When Daniel saw his older neighbor fighting with her son over her plants, he offered to help and volunteered to water her garden for her. Sometime later, he found a note buried in the soil that changed everything in the most surprising way.
“I can’t believe you would ask that of me! I can’t come here every day to water your plants! If you gave me the house, I would do it!” Daniel heard someone shouting and stopped his bike in front of a pretty little house with a lovely garden. He knew that an older woman, Mrs. Carrino, lived there, but he had never talked to her, and he had no idea who was yelling.
Suddenly, Daniel saw a man exiting the house, still yelling, and the older woman was following him behind. “Arnold, I asked you to come and help me, and all you’ve talked about is getting this house! Are you crazy? Do you want me to die so you can have my house?”
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
Daniel’s eyebrows went up, and he thought he should leave, but he was rooted in place.
Suddenly, the sound of metal crashing against each other made him flinch. “What the –”
“You’re being a drama queen, mother. This house will go to me anyway. I can’t believe you’re giving me this attitude when I came to help you move!”
“Leave now if that’s how you’re going to act!” Mrs. Carrino stated, which made Arnold stomp to his car and drive off in a huff. They were so engrossed in their fight that they didn’t even notice Daniel standing there with his bike.
Finally, the older woman saw him. “Oh, boy. What are you doing here? Do I know you?” she asked.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
“I live two houses down the street. I’m Daniel, Caroline’s son,” he stated, pointing back to his house. “I’m sorry, but I was biking around and heard the yelling. I got worried. Are you alright, Mrs. Carrino?”
“Oh, I recognize you now, and it’s so nice that you know my name. Don’t worry about that. It was just my son being a brat,” she explained.
“Why?”
“Well… I’m moving to a nursing home, and I asked him to come and help me. But he only came here to ask if I could give him the house. He said he was going to move in here. But I know he’s just going to sell it because he doesn’t value investment like I do. I worked hard to earn this place, and as long as I’m alive, I’m not selling it,” Mrs. Carrino revealed. “But then he made a scene after I asked him to water my plants. And I believe you saw the rest of the fight.”
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
“I can do that,” Daniel said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Do what?”
“Water your plants.”
“I can’t pay you, dear,” Mrs. Carrino said, her eyes apologetic.
“I know. But I live so close. It’s not a problem,” Daniel insisted, and the older woman smiled brightly at him.
A few days later, Mrs. Carrino moved to a nearby nursing home in Florida, and Daniel kept his promise. He visited her home almost every day to water her plants and was happy to do so. Soon enough, he started to love gardening and would visit Mrs. Carrino to ask about adding some new plants.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
“Of course! And make sure to watch out for the soil,” she said, winking at him, although Daniel had no idea why she was acting cheeky.
Daniel began buying and adding new plants to the garden, thinking it would be great to start a gardening company in the future so his family wouldn’t have to struggle so much. His mother worked two jobs on the weekdays and one on weekends to keep him and his siblings fed and to pay rent. But it was not enough.
He only had a bike because he had found an old one and had taken side gigs to repair it. But gardening gave him an escape from all those money worries, and he felt terrific after planting something new and seeing how it started to grow. He never expected what he would find in the garden one day.
He had gotten some azaleas, which he read thrived in the Florida weather, and had started digging with a tiny shovel on a specific spot of the grass. Suddenly, the sound of metal crashing against each other made him flinch. “What the –”
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
Dropping the shovel, he used his hands to unearth a mason jar with a metal top and found a note inside.
“Dear Daniel! Thank you for your help, this house is now yours! Go inside and find all the paperwork. You and your family can move in whenever you want!”
Daniel couldn’t believe his eyes, but he rushed inside, using the key Mrs. Carrino left him. On the kitchen counter, he saw the title to the house. Although he couldn’t understand what most of it said, he saw his name at the bottom.
Still in shock, he called Mrs. Carrino, who confirmed everything. “You’re going to need to sign it to complete the transfer. But I wanted you to find the note first!” Mrs. Carrino said.
His mother couldn’t believe it. They could move into the house and stop paying rent. There was no mortgage either, which would help his family immensely. They were so grateful for the older woman’s gift that his mother and other siblings started visiting her often, thinking of her as a grandmother.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
But during their move, Daniel discovered something even more curious. In Mrs. Carrino’s old room, there was another note. It was the same as the one he had found, but instead, it said “Arnold.” The older woman was actually planning to give her son the house if he helped her with her plants. But she changed her mind, and Daniel received a huge present just for being kind.
It was a lesson he would never forget.
What can we learn from this story?
- Aspire to be someone like Daniel, not Arnold. Arnold pretended to want to help his mother, but he only wanted her house. Meanwhile, Daniel did it out of the goodness of his heart.
- You should never feel entitled to an inheritance. While most parents like giving their children the results of their hard work, children should never feel entitled to it. Arnold assumed he was getting his mother’s house but he was wrong.
Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.
If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a boy who helped an older woman carry her groceries and received money later.
This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone’s life.
Girl, 6, dies in freak badminton accident – wanted to be ‘saved’
A New Jersey family is mourning the tragic loss of their 6-year-old daughter, Lucy Morgan, who died in a freak accident while on vacation.
The incident occurred while Lucy was watching her family play badminton
During the game, a racquet suddenly broke during a downward swing, and a piece of metal from the handle snapped off, striking Lucy in the skull and causing a catastrophic brain injury.
Lucy’s father, Pastor Jesse Morgan, shared the heartbreaking details on his blog, New Creation Living. He recounted how June 1 started like any other day during their family vacation in Limerick, Maine. However, the day took a fateful turn, and now he believes his little girl is with Jesus.
The family quickly realized the severity of Lucy’s injury. Jesse explained on his blog that after the metal piece struck Lucy, she was immediately unresponsive but was still breathing on her own. His wife, Bethany Morgan, accompanied Lucy in the ambulance to a small hospital before she was airlifted to Maine Medical Center in Portland. They knew Lucy’s life was in grave danger.
“Upon arrival she went right to the operating room where they removed part of her skull to relieve pressure and deal with her injury. She coded, they got her back, and they completed the surgery,” Jesse wrote on his blog. “In the PICU we are being told that there is a very slim chance she recovers.”
Jesse Morgan shared that his daughter had recently expressed a desire to be with God. Just a month before the accident, Lucy told her parents she wanted to be saved and live with God. Jesse wrote that Lucy asked her mother about being saved, and after a brief conversation, she went to her room to pray.
“She went to her room and prayed to God to forgive her and that she believed in Jesus’ death and resurrection. What a gift,” he wrote.
Despite the medical efforts, Lucy never recovered from her injury. Jesse explained that the metal piece had caused devastating damage due to where it pierced her skull. Doctors informed the family that she would likely not survive.
The day before her death, he wrote, “The significant lack of brain function over the past 48 hours demonstrates this reality that we are utterly devastated by. If there is any good news in this, it’s that she hasn’t felt any pain over the past few days.
“We will keep waiting on the Lord, getting second opinions, and exhausting every possible avenue while crying out to God for a miracle,” he added. “However, as of now, our beloved daughter has been showing all the signs of brain death for the past few days. There is a very good chance that she passes away and meets Jesus within 24 hours.”
In the wake of this tragedy, the family has been surrounded by love and support. Many people took to social media to share kind words about Lucy and her family. Dan Cruver, a former professor of Jesse Morgan, spoke highly of Jesse’s character in a Facebook post.
“Jesse Morgan was a student of mine when I taught Bible and theology at Clarks Summit University 18 years ago. I remember quite a lot of students, but there are a few that you remember because they frequently engaged you after class and asked thoughtful, insightful questions,” he wrote. “Jesse was one of those students.”
To support the family, loved ones created a GoFundMe account which has surpassed its original goal of $100,000 and is nearing a new goal of $130,000, with more than $125,000 in donations so far.
Organizer Jill Anthony wrote, “This page serves as a place to provide them extravagant financial support – to help pay for meals while they are away from home, lodging for family, medical costs … whatever they need.”
Anthony added an update: “June 5, Lucy went to be with the Lord. Please keep praying for the Morgans as they walk through these next days, weeks, months, and years without their sweet Lucy here with them.”
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