Writer sat thinking.
It all began with the two men sharing a plate of party pies. It happened to be their favourite food, something that they had in common. The plate of five pies was a leftover from the company’s weekly mid-morning office meeting. Although they shared this gastronomic preference, they worked in very different roles within the workplace. One worked in the Finance Department, dealing with money, while the other worked in the factory, machining small metal parts. As a result of there being an odd number of these tasty morsels, it transpired that there came a point where both men sat looking down at the plate with a single item on it. The moment of indecision didn’t last long.
Money said, “Go ahead, you can have it.”
Without hesitation, Parts thanked his friend and polished it off.
Quite overcome with his friend’s unhesitating generosity, Parts had it in mind to purchase a box of six pies from the bakery at lunchtime and give it as a thankyou-gift when they left work.
Sometime later, still quite overwhelmed with his friend’s sacrifice, he became aware of a great opportunity to pass on an act of kindness when he saw a fellow worker in trouble. The man in question was the factory cleaner, his main occupation consisted of him sweeping the floors and gangways throughout the workshop.
Sweep had been stacking boxes to one side of the passageway when they had all toppled over. Parts didn’t hesitate. He quickly left his machine and gave Sweep a hand restacking them.
Because Parts had used his lunch break to buy the pastries, he had not had time to eat…
Writer paused.
He couldn’t help wondering why he had brought Sweep into it.
More importantly… where was he going with all this?