Turning Up The Heat And The Kindness

(I am in my junior year at college. I have a car on campus, but if I just need a few small things I will just walk a block down the street to the discount store in order to save on gas. This is my plan one really hot Saturday afternoon, but I see a freshman run out of his dorm looking frazzled and looking around the student parking lot in horror.)

Me: “Hey, are you all right?”

Freshman: “No. I forgot my phone at [Popular Restaurant approximately five miles down the road] and my ride already left to go back to Wilmington. Guess I’ll have to walk.”

(For those of you who’ve never been to Pembroke, it can get really hot and there is barely any shade going down the main streets. And this freshman already looks like he is getting tired from the heat.)

Me: “Tell you what, kid. I can drive you down there.”

Freshman: “Are you sure? I don’t have any money—”

Me: “Don’t worry about it. I was on my way out to get some groceries anyway.”

(We barely spoke on the way to and from the restaurant, but the kid wouldn’t stop thanking me once I dropped him off at the campus.)