A Note and Some Coins
A folded note, eighty yen, and a growing mystery
That evening, Grandma Rose followed the boy down the street.
She walked slowly and stayed far behind him.
But the street was , and she soon lost him.
"Where did he go?" she asked herself.
She looked left and right, but the boy was gone.
Tired and sad, she walked back to her shop.
Then she saw something small near her front door.
It was a and a few coins.
She picked them up and read the slowly.
"Dear Grandma. Thank you for the bread. I am sorry."
"I did not pay enough money. Here are eighty yen."
"I will pay all of it soon. Thank you. Tom."
Grandma Rose read the words again and again.
Her eyes became , and she held the close.
"Did this little boy his coins for me?" she thought.
"Why did he say sorry? He is such a kind child."
She counted the coins, and it was eighty yen.
Now the boy had paid the full for the bread.
She felt warm inside, but she also felt .
"Did something happen at his home?" she wondered.
"Why does he need this bread every day?"
She wanted to thank him and to help him.
So she made a for the next morning.
She would give him the biggest, softest loaf for .