A Boy With a Mission
In1945, a 12-year-old boy saw something in a shop window that met his heart racing. But the price-- five dollars--was far beyond Reuben Earle's means. Five dollars would buy almost a week's food for his family.
Reuben couldn't ask his father for the money. Everything Mark Earle made through fishing in Bay Roberts. Reuben's mother, Dora, struggled to feed and clothe their five children.
Nevertheless, he opened the shop's weathered door. He told the shopkeeper what he wanted, adding," Can you please hold it for me for some time?" "I'll try," the shopkeeper smiled.
Reuben respectfully touched his worn cap and walked out into the sunlight. There was purpose in his walk. He would raise the five dollars and not tell anybody.
When he stopped at a construction site, Reuben had an idea. People built their own homes in Bay Roberts. Sometimes nail sacks(麻袋)were thrown, and Reuben knew he could sell them back to the local factory for five cents a piece.
That day he found two sacks, which he took to the wooden factory and sold to the man in charge of packing nails.
The boy's hand tightly held the five-cent pieces as he ran the two kilometers home. It was dinnertime when Reuben got home. He looked at his mother and smiled. Sunlight from the window fell upon her shoulder-length golden hair. Slim and beautiful, she was the center of the home, the glue that held it together.
Her chores were never-ending: sewing clothes, cooking meals, baking bread and planting. But she was happy. Her family and their happiness were her highest priority.
Every day after school, Reuben was busy collecting the nail bags. Often he was cold, tired and hungry, but the thought of the object in the shop window encouraged him to hold on.
Finally, spring burst into green and Reuben's spirits erupted. The time had come! He poured the coins out and began to count. Then he counted again. It would be enough if he sold two more sacks. Reuben ran down Water Street. The shadows were lengthening when Reuben arrived at the factory.
注意：续写词数应为150左右。
The sack buyer was about to lock up.
……
Racing home, Reuben burst through the front door.
