A lonely elderly woman watches high school students walk by every day and waves at them. The kids ignore her, but one day she finds a lovely bouquet by her door. Gwendolyn Parkins was 84 years old. Once upon a time, she’d been an energetic woman, but now she was confined to her chair. She sat on her veranda every afternoon, watching people go by!
At around 5:00 p.m., her caregiver would wheel her inside the house for some tea, and Gwendolyn always complained. “That’s the best part of my day,” she’d say. “Can’t you let me stay a little longer?”Dorry, Gwendolyn’s carer, always said the same thing: “You know it will be dark soon and too cold for you, Miss Gwen!”
“Nonsense!” scoffed Gwen. “A breath of air won’t blow me away!”
“I do what the doctor tells me, Miss Gwen,” Dorry said. “That’s all!”. “But it’s so dark and lonely…” Gwen protested. “And there’s no one to talk to!”. “What about me?” Dorry asked indignantly. “I’m nobody?” “Oh, Dorry!” Gwen said. “You know what I mean! There’s no one YOUNG!””Ohhh!” Dorry said. “I’m going to get offended!”
“I was a teacher for fifty years, Dorry,” Gwen explained. “I miss being around young people!”The evening would go by quickly enough, and the next morning, Dorry wheeled Gwen out onto the veranda after lunch. Dorry gave Gwen her laptop, set a glass of lemonade, and a plate of cookies within reach, and went off to clean the house.
Soon, the schools let out, and kids would start walking by. Gwen watched them, smiling. She made a point of waving cheerfully to all of them. Two younger kids sometimes waved back. but the older ones looked away and pretended they didn’t see Gwen. “That old woman is CRAZY,” hissed Wesley. “She’s always watching us!”. “Yeah…” Gordy agreed. “Maybe she’s a witch!””I think maybe she’s just lonely,” Billy said.
“Imagine being so old that everyone you know is dead?” “Man,” Wesley said. “She must be a hundred years old!” The three boys walked by talking among themselves and Gwen sighed. They didn’t even bother to even smile at her. It was hard to be set aside like this. She still had a lot to give, but no one gave her the opportunity. The high school kids reminded her of her students. She missed those days…
Day after day, the three boys walked past, and they seemed to make an effort to turn their faces away, so they didn’t see Gwen waving from her veranda. Then one day, something odd happened. Dorry was sweeping the porch early in the morning when she found a big bouquet of roses and carnations on the doorstep.”Miss Gwen!” cried Dorry. “You have an admirer!”What?” gasped Gwen, sniffing the flowers.
“Who could have left these flowers here?” The two women talked about the flowers all morning, and Gwen was overjoyed when she sat on her veranda. Would her secret friend approach her and talk to her? Only one of the boys passed by that afternoon, and when Gwen waved, he waved back shyly. “Good day!” Gwen wept. “Did you bring the flowers?” “Come in and have some tea!” Gwen said as the boy blushed and nodded.
Billy hesitated, then dashed up to Gwen’s house. “Good day,” he said. “I’m Billy.” “Sit down, Billy,” Gwen said. “Where are your friends?” “Oh,” Billy said. “Gordy and Wesley are in Washington this week for Math Camp.” “And what about you?” Gwen inquired. Billy shrugged. “My math isn’t that good,” he admitted. “I try, but…” “I used to be a pretty good math teacher,” Gwen admitted. “If you’d like, I can tutor you.”
“Seriously?” Billy inquired. “I mean, was math the same in your day?” Gwen burst out laughing. “Honey, math is a universal language that evolves but never changes!” “A language?” Billy questioned. “How can numbers be a language?” “It’s a language that people invented to describe the physical world,” Gwen explained. “Give me some paper and a pen…” Billy and Gwen talked for the rest of the afternoon.
Billy liked how the old teacher explained concepts. “I get it!” he exclaimed, grabbing the paper and writing out the next line of the equation. “It’s SIMPLE!” “The answers are always simple,” Gwen smiled. “The trick is to understand the questions.” When Gordy and Wesley returned from Math Camp, they were in for a surprise. They walked past Gwen’s house, but instead of looking away, Billy waved back.
“Hey, Billy,” Gordy said. “What’s up, man?” “She’s really cool,” Billy said. “She has been extremely helpful to me. “I like her.” “Did that old bag come in handy?” Wesley laughed and rolled his eyes. “Whatever, man!” “I’m serious,” Billy stated. “And if you weren’t so stupid, you’d give her a chance and like her too…” Gwen had three visitors for tea that afternoon. The encounter was so successful that five kids sat on the veranda steps the next day.
Gwen had a new visitor almost every day after that. Some came for math or science help, but many more came for the lively conversation. Dorry always sniffed and said they only came for the cookies, but Gwen laughed. It was comforting to know that in her final years, she had found a way to reach out to and shape bright new minds.