Pedro was an old man of eighty-five years old. One day he had to make a very long trip to visit his family so he went to the bus station to buy a ticket, but unfortunately all the tickets had already been sold and there were only tickets that did not include a seat. If Pedro wanted to have a seat, he would have to wait until 3 days for the next bus, but he wanted to see his family for Christmas, so he had no choice but to buy the ticket that didn't include a seat.
So he bought it and got on the bus, with calm steps he began to walk slowly in search of a free chair, hoping that some passenger had not taken advantage of their seat. First he passed by a young woman who looked at him sideways and continued to look at herself in the mirror, the old man continued his way down the aisle of the vehicle and a young man who was distracted on his cell phone also looked sideways at him with dissimilarity, a few steps later Pedro saw a man who only closed his eyes when he noticed that the old man was approaching him.
When he reached the back of the bus, and he realized that all the seats were full, Pedro was satisfied with finding a corner where to locate his small suitcase and finding a comfortable position to spend the next hours of travel. A few minutes passed and a nice young woman who was around twenty years old offered her seat to him, Pedro was very grateful for the young woman's gesture but he was not sure to accept the offer, and asked her if she lacked a lot of time to arrive to her destination, to which Young Maria replied that approximately six hours. After much insistence from Maria, Pedro finally accepted the seat on the condition that they took turns in the chair.
Time passed and all passengers enjoyed the trip, some of them fell asleep, others read a book or simply talked with each other. So the first 2 hours of the trip passed and the bus assistant began to pass through the hall picking up the tickets, with a loud voice woke up all the passengers and when he arrived at the place where Pedro was he asked for his ticket. Maria hurriedly nudged the assistant and showed him her ticket that included a seat, and she winks at him as a gesture of complicity so that the young assistant does not bother Pedro.
The young assistant saw with admiration Maria, who despite her situation was much friendlier than the rest of the passengers. He smiled at her kindly and offered her a free seat that was up to the front of the bus in the most comfortable area. She happily said goodbye to Pedro, took her crutches and the assistant helped her with her small suitcase and they both walked down the aisle to the front of the vehicle. Facing the attentive gaze of all passengers, the bus fell into deep silence. Maria took a seat in her new place, set her crutches aside and made herself comfortable. All other passengers felt guilty. To everyone's surprise, the only one who was not indifferent to the old man was that girl who also knew what it felt like to be rejected and ignored.
Credits:
Story by Jhon Alfer Rúa Vergara, Institución Universitaria Pascual Bravo
Exercises by Jhon Alfer Rúa Vergara, Institución Universitaria Pascual Bravo