Unfiltered Story #254313

I’m on a crowded bus with my nephew and managed to get a seat. There are two seats next to each other, facing another set of two seats. Next to me is a middle aged man and opposite him is a little girl about four or five. The girl is very well behaved and sits nicely with her back to the seat. This means that her feet are sticking out and due to limited legroom, her feet brush the knees of the man opposite. She tries to avoid this, especially because the man makes a show of wiping of “dirt” every time her foot touches his knee. This is all accidental and in no part due because of the girl wriggling or being restless. To the contrary, she tried to move as little as possible and shrunk further and further in the seat, wanting to disappear.
There are some clues in the clothing of the girl and the mother that money is tight. They are clean and decent but it was evident that the clothing and other accessories had seen better times. I finally get fed up with the man’s attitude but I’m not very confrontational. I decided on another way of dealing with it and since I am on my way to a charity shop with a collection of dolls to give away, I signal my nephew and ask him to pick a nice one. He does as requested and I offer it the little girl. Her eyes start shining, she beams a wide smile and throws a questioning look at her mother. She nodded her approval and the girl took the with both hands and started to admire and caress her new treasure.
She was still on occasion touching the man’s knees and the man was still trying to make a show of brushing of dirt but the little girl? She only had eyes for her doll and couldn’t care less.