My Honeydews Went Flying and a Band of Kind Elderly Ladies Rushed to the Aid

One Saturday morning, I accompanied my mum to the local market for our regular produce shopping. My mother continued browsing when I volunteered to bring the shopping back to the car, which was packed into a little red trolley. It was like a magical bag – rather compact, but it was surprising how much you could fit inside. That's what we believed.

With the trolley heaving under the load of an packed load of groceries, my mum placed a box of sweet melons on top. She cautioned me to be careful getting it back to the car.

All was going well as I made my way through the crowds of people and out of the market. But as I was navigating the chaotically busy main crossing into the market, the trolley became lodged on the road divider in the middle of the road, and the box of melons fell to the pavement. They went flying, spectacularly tumbling out towards pedestrians and stationary cars.

As the pedestrian signal changed from green to red, I was stunned, mouth agape, trying to process how I was going to retrieve the melons shooting in multiple directions.

Suddenly, a band of three or four elderly ladies came to my assistance. White hair, head scarves and one with a cane – they looked like they had emerged of the same nesting doll. They weren’t deterred by the cars creeping their way towards us. Utterly fearless, they just held up their hands to stop the traffic, in both directions. They gathered all the melons for me, retrieving a solitary melon, as I fixed the box to hold them.

I thanked them and they didn’t say a word, just smiled and gestured me farewell. I didn’t eat the melons – I was not particularly fond of honeydew – but I tell this story frequently because I adore it so much.

Can you recall the Nicest Thing a Stranger Has Done for You?

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