When her eight-year-old son brought a ragged-looking man home with him, Meredith was angry and confused. But when the man finally showed his face, she was shocked by the old chapter of her life that had suddenly opened again.
“I hope she’s in a good mood!” Mike thought nervously as he hesitated to ring the doorbell, knowing his mother would answer in a hurry.
Weekends or weekdays, Meredith didn’t have a single moment to spare – being the mother of two wild toddler boys will do that to you. She was a single mom, and she was deliberately strict with her 8-year-old Mike and 2-year-old Marty. She wanted to raise them to be tough – not afraid to be kind but hardened just enough to face the bullies of the world.
She wished her parents had taught her that. It would’ve prepared her for the menacing boys and girls who teased and bullied her through high school. And it would’ve definitely helped her get back on her feet sooner after her husband left her and the boys for his secretary.
Meredith still flinched at the memory of the days and nights she spent crying over that man and, years before that, crying over that one boy in school who would snatch her lunch every day and call her names for being a “chubby” kid.
“Not my kids. They know how to stand up to bullies,” Meredith sighed with contentment and pride, taking off her apron to finally put her feet up and relax for a few minutes before getting back to work.
“Is that really you? Gosh, what happened?”
Mike would not return from school for another half hour, and little Marty was fast asleep in the crib after a filling meal. It was the perfect time for Meredith to drift into a short nap. “Just for a few minutes,” she promised herself.
But when the doorbell woke her up again, it was already starting to get dark and cloudy. She instinctively looked at the time and realized her son Mike was at her doorstep an hour later than usual.
“He’d better have a good excuse!” Meredith frowned as she opened the door, ready to stare down at her mischievous little boy.
But scared little Mike wasn’t alone. There was a ragged-looking man stooping behind him, cloaked in an old tattered blanket that should’ve been washed months ago.
“Hey, you! Get off my property!” Meredith leaped forward, pointing the stranger to the street outside the gate.
But before Meredith could take another step, a little hand stopped her.
“Mom, wait! I brought him here. And I need to ask you something,” Mike managed to speak over his fear of his mother’s reaction.
Meredith’s head tilted in suspicion, but she let her son talk.
“Mommy, can this poor man live with us? Please? Just for a few days?” the boy asked with joined hands and puppy eyes.
Meredith was more clueless than angry. “Why has my son dragged a hobo onto our porch? What’s the story here?” she wondered.
“Mike, you have about two minutes to explain to me what’s going on. And YOU!” Meredith turned to the homeless man and warned him, “Do not move!”
Meredith heard as her teary-eyed son told her about the poor man he had befriended over half a sandwich.
“I saw him one day near the bus stop. I was crying because someone teased me in class when this man spoke to me and made me laugh. And then I realized he was really hungry. So I gave him half my sandwich. He was so thankful that he cried, mom!”
Meredith listened with awe as her son confessed to feeding that man half his lunch every day since. “He listens to all my stories from school, and he’s got pretty interesting ones, too. But right now, he’s got a terrible fever. I tried to touch his forehead, and my hand almost burned! He needs a home, mom. Please, can he stay here till he gets better? I won’t ask you for anything else… not even at Christmas!”
“Let me talk to the man. You stay inside, Mike,” Meredith said sternly and went to the man who was still standing on her porch.
Mike wiped his tears and tried to put his ear to the door, hoping to listen to what was going on outside. The boy knew his mother would probably yell at him for what he had done, but he hoped she would somehow let his friend stay.
Meredith had barely gone out for a few seconds when Mike gently opened the door to peek outside.
And what the little boy heard made his little heart skip a beat.
What are you hiding your face for? Are you running from the cops or something?” Meredith asked the man, who seemed to be sobbing under the blanket.
“I shouldn’t have come here. I didn’t know! I—I don’t want you to see me like this, Meredith!” the man said, reluctantly revealing his face to the woman.
For a moment, Meredith was shocked that some homeless man knew her name. But when she saw his face, she realized he was no stranger.
“David!” Meredith gasped, recognizing the face that had haunted her every now and then. It was the same boy who would steal her food and call her names when she was a little girl.
“Is that really you? Gosh, what happened?” Meredith approached her former classmate just to ensure this wasn’t a dream.
David tried to control the shivers in his body and hold back his tears as he told Meredith the heartbreaking story of his life.
David became a troublemaker in school shortly after his father had abandoned him and his mother when he was only 12. He acted out in school, and his reputation continued to hamper his progress as he did poorly at university and struggled to build a career later on.
“I was struggling to make ends meet. And just when life got a tiny bit better, just when I had married an incredible woman and had a wonderful boy with her, life snatched them away from me, too! One accident… and they were both gone!
“My boy… he was only 4 months old, Meredith!” David cried in his hoarse voice, revealing that his life had been on a downward spiral since, and he had been living on the streets for a year.
“My life… is over!” the man said and finally gave in to the bout of cough that had been itching down his throat.
Mike was right. David was burning up. She took out the car and drove to the hospital with David and Mike while she got a kind neighbor to watch her 2-year-old.
At the hospital, Mike didn’t want to leave David’s side, and David hoped that Meredith would stay a little longer, too.
“There’s a lot I need to apologize to you for, Meredith. And I have to congratulate you for raising this incredible young boy, too!” David said, ruffling Mike’s hair.
Over the days that followed, David’s health got better. His heart did, too, because he was finally able to shed the burden of guilt he had been carrying around for years. Meredith got her closure, too. But eventually, there was room for more than just closure…
A week since he met Meredith, David got discharged from the hospital, and he didn’t waste a minute in cleaning up his act. He re-applied for jobs, and this time, the perfect opportunity showed up for him effortlessly.
The day he earned his first big salary, he showed up at Meredith’s door again with a 100 red roses. “Thank you for giving me a reason to live again!” he said and kissed her on the back of her palm like a gentleman.
Meredith blushed and couldn’t take her eyes off David’s new, transformed self. This time, the man looked younger, happier, and hidden in his eyes was a hint… that he had fallen in love all over again.