Hey There

Jimmy Sterling’s father had always been very rich. His entire family always had whatever they needed.  An enormous stately home, fifteen bedrooms, six sitting rooms with huge televisions, ten big bathrooms. Some of those bathrooms had en-suite bathrooms. Some of those en-suite bathrooms had en-en-suite bathrooms.

 

          It took three minutes to motor up the drive. Mr. Sterling’s bright orange Ferrari was certainly impressive, but certainly expensive. Everybody on the road stared in envy as he zoomed past them in it. Speaking of cars, Jimmy had his own miniature Formula one car that he used to speed around in his own private racetrack.

 

Jimmy couldn’t think about any other life other than his current, very rich one. His heart ached for the people he saw on the streets, begging for money. He couldn’t imagine how they lived going to bed hungry at night. Jimmy was a very kind -hearted boy, you see. That is why he always gave each beggar 5.0 pounds when they asked for money, even though his mother didn’t like it. She always said that they should earn the money themselves instead of begging for it.

 

Jimmy’s sister’s name was Jean. Jean loved to buy shoes and shop for clothes and playing hide and seek with her brother, Jimmy. As the house was very spacious, there were many places to hide inside it. Her favorite hobby was to pick flowers from the garden and show it to her mother, who adored them and put them in her dress, in vases around the house, in her hair, anywhere possible.

 

Mr. Sterling loved the beach and would go to the nearest location to spend an hour or two lying down in the sun. As a result, he had a perfect suntan and sometimes got sunburns because he didn’t put sunscreen even though Mrs. Sterling told him to. Even though he loved the beach, he didn’t like going in the water much, even though his children loved it. Of course, they were freezing cold later, when they got out of the water, but they still loved it.

 

Mrs. Sterling loved nature. Forests, plants, animals, insects, you name it. The only thing she didn’t like about nature were the lizards that came into the house, the flies and the mosquitoes too. Her dream about wanting to own a greenhouse and grow her own food came true when she married Mr. Sterling. That is why she loved the flowers that Jean gave her from the garden.

 

  Everybody in the family was happy with what they had. Little did they know that was about to change. For the better or for worse? Let’s find out.

 

It all started on Tuesday morning.

Jimmy’s alarm clock started ringing. Yawning, he checked the clock. 7:00 am, Tuesday, it read. He got up and stretched.

I’ll wake up Jean, he thought.

“Jean! It’s time to wake up,” Jimmy called.

“What time is it?” She asked, yawning.

“7 am. We must go to school.”

“Which school? The new one?” asked Jean.

“Yes. We must take the bus to school, neither Mom nor dad can take us today, and the chauffeur is on leave.”

“Aww,” she groaned.

They washed up, dressed, and went downstairs for breakfast.

“Are you going out, Mum?” Jean asked, as she poured cornflakes.

“Just to the salon, dear,” she replied.

“Well, I should go to work. It’s getting late.”

“What time is it, Dad? Jean, please pass the cornflakes,” said Jimmy.

“7:45, shouldn’t you be going to the bus stop now?” replied their father.

“Children, hurry! You’re going to miss the bus stop! The bus leaves at 8 a.m.” said their mother.

          “Oh dear, oh dear we’re going to miss the bus!” exclaimed Jean.

Jean loved being on time, and never was late.

          “Oof! We have reached on time!” Jimmy exclaimed, panting.

          “Fare, please,” said the ticket collector.

          “Here you are,” Jimmy replied, handing over 4 pounds.

          “Enjoy your ride,” he said.

Now, since they were very rich, Jean and Jimmy didn’t ride on the bus. They always had the chauffeur or Dad would take them in his Ferrari whenever they wanted to go anywhere. So, when the bus started, they didn’t find a place to sit anywhere, so they had to stand. Unfortunately, they didn’t know they were supposed to hold on to something. The moment the bus started, they both crashed into a man standing behind them.

 

          “Hey! Watch where you’re going, you silly children!” The man said angrily.

          “Oh, we’re terribly sorry, we didn’t know we were supposed to hold on to something when the bus had started. Please excuse us,” Jean said, in a hushed voice.

          “All right. Now you know what you’re supposed to do, don’t do it again, and I forgive you. Who are you, anyway? I haven’t seen you two on the bus before.”

          “Jimmy and Jean Sterling,” replied Jimmy.

Since they were rich, many people had heard the name Sterling. So, the man’s reaction was this:

          “What! Oh dear, I’m so sorry for mistreating you, I didn’t know who you were! Please pardon me,” the man said.

          “Oh, it’s all right, it’s all right!” Jeanne said, quite astonished at how quickly the man had switched moods.

          “Oh, you don’t need to treat us like a celebrity! We’re just kids,” Jimmy added, hiding a smirk.

          The bus stopped suddenly, making them all jump.

          “Well, that’s my stop, I must be off,” the man said. “Nice meeting you two,” he said, shaking Jimmy’s hand.

          “He was quite strange,” Jean muttered to Jimmy.

He nodded. People were always very strange the moment they found out who the kids really were.

 

          “Well, we’ve arrived at school. See you later!” Jimmy said.

Jean was a little younger than Jimmy, so she had to go to a different class in the same school. Jimmy’s class was at the top floor, and Jean’s was at the middle, so they had to go separate ways. Now, I will start with Jimmy’s day and go on to Jean’s. Let’s start, shall we?

 

          Jimmy checked his timetable. Double Mathematics first. He groaned. Math’s was boring. Math meant solving tough sums again and again until you got it right. On the plus side, He had chemistry this morning, just before noon. He loved chemistry. It was so interesting. With that in mind, he waited for his math teacher to come.

 

          “Good morning, class!” Miss Ellis, the teacher said, walking in.

          The chitter chatter continued.

          “I said, good morning, class!” She said, a little louder.

          “Good morning, Miss!” the children said.

          “That’s better. Now, today we are starting with algebra. Open your textbooks to page number 46.”

          The children groaned. No one liked algebra. Everyone had heard from the higher classes that algebra was extremely tough. No one liked it. Worse than that, it always came up for the exams. Miss Ellis is one of those teachers who make you work hard without taking a break. Ever. No one dared fail her exams, because she would give you extra classes, math sessions and homework so that you were on the top of the class. You won’t even get to enjoy your weekend, because you will be working to make sure you complete your homework. If you didn’t, well… you wouldn’t want to see Math class ever again. This class was the same. No games, no fun, just exercises and homework. Even if you finished your work early, she wouldn’t allow you to doodle or even do that day’s homework. You just had to sit there and listen to the teacher or look at everyone else writing. It was boring. Jimmy had Math class every day, because all the teachers say Math is good for you and you won’t have any jobs if you don’t study mathematics.

          “Now, variables are those letters. They represent an unknown number and are commonly used in many equations in Math. Well? Why aren’t you writing that down?” Miss Ellis said, impatiently.

          There was a rush as everyone looked into their bags for a notebook and a pen.

          “Everyone, do those sums in your textbook properly. If you get them wrong, you must do it as homework.”

          There was a collective groan as there were more than thirty sums to solve.

          “Now, constants are the opposites of variables. They represent numbers that are given…”

 

          After a while, Jimmy stopped listening. His eyes became unfocused, and he started feeling sleepy. Suddenly, he stared at a brown blob at the window.

          What is a brown blob doing over there near the window? He thought. Then, his eyes refocused, and he saw that the seemingly brown blob was, in fact, a brown, quite pretty sparrow, sitting on the windowsill.

          What a pretty sparrow. Too bad it’s flying away. He thought.

          “Jimmy? Can you hear me? Hello? What is the answer to question seven?” the teacher asked.

          “What? I’m so sorry ma’am, I didn’t hear you.” Jimmy said, suddenly.

          A few snickers from the children.

          “I said, what is the answer to question seven?” The teacher asked, sharply.

          “Err… I don’t know…” Jimmy replied, uncertainly.

          “See me after class, Jimmy. I’ll give you a punishment.”

The children snickered. Everybody liked it when someone, other than themselves, got in trouble. Jimmy shivered. A punishment was never good, and one from Miss Ellis would be worse than a normal one.

 

          A few minutes later, class ended. Jimmy went to Miss Ellis, dreading the punishment.

          “Now, I will be telling the principal about this. You will be sent on litter duty for this. Understood?” The teacher said sharply.

          Jimmy just nodded. Protesting would just make it worse.

          “Good. You may go.”

Jimmy went back to his seat. He gazed at the ground sadly. He wondered how Jean’s day was going. Let’s go check, shall we?

 

Despite everyone else calling her crazy, she loved the subject history. It just seemed so appealing to her to learn about ancient civilizations and about their own past, their own cultures, and their own tribes. Everyone said history was boring and it was more interesting to just read a book. The teacher, Mr. Huffs, had a low-pitched, droning voice that drove anyone and everyone except for Jean to a deep, sleepy stupor that was abruptly halted by the school bell ringing. The children were making their usual ruckus, waiting for the teacher. Jean quietly got to her seat and sat down. She couldn’t wait for the teacher to come.

 

Finally, Mr. Huffs came. Entering sleepily from the front door, he seated himself on the teacher’s chair at the teacher’s table.

“Good morning, class,” he said, breezily.

“Good morning, Mr. Huffs,” Jean replied. The rest of the class was too busy making a ruckus to respond.

“Settle down, settle down,” he said. If anything, the ruckus got louder.

“I SAID SETTLE DOWN!” he yelled, very loudly.

No one moved a muscle, frightened.

“I don’t know why I took this job…” he muttered.

“Now, we shall be learning about the Iron age. Open your textbooks to page 59. Quickly, please.” He said, back to his usual self.

He continued, “The iron age is when one of the strongest metals was discovered and its usage in the early world. It was discovered in around 4000 BCE by the Hittites of ancient Egypt. Even now, it plays an important role…”

That was all it needed. The class now was in its usual stupor. Two boys were sleepily playing hangman in the corner. A girl was reading a book in the corner. Another few kids were staring into space. Even Jean wasn’t completely immune to this drowsy stupor. She found little distractions all through the class. She saw a cute little dog frolicking around on the playground.

          How cute he is, dancing around! I wish I had a cute pet like that. I should ask Daddy for one tomorrow. Mum might object. I’ll figure it out later.

“Can someone tell me when Iron was found? The question is worth two points and I’ll give you another bonus two points if you tell me who found it. How about… Jean! Please answer my question.” Jean heard the teacher say this, suddenly waking up from her stupor.

          “It was found in 4000 BC by… erm…I forgot,” replied Jean sheepishly.

          “Two points for Jean. For your information, as I said when the class started, it was found by the Hittites of Ancient-”

          The school bell rang loudly, making everyone jump.

 

          Jean met Jimmy outside the school gates, after school ended.

          “How was school?” Jean asked.

          “I got litter duty from Miss Ellis,” he grumbled. “Chemistry was fun, though.” He mused. “How was your day, Jean?”

          “About normal. History was good. I got a little distracted though,” she replied.

          “Aha!” Jimmy yelled. “So even you are not fully immune to Mr. Hills’s spell!”

          “Shhh! Not so loud! Everyone will stare,” Jean said.

 

          That afternoon, Jimmy was sitting in one of his many beds, in one of his many rooms, with one of his many PlayStation 5 games. Jean had gone out shopping for clothes and shoes with Mrs. Sterling. Jimmy suddenly heard a little chirping sound. It sounded hurt. Intrigued, he looked around. There, at the windowsill, was the very same pretty sparrow that Jimmy had encountered on his day at school! It seemed even prettier up close. He reached out to touch it, but the sparrow hopped away, frightened. Jimmy wondered why it didn’t just fly away. Then, he saw that the poor little sparrow was injured. It seemed to have flown through a thorny bush and was covered with scratches.

 

          As I told you earlier, Jimmy was a very kind-hearted boy. He knew he had to help the sparrow. The problem was, he didn’t know how.

Maybe Dad would know, he thought. He ran around the house calling for his father. He went to the kitchen to think. There he found a note.

                               Jimmy, I have gone to the bar to

                           have a chat with my friends.

                           Don’t have anything to eat or you’ll

                           spoil your appetite.

 

                           Love,

                           Dad.

Hmm, he thought. Now what should I do? Just then, the doorbell rang. Jean and Mother were back home from shopping.

          “Jean! I found a sparrow!” said Jimmy loudly.

          “How nice! Where is it?” Jean asked.

Jimmy led Jean to one of his rooms.

          “There, look!”

          “How cute it is!” Jean exclaimed.

Jean reached out to touch it, and the sparrow had hopped away from her, just like it had hopped away from him.

          “Don’t touch it! It’s hurt.” Jimmy explained.

          “How sad!” Jean said.

          “We must help it.”

          “I agree, but how?”

          “I know how,” said a voice behind them. They jumped and turned around. It was Mother. “I will tell you, too. But first, you must run an errand for me. Do you agree?” she asked.

          “Yes, Mother!” They said in unison.

 

          After the errand, Jimmy and Jean both went to Mother to learn how to take care of the sparrow.

 

          “First, I took a shoe box and lined it with a cloth. I was careful to touch the sparrow with only the cloth because otherwise the other sparrows would hurt the sparrow. I took a little cotton and dropped it into milk and submerged it. Later, I squeezed the cotton so that drops came out. I fed the drops of milk to the sparrow. I kept it near my father’s lampshade so that it would stay warm. It was happy that way. I was sad to see it go.” She explained.

“Okay, Mother! We’ll do what you did. Right, Jean?” Jimmy said.       “You bet! Where’s the nearest shoebox?” Jean replied.

          “I’m so glad that you children are so excited about this! All you normally do is walk around all day.” She said.

         

          Jimmy and Jean named the sparrow ‘Tweetie’. They found a shoebox and a cloth and did exactly as she said. They used the cloth as the lining and found a lampshade from the attic, which kept the sparrow warm. They also never forgot to feed the sparrow. After a few days, it started looking feeling better. Jean and Jimmy were very happy.

 

          Soon, the day came when the little bird could fly again. He flew from Jimmy’s windowsill to the bed. Then he had a long sleep, because he hadn’t used that much energy in a long time. In a couple of more days, he was soaring effortlessly across the garden, enjoying himself thoroughly. Weeks passed. Jean and Jimmy were becoming happier by the day.

 

          Then, the final day came. Nibbling Jimmy’s finger affectionately, the sparrow flew into the night, never to be seen again. Jean cried a bit. She was so used to caring for the little thing that she didn’t know what she would do without it. She hoped the little sparrow would be okay. Jimmy and Jean had grown quite fond of it. They both went to bed.

I like taking care of animals. I like helping them. I hope another animal comes soon. Jimmy thought.

 

          A week later, as usual, Jean met up with Jimmy at the gates of the school. Then, Jean stopped short. There, in front of her eyes, was the same dog that she had been seeing in the school grounds, playing- for over a month now! The dog wasn’t frolicking. It whimpered. It had a thorn stuck in its foot!

          “There’s the dog I’ve been seeing for a month now! It’s hurt! We must help him!” Jean said, pointing out the dog to Jimmy.

          “We have to go home now. Mother will know what to do with it. How do we take it with us?” Jimmy pondered. Jean looked at Jimmy, thinking. “I know that look, Jean. What are you thinking?”

 

           A few minutes later, Jimmy was getting weird looks from the people in the bus.

“I still don’t know how you managed to convince me,” he grumbled.

“Just a few more stops. He likes being carried. I can see that.”

“Why don’t you carry him then?” Jimmy said.

“All right, All right! Ooh, he is heavy.” Jean said.

 

          Soon, they reached home. They found out some good news and bad news. The bad news was that Mother had no idea how to take care of a dog. She just said “Take him to the vet.” The good news was that their father had a dog when he was small and he had to take care of it. They first took him to the vet, who gave them a list of medicines and also took the thorn out of the dog’s foot. The medicine was for the dog’s (who they call Frodo) foot. They also took him to a long grooming session, in which the groomers took good care for the dog and shaved him properly. They also informed them about the dog’s fleas, called tics that were troubling him and gave them a tic shampoo for him.

 

          Jean and Jimmy took very good care of Frodo the puppy. They took him out for walks, gave him water, food, baths (which Frodo wasn’t very happy about). Frodo was very happy with his stay though he didn’t like the baths. Soon, he was wandering further and further away. Thus the quarrels between father and mother began.

 

          “He’s tame now! He has to stay here, or else he won’t be able to do anything!” Mother said.

          “If Frodo wants to go, he will go. We can’t keep him back. It’s not right.” Replied Father.

          “It’s for his own good! Nobody else will take him in!”

          “He will learn to survive on his own. All animals do.” He said, coughing.

          “Are you all right? You went to the hospital yesterday, didn’t you?” she asked, softly, to not let the children hear.

          “They told me it was lung cancer. Stage three. I didn’t want to worry the children.” He said, also very softly.

          “That’s very dangerous. You might-”

          “That’s why I need you to take care of the kids. I won’t be around for much longer.” Father said, sadly.

          “How long?” Mother said, covering her lips.

          “I don’t know. It might not be very long.”

 

          The next day, they couldn’t find Frodo anywhere. They searched all through their big house, in the garden, the yard, the backyard, but they couldn’t find him. “He must have gone in the night,” Father said, sure of it. Jean and Jimmy were very sad. They sat in a bedroom, dejected.

          “I’ll miss the way Frodo jumped around everywhere,” Jean said.

          “And how he barked,” said Jimmy.

“And how he played,”

“And how cute he was sleeping,” They both smiled sadly. They knew he wasn’t gone inside them.

 

          The next couple of days, they were bored. They had nothing to take care of or do anything with a pet. Jimmy spent more hours on his Ps5 and Jean went clothes shopping more often than usual. They both got caught up in exams and never spent time with their family. A month later, disaster struck. It seemed like their dad had died because of lung cancer. Everyone in the family didn’t get his money, because customers now were suing the company as they realized that no one could take over the family’s business. Jimmy and Jean’s grandfather had started a furniture company that made elite furniture that was only for sale for rich people. That’s how he got that rich. Now the family had no money, they had to get things by themselves.

 

          Luckily, Mrs. Sterling grows the food in her garden, so the only thing was protecting it. They couldn’t buy the rich fertilizers so that all the termites would stay away. So Mrs. Sterling appointed Jimmy and Jean to protect the plants. Unfortunately they never managed to kill the termites and they always came at night.

 

 

 

 

          One day, they saw a sparrow out where they were protecting the plants. They were about to shoo it away Jimmy realized was Tweetie!

          “Oh don’t shoo it, Jean, it’s Tweetie, he’s returned!” Jimmy cried out.

Suddenly, Tweetie found a termite. She flew down and in a flash the termite disappeared. Jean cheered. They didn’t have to guard it anymore. Suddenly, a big dog came. It was Frodo! He crushed the termites in his path and licked them up. He seemed to like it. Tweetie and Frodo killed all the termites that came near. That night, the family slept soundly. The pair of pets the kids had helped were repaying them with kindness.

 

A couple of months later, Mrs. Sterling remarried. Her new husband was kind and loving and always loved nature. He was very surprised when he found out how they repelled termites.

 

          To this day, Jimmy and Jean are playing with Tweetie and Frodo. You can see them, killing termites and guarding very beautiful plants!

 

Moral of the story: Every act of kindness rewards you.