A narrow escapeI was in hot water. doc

A narrow escape

I was in hot water. I could not stop my sister, Jill, from
crying. We had been fighting over which television
program to watch and in the course of the struggle, I had
accidentally twisted her arm.

Jill ran complaining to Mum. Mum was furious as this was
not the first time we had fought over trivial things. She
scolded me harshly and went to fetch a cane. Cold
perspiration trickled down my forehead. I dreaded the
thought of having to suffer the painful strokes of the cane.
I wished I had given in my sister earlier on.

I prayed for Dad to come home early to save me from
Mum’s wrath. Just then, the doorbell rang. Jill went to
answer it. We were surprised to see Aunt Polly at the
door. She had come to ask Mum to show her how to make
some kind of chicken.

Mum then became busy entertaining Aunt Polly in the
kitchen and forgot all about punishing me. In the
meantime, I apologized to Jill and applied some ointment
on her arm. Before long, we were on speaking terms
again, Aunt Polly certainly come at the right time. What a
narrow escape!

Courtesy begets courtesy

One afternoon, my cousin and I went for a movie. Before
the movie started, I went to the public washroom. It was

very crowded; I joined the queue and waited patiently for
my turn.

When I was about to enter an empty toilet, the girl who
was standing behind me asked me if she could use the
toilet first. Her face was pale and she seemed to be having
a terrible stomach upset.

“Sure!” I said without hesitation. I could tell from her face
that she was very thankful.

After the movie, my cousin and I were supposed to meet
my uncle at the airport. We decided to catch a cab there.
At the taxi-stand, I saw the girl whom I met in the
washroom. This time, she was ahead of me in the queue.

We started a friendly conversation while waiting for our
cabs. My cousin and I began to get worried when we had
waited for quite some time and no cab had passed by.
Finally a cab came. We waved good-bye to the girl
because she offered to let us go in the cab first.

We thanked her for being so considerate. She even
helped us carry our shopping bags into the cab. From this
incident, I fully agree that “courtesy begets courtesy”. It
certainly pays to be courteous.