Priyanka Deka, Class-X,
Cambridge International School, Guwahati.
The pair of pink pants and the black tee matched Elly’s new phone case and her strawberry shake, with black berries on top. Elly was grooving to the songs of her choice while waiting for a flight at the Hong Kong International Airport. She was sure that her flight had been delayed, she dragged herself to the display screen; it showed – the flight to Greece was delayed by 45 minutes. Elly decided to sit somewhere near the display screen. A frail lady was sitting beside Elly and staring at her, as if she eagerly wanted to start a conversation with Elly. Ignoring her stare, she stood up to refill her almost empty water bottle.
“Excuse me, if you are going to refill your bottle, could you do me a favour, too?”
Elly looked at the lady and nodded. She readily accepted her request to get her bottle refilled, too.
Elly had to walk a long way to the refilling tap. On the way, she spotted a branded handbag store. After refilling the two bottles, Elly couldn’t stop herself from checking her dream store on the way back. She felt like a celebrity as she checked out the bags. Her eyes scrolled from one bag to another when she was startled by a salesperson asking, “How may I help you, Ma’am?”
Snapping out of her reverie, Elly stepped back into the real world and had a quick look at the time on her smart-watch. Realising that she had only ten minutes left to board, Elly responded in the negative, and dashed out of the store. She didn’t forget that she had to return the other bottle. She handed the bottle to the old lady and sprinted to join the queue in the boarding area, feeling relieved, until she tried looking for her boarding pass in her pockets. It wasn’t there. She was looking here and there, inside her bag, inside the pockets of her pants and overalls. She noticed the old lady walking towards her feebly, but Elly’s mind was pre-occupied with her boarding pass.
“Looking for this?” asked the old lady.
Elly’s eyes lit up. Her joy knew no bounds to see her lost pass.
“I can’t thank you enough, Aunty.”
Elly gave a warm hug to the lady, and added, “You know, I realised only at the last minute that I had forgotten something important.”
It was a feeling of gratitude that lingered in her mind as she proceeded towards the boarding gate.
She realised how important it is to be kind and helpful.