“WOW. I can’t believe how many people are showing up for this!” Dandelion Pinkley said. She stood in the wide parking lot of the E-Z Life Elephant Sanctuary, watching a lot of cars getting close. Her brother Doodlebug, their cousin Rudyard, and other kids were with her. All of them were ready to wash those cars.

The elephants who lived at E-Z Life had been saved. Now they enjoyed a safe home. And every clean car meant a few more dollars to support their well-being. So working the car wash was a great way to spend a summer day!

The first few cars parked. The drivers paid, and the kids got to work.

“My car is messy!” one driver said as she paid up.

“You’re not kidding.” Doodlebug said. He began washing it.

Nearby, Cousin Rudyard began shining the bumpers (保险杠) on a classic car. “Whoopee!” he shouted. “I love this car, and it’s perfect now!”

He turned to the next car, singing a funny elephant song along with some other kids. A few elephants began to come together at the wooden fence (栅栏).

“They’re happy,” Dandelion’s best friend, Tomiko, said.

“And look at the babies,” Dandelion said, as one put its trunk (象鼻) through the fence and waved at them. “We need to work faster, so we can get them more money!”

All the kids stepped up the action. For a while, it was a lot of fun. The car wash went perfectly. People drove up and paid their money. But the noise and the summer heat began to wear the young car washers down.

“I can’t take this too much longer,” Doodlebug said to his sister.

“I know,” Dandelion agreed, “but there are still so many cars waiting for a wash.” The line of cars seemed endless.

“I need a break,” Rudyard said.

“But we need to help the elephants!” Dandelion said, wanting nothing more than to take a rest. A second later she did.

“What’s the matter with you kids?” one driver complained (抱怨). “It’s only midmorning. You can’t stop working because of tiredness. You’re kids!”

Doodlebug complained, but he started to work again.

But before Dandelion reached the next car in line, the elephants had begun shooting water out their trunks and spraying (喷洒) each car clean.

Handwriting or Typing?

One morning, as I walked to the market, I saw an old man, with a bandanna(印花大方巾) covering his face, sitting in front of a tea shop. He seemed to be just watching the traffic on the road, not paying attention to anyone. His bandanna was dirty and his clothes were crumpled(褶皱的). His hair stuck out because he wore a cap that didn’t fit well. I quickly assumed he was a beggar asking for money. I decided to give him some change on my way back from the market.

A little further down the road, there was a young man lying on the pavement(人行道) with his arms outstretched(张开的). No one passing by paid any attention to him. It seemed that he had drunk too much. Thus, I thought to myself that he was just a worthless man who had spent all his money on wine.

I finished my shopping at the market and headed back. Before reaching the point where the old man sat, I took out all the change I wanted to give to him. When I approached him and held out the change, he barely looked at me, but still looked ahead. He shook his head as if he was saying he didn’t need it. I insisted and pushed the change into his hand. As I stood there feeling proud of my act of charity, the old man slowly got up and walked to the young man who was lying on the pavement. The old man kept down, woke the young man up and whispered something in his ear. It seemed that they knew each other. The young man seemed to respond and then shook his head. The old man walked back and headed for the tea shop.

I stood there, watching in amazement, as he walked to the tea shop.

The old man noticed that I was still there so he looked up.

In 1940, I worked in the checkroom of the railway station. I saw everybody that came up the stairs.

Harry was a young man who came to the station and waited at the head of the stairs for the passengers from the 9:05 train.

I remembered seeing Harry that first evening. He wasn’t much more than a thin, anxious kid then. He was all dressed up and I knew he was meeting his sister, who he hadn’t seen for many years.

Well, the passengers came up and I had to get busy. I didn’t look toward the stairs again until nearly time for the 9:18 and I was very surprised to see that the Harry was still there. His sister didn’t come on the 9:18 either, nor on the 9:40, and when the passengers from the 10:02 had all arrived and left, Harry was looking pretty upset. Pretty soon he came close to my window so I called out and asked him what his sister looked like.

“She’s small and dark. She is nineteen years old and very neat in the way she walk,” he said. “She has a face that has lots of spirit. I mean she can get mad but she never stays mad for long, and her eyebrows come to a little point in the middle. She’s got a brown fur, but maybe she isn’t wearing it.”

“I couldn’t remember seeing anybody like that,” I told him.

He showed me the telegram he’d received: ARRIVE THURSDAY. MEET ME AT THE STATION. MAY. It was from Omaha, Nebraska. “Well,” I finally said, “why don’t you phone to your home? She’s probably called there if she got in ahead of you.”

He gave me a sick look. “I’ve only been in the town for two days. We were going to meet and then drive down to the south of the city where I’ve got a job. She doesn’t have my address.”

When I came on duty the next day, Harry was still there and I asked more about his sister.

One day, after about two weeks, I thought I could say something encouraging to him.

Out in the fields of rural Kentucky lived a young teenage girl named Amanda. She stayed with her parents in a one-story house on a large plot of land. Her closest friends were far from her, but she didn’t have her driver’s license yet. Amanda could still keep herself busy for hours by exploring the grassy fields, enjoying the natural beauty that surrounded them. On the weekends, Amanda would even volunteer on neighbouring farms to help take care of sheep, goats, and horses.

Still, it was easy for Amanda to feel lonely in her big house without any brothers, sisters, or even a pet she could relate to. That was until one day, just as Amanda was about to leave for another morning spent exploring the fields and rivers nearby, she saw a stray (流浪的) cat jump onto the porch (门廊) with a long, drawn-out meow (喵喵叫) toward her. The cat had long whiskers (须) and a black-and-white fur pattern, which seemed to start from the animal’s chest and move outward, and tiny white paws like little boots. Even though the cat looked dirty, the cat was beautiful, with bright blue eyes.

Amanda’s feeling of surprise quickly gave way to a feeling of pity. Thinking of what she could offer the cat, Amanda hurried to the kitchen and prepared two bowls: one filled with fish and the other with water. After sniffing (嗅) them carefully, the cat then began to hungrily eat the bowls’ contents. Once it finished its meal, the cat ran away into the thick grass and disappeared.

From that point onward, at the same time each day, the cat would appear on the porch in the morning and beg for food and water, and Amanda would always be there ready. Their relationship started to deepen as Amanda enjoyed regularly seeing her new “furry neighbour”. The cat was too nervous to be taken indoors, but Amanda enjoyed its company.

However, one day, everything took a different turn.

As Amanda approached, she could hear some soft sounds of kitten s meowing.