Liel

Liel

“Liel, you are an angel.”

Liel looked up to see her supervisor smiling at her. “Thank you. Am I making everything better?

“You have succeeded. It would not have occurred to me to move the best quality but lower-priced canned goods to the middle shelf where customers can reach them more easily."

"Thank you. I keep the bathroom door open when it is not in use. Customers can look inside and see that it is clean. I put a sign on the door announcing that someone is inside if the door is closed."
Her Supervisor grinned. “I like your way of thinking. Thank you for making my store a better store.”

After work, Liel put on her backpack and walked to the nearby corner bus stop. When I get home, I’ll play music CDs while relaxing in my most comfortable chair. I’m glad the litter by the bus stop is not as bad as usual. Liel picked up the three fast food bags, four empty bottles, and scattered newspapers.

After she had put the trash in the adjacent trashcan, her bus arrived.

Liel boarded the bus and chose her empty seat. Across the aisle from her, two children sat next to their mother.

Liel saw the older child repeatedly hit the younger one in the arm. Surprisingly, the younger child did not cry or complain but did frown.

“How old are you?”

The older of the two children looked over at her. “I’m ten years old.”

“What are your names?”

“My name is Tommy.”

Liel pointed to the younger child. “And what is your name?” The younger child looked at her. Then his eyes watered, but not enough to form tears. “My name is Sam. Who are you?”

“My name is Liel. Do you like to play games?” When both children said “yes”, Liel took a writing tablet and pencil from her backpack.

Handing the writing tablet and pencil to the older child, she said, “Write an arithmetic statement that is true, such as 1+1 = 2.”

“Two plus two is four.” Then Tommy wrote 2 + 2 = 4.

“That’s good. Now, Sam, in your turn, you draw a circle around one of the 2 twos, and on the following line, write something equal to 2.

Sam smiled and circled the first 2. On the line underneath, he wrote 1+1.

“Good. Now put parenthesis around the 1+1 and add the + 2 = 4.

“What do you mean?”

“She means this.” Tommy took the pencil. He wrote parenthesis around the 1+1 and then added +2= 4. Now the second line had (1+1) + 2 = 4.

“Thank you, Tommy. Now on your turn, circle any of the numbers on Sam’s line, and write a copy of Sam’s line underneath, except that you replace the number you circled with something equal to it.

Tommy circled the first 1. Then he wrote on the following line (5-4) + 1) + 2 = 4.

The children continued playing the game, with Tommy helping Sam write the expressions. When it was time for Liel to leave, the mother said, “Thank you very much! You are an angel.”

Liel smiled and continued to smile as she walked up the sidewalk to her home.

As she entered, she noticed her husband was already home. “You got home earlier than usual, Satan."