The Bragger's Burden

Hank Mopperman was standing by the water fountain.

"I'm thirsty." said Hank. 

Then Hank Mopperman took a breath, bent over and slurped some water out of the water fountain. Then a teenage jerk kid walked by and dropped an ice cream wrapper on the ground and kept walking with his other teenage jerk friend. They probably weren't that bad of jerks, just immature and too hormonal to think to throw the wrapper in the garbage. So they littered and didn't think anything of it.

Hank looked at the ice cream wrapper laying on the ground, lightly rattling in the wind. He wasn't about to say anything to the teenage kids walking away. But he did think the piece of litter ought to go in the trash. 

"I guess that is garbage." he said to himself.

Hank bent over and picked up the ice cream wrapper. He looked around for a receptacle. Then he spotted one about fifty feet away. So he walked to it and placed the ice cream wrapper in the can.

"Hey!" shouted a voice from about one hundred feet away. It was Gloria.

"Who me?" shouted back Hank.

"Yes!" said Gloria.

Then Gloria walked over to Hank.

"Hey!" She said again.

"Yes? Hi." said Hank.

"That was nice of you." said Gloria.

"What?" said Hank.

"I saw that whole thing happen. It was nice of you to throw that piece of trash in the trashcan." said Gloria.

"Oh... well it was no big deal." said Hank

"No, I think it was real nice and you should feel real good about yourself." said Gloria.

"Oh... well thank you." said Hank

Hank Mopperman went home and thought about that. He sat there. He wanted to tell someone about the thing that had happened to him that day. That a lady said a nice thing to him. He thought about calling his mom, Momma Mopperman, but it was late and he didn't want to wake her. He thought about calling his friend Benjamin from the book club. But Ben was more of a reader than a talker. Hank looked at his cat, Cocoa, but his cat had a real indifference about her. 

Hank wanted desperately to have someone to share the story of the lady who said the nice thing to him. He wasn't sure who to share the story with. Then he wondered if it had actually happened.