The Cotton Picker Once upon a time there was a Christian family of four, they lived in Denmark. The family never missed a Sunday at church and though all their prayers did not come true they taught their kids to appreciate what they had. The family barely had any money, and most of the time it wasn’t enough. The husband worked eight hour days picking cotton and grain from people’s farms; he would then sell it and make a small profit. Not getting any younger the fifty five year old gray headed man could hardly stand. He wore a ragged shirt and dirty pants. Many people in the small town which they lived, looked up to the man for supporting his wife and kids, however there were a select few that saw him as trash. Never letting the words of others bring him down the old man perused on day after day in his routine. Every night after a long day his wife would run a hot tub of water and bathe her husband. On Wednesday’s the old man and his wife would wake up extra early and take what little money they had to the town shelter. There was a lady that worked at the store across from the shelter, her husband owned several street side stands and they were quiet wealthy. She would wait outside the store every Wednesday morning waiting on the old man and woman and say the same thing “you should keep your money, you all are just as poor”, and the old man would respond the same every time “we have what we need, and would like to help others have the same”. Sticking her nose up to the old man the thin blond haired lady would turn around and walk in side. His wife began to question him, “maybe she’s right, we don’t have much more than they do” she would say, dismissing her comment he would tell her she was talking nonsense. It was a regular Wednesday except the woman wasn’t outside; the husband looked to his wife in confusion and continued inside the shelter. They went home and thought nothing else of it. A week passed, then two weeks, and the woman was nowhere to be seen. Her husband’s street side stands had shut down, and word had gotten out he was looking for a job. They family heard of their troubles and decided to make a trip to their house, knocking on the door the couple discussed what to say, they didn’t want to offend them. When the lady come to the door, the husband’s wife in a sympathetic tone explained that they had heard of the troubles they were having and wanted to donate the little money to them, angrily the woman hissed back that they were fine and it was just a rumor, she then slammed the door in their face hollering she needed nothing from trash, she was no charity. The couple walked off in disbelief, they couldn’t believe that someone’s pride would cost them so much. Saddened that they couldn’t help they made their way to the homeless shelter. A few weeks passed by and the old man had heard nothing of the blonde haired lady, until he caught a glimpse of a skinny woman sitting on one of the shelters beds. He turned to his wife, and asked her could it be the lady from the store. They had never gotten a chance to properly introduce themselves because the lady had always been rude to them. His wife couldn’t make out if it was her or not, but just when they turned to leave the shelter the woman turned around slightly revealing her face. Without hesitation the woman and her husband walked the bed the blonde haired lady was sitting on and offered her and her husband a room of their run down six room home they had inherited. Before the lady could become angry and say no the old man said to her “Me and my wife work hard to earn a living, our kids don’t have the newest clothes, we don’t by extra stuff and our home is not fancy, but what we do have we are glad to share. You shouldn’t be ashamed of your situation” embarrassed of the way she had acted before the lady began to cry explaining that she felt she had lost everything and the only thing she had was her husband which was not a lot. The old man and his wife expressed that things would get better and until they did they had a place to stay if they wanted it. The blonde haired lady apologized for the years she had mocked what they did for the shelter and for the rude behavior when they came to her house, and said she would really appreciate the room. She gathered the bag of clothes she had left and woke her husband; they then walked home to the couple’s house. They lived there for a month until her husband got a job picking cotton. They moved out into a tiny one room house. Grateful for the old man and his family they cooked them dinner, and decided that they themselves would donate to the shelter.