Miya's Story

WINGS

“To get wings, one must help at least 50 people”, I chanted in my mind. I was determined to get those wings and I hoped mine will be as huge as the headmistress and as white as snow.

I saw an old lady hauling 4 bags that looked extremely heavy for an elderly to carry. I skipped towards her and gave her a huge bright toothy smile. The very second smiled, the lady hit me with her cane and shouted, “THIEF! THIEF!” I shielded my head with my arms and ran away from the crazy old lady.

I continued to walk along a side walk, exhausted and anxious, I saw a homeless man sitting down by himself. He was dressed in ragged clothes, holding a recycled empty can of soup with a fading ‘Spare me some change’ label stuck on it. I sat down next to him and took out my notebook. I started counting the tallies that I wrote down of all the good deeds that I’ve done or at least tried doing. 4. A milestone for a person like me. I smiled to myself feeling satisfied and gave myself a pat on the shoulder.

I put my notebook back into my brown satchel and turned to the homeless man to see if he wanted any help. He grinned at me as he handed me a bottle of liquor. Feeling petrified, I jumped to my feet and bolted away. While walking en route for my apartment, I see a lady looking to find the reason behind her car not wanting to start its engines. I approached her feeling heroic until a very masculine man climbed out of the car.

I felt a weird urge to compare myself with this man. I have skinny arms that could barely carry a glass table while he has veins protruding out of his humongous arms. I stood here as tall as 5’1 while he stood up strong and tall at approximately 6’5. I shook my head in disappointment and walked away. “To get wings, one must help at least 50 people”. I kept repeating and repeating as I walked home. Easier said than done.

A few months later, I saw the old lady, who struck her cane on me, again. She was missing her cat named Doggy. I spent around a few hours searching for her missing cat, good thing it only roamed to a couple of blocks away from the old lady’s house. A pretty long road for a small and fluffy cat to travel. She invited me into her house and I was rewarded with milk and cookies. “Typical old ladies with their milk and cookies” I thought to myself. I took out my notebook and added a tally. I totalled the tallies once again and there were 12. So far so good. I smiled and put it back to where it belongs.

I sauntered in the direction of the cafe where I will meet up with a friend of mine. While I was walking, someone bumped into me and a purse fell. I caught hold of it and handed it back only to see a man glaring menacingly and snatched the purse from my hand then ran away. “Did you see a man wearing a red t-shirt, black jeans, about 5’8, stubbly beard?” A policeman asked with 2 more policemen behind him looking around a few minutes after the encounter.

I pointed to the opposite direction of where the thief ran and the policeman nodded his head before running to the pointed direction. I grinned to myself and took out my notebook. I mean I HELPED the thief ran away, that counts, right? I am willing to do anything just to have that wings, lying to the police included. I added a tally anyway and continued my journey.

The cafe was so quiet that there weren’t any sign of breathing human beings. Feeling nice,    I got out my phone and posted something on the internet before sitting down in a booth to wait for my friend since he wasn’t here yet. Less than an hour later, the cafe was packed with people chatting and shouting orders. I smiled and took out my notebook to add one more tally. 14. I then got my phone out and clicked on my social media. Somebody said Barry Tyles would be in MoonMoney at 5:15pm!! I pressed the like button as I chuckled to myself.

It may not be true but at least I helped the cafe acquire more customers.

5 months later, I have helped 47 people. Some of them may not be the good kind of help. I now need to help 3 more people to get my wings. I strolled out of my apartment to look for people who needed help. I locked the door behind me before walking down the stairs. As I reached the bottom stairs, I see a man in a black outfit trying to pick a lock to apartment 1C. I skipped towards him with a huge grin and took the bobby pin from his hands and helped him enter the apartment. When I succeeded I gave him back his bobby pin with a smile to which he smiled back,”thank you man” He patted my back and entered the apartment. I closed the door after he entered and took out my notebook to add a tally. Shutting the notebook, I continued my way to the entrance door. The cold wind immediately attacked me making me shiver and chattered my teeth.

I hugged my brown jacket tighter and started walking down the sidewalk. There trying to cross the road was an old man. I grinned and jogged to him then told him that I wanted to help him cross the road to which he accepted. I walked to the middle of the road and stopped the cars from driving. I then gestured the man to cross. When he was on the other side, I walked back to the sidewalk and waved to the old man.

I got out my notebook and added one. 49. Smiling, I put it back and continued walking. I walked for hours and hours straight and nobody wanted any help. Night fell and I started my walk back to the apartment.

Feeling quite parched, I stopped at the local convenient store, Six Twelve, to get myself a drink. I got myself a can of Pepsi then went to the counter to pay. While I was walking out of the store, I saw a homeless woman peeking through the window with her mouth wide open and drooling.

I thought to myself, “it’s another chance to do a good deed”. I went back the store aisles and grabbed a few more drinks and snacks. I paid for it and handed it to the homeless woman with much sincere in my heart and a smile on my face. She then smiled back and with a heavenly voice, “Thank You.”

“To get wings, one must help at least 50 people.” Knowing what I had done, I got out my notebook and add another tally. 50! Smiling in victory, I ran back home. I got inside my apartment, grabbed my special car keys then ran back out. I walked towards the underground parking lot and clicked the unlock button.

My silver car beeped signalling it has been unlocked. I got in and started the engine. I drove out of the underground basement at the speed of light. Literally.

Still smiling, I looked for a vacant parking space. When I found one, I walked towards the familiar building. I got inside and skipped my way to the elevators.

I pressed the 123rd button and the elevator went up. I held my notebook tightly in my hands with a huge smile. The elevator doors opened and I rushed to the headmistress’ office before it fully opened. I barged in not caring to knock then handed her my notebook. The headmistress looked perplexed but picked it up anyway and looked through it.

She smiled showing her pearly white teeth then handed me a small velvet box along with a small white envelope. I reached for it and thought, “I’m finally getting my wings!”

I then walked out of her office with those two items held tightly in my hands. I opened the box slowly and saw something I did not expect. “To get wings, one must help at least 50 people.” was her exact words but this was not the type of wings I had in mind. A gold badge in the shape of wings with ‘Good Helper’ encrusted at the centre. Baffled, I rushed to open the white envelope. It was a 30% discount card from House of Chicken Wings.