mom to comment on his unusual choice before revealing hers.
But today, Tina was silent. There was no song playing on the radio, no playing with Jim’s hair, and not a single word from her tightly closed lips.
“Mom?!” Jim startled her.
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“I said I’m going to have mango ice cream today!” He gave her another chance to respond.
“Oh, that sounds exotic! I think I’ll have that too!” Tina said, looking at her son for a quick second before gluing her eyes to the road again.
Later that evening, Tina mindlessly drifted from chore to chore, her mind riddled with worries. She pushed her anxiety down right until the moment she tucked Jim in bed and walked out to the kitchen.
Everything around her seemed foreign. ‘Is this where I am right now?’ she asked herself. ‘Is this what my life has become? A constant struggle to keep a job, raise a child alone, and find a split second to catch a break?’
It was true. Tina had been on her toes since the day she turned 18. She worked and paid for her own college degree, stormed out on her parents to live with the man she loved, and then struggled more to keep the marriage and her life from falling apart.
It had taken her two years to realize that Mark had been cheating on her.
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She remembered the big fight they had right before filing for divorce. Mark didn’t care that it was Jim’s birthday. He didn’t care that his own father, Robert, was in the room.
A year had passed, but the hurtful words Mark had spewed that day still made Tina’s breath shallow.
Tina was still picking up the pieces of her broken heart, but she knew that she wasn’t the worst affected by the divorce.
“My Jimmy!” Tina sighed at the empty room.
Children have a way of surprising us with their gigantic hearts.
Jim loved his dad but lost much more than someone to play catch and go fishing with. He lost the priceless closeness he had with his grandpa Bo.
The grandfather and grandson used to be inseparable. Bo would wait for his daughter-in-law to drop Jim at their door every afternoon.
The duo was happily immersed in a world of their own, doing up the garden, reading the classics, and singing songs as they lay in the hammock.
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It was wonderful for Jim to learn about his roots and the virtues that would make him a good man.
But it was even better for Tina to not worry about hiring a babysitter or whether he would be safe or well-fed after school.
Mark didn’t make much as a plumber, and Tina used every opportunity to work longer hours and earn the extra dollars.
But ever since the divorce, this perfect system fell apart.
Tina had decided that she needed a fresh start, so she moved to a place closer to her office.
And even though Robert would still be happy to watch Jim after school, Tina didn’t want any reminders of the life she had left behind.
Tina stood in silence in the kitchen that night, overwhelmed with the guilt of keeping Jim away from his grandfather.
‘I bet he’s miffed with me by now…there’s no point in trying to mend that bridge,’ she convinced herself.
Hours passed by, but Tina’s tears didn’t lead her to any solution but one. She would have to swallow her pride, call one of her old friends, and ask her for a loan.
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When she turned to grab her phone, she didn’t notice Jim’s toes sticking out from behind the cupboard.
Jim had woken up minutes earlier to ask his mama for a glass of water. But he sensed something else was about to happen and hid behind the cupboard.
‘Who is mom talking to on the phone? And why is she crying?’
Jim stayed and listened, even though he didn’t understand many of the big words Tina was using.
“Please, Eva. Any little amount would help. Just enough to get groceries for the next week….”
Tina paused before pleading some more. “I don’t know who else to call. I lost my job today, and there’s literally no money for food.”
Another pause followed.
“Alright, no worries. Of course, I understand. Thanks anyway. Good night!”
Jim watched as Tina took a deep breath and burst into tears, weeping into her palms.
Jim snuck back into bed, but sleep eluded him. He found himself staring blankly at random things in his dark room. All of a sudden, a dusty old thing caught his eye.
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“I know exactly what to do!” Jim sat up and threw his arms in the air.
The following morning, Tina was twiddling her thumbs over her phone in the corner of the couch.
“Mom, do you need your purse?” Jim randomly walked up to her and asked.
Tina thought it was a strange question, but she was too busy to dig into it. “No, darling,” she said without looking at her son.
‘Well, that didn’t work! I have to think of another way….’ Jim was racking his brain.
A few minutes later, he popped up again in front of Tina.
“Mom, look! I think I cracked my lip. Can you please apply your lip balm for me?”
Tina immediately reached for her purse.
‘Ha! That worked!’ Jim smiled.
He watched as his mother fished through her bag and tilted her head when something in there felt foreign.
To her absolute shock, Tina was holding a stack of money in her hands.
For illustration purposes only. | Source: Getty Images
For illustration purposes only. | Source: Getty Images
“How is this possible? It wasn’t in here yesterday. All this money…this is a miracle!”
Tina did have a fleeting doubt about whether her son had anything to do with this sudden windfall.
But looking at him standing with closed eyes and pouted lips, waiting for her to apply the lip balm, she chuckled at her thought.
“You did WHAT?” Grandpa Bo sounded astonished on the phone.
He was the only person Jim wanted to share his master plan with. So when Tina went for a bath the next day, Jim secretly called his grandpa and spilled the beans.
“It’s true! I had forgotten entirely about the piggy bank and the birthday money you had gifted me all these years. I broke it when mama was asleep, and it was all in there!
“I quickly collected the notes and snuck them into mama’s purse before she woke up. She told me there was $300 and that some angel had blessed us with this money. She doesn’t have to know it was–”
Jim heard his mother come out of the bathroom and quickly hung up.
On the other end of the line, grandpa Bo was still shocked by what his grandson had done. He decided to finally pay Tina a visit.
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The next day, Tina was preparing for an online interview at home when she heard a knock on the door.
“Bo?” Tina was surprised to see the old man she’d been avoiding standing on her porch.
“There’s something you need to know about Jim,” Robert said, sipping the coffee. The old man cleared his throat and revealed how Jim had been the guy behind the mysterious $300 in her purse.
Tina had tears in her eyes by the end of the story, and she fumbled to find words to utter.
“Bo, I don’t know what to–”
“Tina, my dear, I had no idea you were having such a hard time. I didn’t know that you had lost your job. And I can’t begin to imagine how you must be wearing yourself out trying to do everything yourself.”
“Mark chose to walk away from you and Jim; I didn’t. I didn’t want to hold you back from your new life, but I missed my grandson terribly. I was worried about the kid and how the divorce may affect his upbringing.”
“But today, what he said silenced that worry. It showed me that you’ve raised him right. And you need to know that.”
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Tina hadn’t heard such sincere words of appreciation in forever. She didn’t know whether she deserved it.
“Did you hear me? You are doing a fantastic job raising a young boy. Jim is lucky to have you as a mother,” Robert asserted as he allowed his former daughter-in-law to embrace him and cry.
For the next two months, Tina could get her life together and look for a long-term job, while Robert helped take care of the household expenses with a part of his pension.
More than the financial support, the joy of seeing Jim and grandpa bonding felt most satisfying to Tina.
And when Tina did find a job as assistant manager at a popular store, she got Robert to move in with Jim and her. Tina cared for Robert like his own daughter for the rest of his years.
Boy waiting to be picked after school | Source: Shutterstock
SOURCE:AMOMAMA