Stephen and a Bowl of Noodles

Stephen, a 14-year-old boy was seen alone in the middle of the road. It was almost 10 pm; he was walking alone on the street on a breezy night.

He recalled the incident that made him quarrel with his mother and he moved out of the house like a storm. His eyes were filled with tears. He had a quarrel with his mother from morning. His mom asked about his low grades in the recent exam. Stephen had a careless attitude and did not reply to her well. She scolded him in the evening for being so careless. He quarreled with his mother and argued without understanding he was also in fault. The quarrel ended up so badly that Stephen left his home.

He walked for more than hours. He smelled a nice flavor (味道) from a shop and was attracted by the sweet smell. He couldn’t resist the smell of that nice flavor and he felt very hungry.

It was a small noodles shop and he stopped by the shop. Suddenly he realized there was not even a single penny in his pocket. With sad face, he stood there for a minute and decided to leave the place. The shop owner saw him and asked him to have some food.

Stephen said he had no money to pay for the food. The shop owner smiled, saying, “It’s OK, I don’t ask you any money.”

The shop owner prepared a hot bowl of sweet and delicious noodles. Stephen ate the noodles, feeling that he owed something to the shop owner. He promised to return his favor.

Stephen was in tears when he ate the noodles The shop owner asked what happened to him. Stephen told him about the incident and the quarrel with his mother and he felt that his mother did not understand him.

Philip, Samantha and Sabrina had a happy family five years ago. The daughter, Sabrina, was a good student and was very good at painting. But everything changed when the mother, Samantha, was diagnosed with cancer. Philip borrowed money, sold his farmhouse, and did everything to save his wife’s life and he was working hard every day for huge medical costs.

One day, Philip got a call from his 14-year-old daughter’s teacher. “Mrs Anderson?” Philip was worried as he answered the call. “Why is she calling me? I hope Sabrina is okay,” he thought.

“Good day, Mrs Anderson! How may I help you?”

Mrs Anderson told Philip that his daughter had not been attending school for the past two days. Philip was shocked because his daughter told him she was going to school that morning. But she had lied to him. After hanging up, Philip immediately called Sabrina to find out.

“Hey, sweetie, where are you?” he asked Sabrina.

“I’m at school,” she told him.

Philip knew Sabrina would probably lie to him again if he asked her where she was and told her he knew she was not in school.

When he got home after work, he saw Sabrina’s school bag on the table and realized Sabrina had already returned home. “Sweetie, I’m home,” he shouted but there was no answer.

Sabrina was not at home. When Philip took her school bag to her room, he found the bag opened a little bit and Philip saw some money in it. Philip feared his daughter could fall into some bad habits. He knew it was silly to doubt his child, but he was troubled by the fear any father would have in raising a teen daughter. Philip just wanted to be sure Sabrina was not doing something wrong and he opened the bag. Besides the money, there were also some paintings.

“Where did she get so much money from?” he said to himself. Philip put the money back into Sabrina’s school bag and kept it as it was. He was more worried about what his teen daughter could be doing.