Mr. Robinson

One afternoon, when I was nine or ten years old, three of my friends and I were walking past the grocery store. The owner, Mr. Robinson, came out the front and called us to come to the store. He had a Hershey bar, the first we had ever seen. In those days, candy was hard to come by, and anything chocolate was a rare treat. He broke off one of the little squares for each of us and told us to put it on our tongues and let it melt slowly. That was the best tasting candy I had ever eaten.

Every afternoon after that, the four of us would just happen to go by Mr. Robinson’s store and stand in front, hoping he would come out with the candy. He did until the Hershey bar was gone. He told us that was all he had. He’d received only one bar and he’d shared it with us. Sometimes, one little act of kindness can make a person remember you for the rest of their life.