A school cafeteria worker is curious and watches a girl who only eats half of her lunch and puts the rest in her backpack. When she finds out that the girl gives her food to the poor boy, the woman decides to do something about it.
Mrs. Murphy has been a cafeteria worker at Cypress Valley High School for four years, and there is no job in the world she loves more. In fact, because she and her husband could not have children, her face lit up every time she served lunch to young children and saw their smiles.
“You are young! You have to eat a lot to stay healthy!” – was a motto she enthusiastically told every student she served food to.
Some kids frowned and said, “Mrs. Murphy, that doesn’t even sound cool! You need to come up with something better!!!”.
But the old woman shrugged her shoulders. “Oh, you clever one! Mrs Murphy’s food and motto are unparalleled! Now come on, I need to see your clean dishes!”.
“All right, Mrs Murphy!!!” The children were laughing, taking their seats and enjoying lunch.
Once, Mrs Murphy was talking to her colleague when she noticed something strange. In the back of the dining room, she saw a little girl who had finished only half her lunch and put the rest in the lunch box.
“Is she not feeling well? Why didn’t she eat?” Mrs Murphy looks bewildered as the girl gets up and leaves.
The next day, when the girl came to the cafeteria, the same thing happened. She divided the food into two equal portions, put one half in her lunch box, and ate only the other half. Mrs Murphy was worried when it happened for days at a time, so one day she decided to find out what was going on.
She saw that after school the girl was walking in the opposite direction from the school, which led to the abandoned area.
“Why is she going there after school?” asked the old lady, quietly following the girl, trying not to be noticed.
A few minutes later she saw the girl enter an alleyway where a little boy, dressed in shaggy clothes, was sitting on the ground on a piece of cardboard. Mrs Murphy stopped and looked down the alley.
“My God, is that where the food goes?” – She exclaimed, covering her mouth in surprise.
The girl smiled and walked over to the boy. “David! I’m here!”
The boy looks at the girl and smiles warmly. “Claire! Did you bring me something to eat?”
“Of course I did!” – she replied, sitting down next to him and opening her rucksack. “We had sausages today and I saved them for you. Anyway, I’m not a big fan of them.” She handed him the lunch box.
“Thank you,” the boy replied. “Mummy is ill. You were a little late today and I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”
“I’m sorry. Next time I’ll bring you more food! I promise!” – She said, getting up. “I have to go! My mother will be angry with me if I come home late….”.
David nodded and waved her off.
At this point Mrs Murphy approached them. “Is that why you’re not eating your lunch? Darling, you need to eat too! You could have just told someone about it….”.
Claire was startled to see Mrs Murphy there. “You? You work in the school canteen, don’t you? Please don’t tell anyone about this! Mum will be furious if she finds out I’m not eating my lunch,” she said with her head down.
But Mrs Murphy smiles and strokes her head. “There’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing, Claire. Helping those in need is a good thing. But you’re not doing it right…..”
Claire looks at her confused. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t you think you owe me an explanation of what’s going on here, kid?” – Mrs Murphy asks, tilting her head towards David, wanting to know what a little boy like him is doing outside in such a terrible condition.
But before he could say anything, Claire spoke up. “It’s not his fault. His family is very poor….,” she began.
David and his family are struggling to make ends meet and can barely afford one full meal a day. Claire met him at the crossroads outside the school when he was begging for food and money. She felt sorry for him and started saving some food from the lunch for his family. They agreed to meet every day in the alley where she would give him food.
“He has a little sister at home. I don’t want them to starve,” Claire finishes.
“Oh, sweetheart! You’ve done a wonderful thing,” Mrs Murphy’s eyes sparkled and she hugged Claire. “You too. Come here, darling,” she said to David.
Hugging the two children, Mrs Murphy said: “Listen, children, from now on no one will go hungry, OK? None of you will go hungry. Mrs Murphy will take care of it….”.
Mrs Murphy knew that there was a lot of food left at school after the children had finished eating, so she started packing it in boxes and coming to David in the driveway, where she handed it to him.
Claire accompanied her when she went to David, and the smile Mrs Murphy saw on both children’s faces each time made her believe that, although she did not have children of her own, God had indirectly blessed her with much more – she was feeding not one, not two, but several children with her hands, and that meant a lot to her.
