An elderly woman generously bought a homeless man’s groceries. The woman didn’t understand. She volunteered to buy a homeless man’s groceries, but she seemed to have erred. She had never been arrested, so she didn’t anticipate her good deed would have such a horrible twist. She never imagined being flashed a badge and led to a police car.
The cop stopped her innocently browsing at the grocery store she had frequented for years. What she could have done was unknown. The old woman visited the day before. She was ready for conflict when the officer remarked, “Ma’am, you need to come with me.” What did she do wrong? But she couldn’t have thought she’d see the same man again; this time he looked different.
She recalled what happened the previous day: a homeless man was standing in line with a carton of milk and bread. But when he got to the counter, there was difficulty. He searched his jeans pockets, but they were nearly empty. He put a few dimes down on the counter, but the cashier shook his head. Martha thought she was doing the right thing by stepping in. She’d merely been helping out a homeless man in need; she didn’t even ask him to pay her back. She happily stepped in and paid for his basics. She assumed that Karma would reward her, but she didn’t know it would come back to bite her in the most ironic way possible.
Martha snapped back to the present, where she was staring at the same homeless man once again. But this time, the way he was dressed told her there was more to him than she initially imagined. But even in this position, she still had no idea why she was being escorted to a cop car in the parking lot; the truth would be too much for the old woman to handle.
Martha wasn’t always a 62-year-old lady fighting to make it to her next paycheck before she retired. She was a teacher that enjoyed her job. But life wasn’t always so easy. She was in a rare scenario where she was still looking after her son Patrick, even though he was a 22-year-old adult. Patrick was and will always be Martha’s cherished boy. Even when he was diagnosed with autism at the age of 12, it was a late catch, but she was grateful they did it. All his case was so terrible that he would never be able to manage as a fully functioning adult. She accepted the fact that she would have to look after him as a mother for his entire life.
It was difficult being a single mother at the age of 62 that still had to look after her son as a dependent, but she was a strong-willed woman that had experienced a lot of trials. She lost her spouse to a drunk driver just a year after Patrick was born. She grieved for him but had to push on for her son. But her pension didn’t exactly leave her with a wealth. Even if every month was a financial compromise in some way or another, Martha was just grateful she still had her son by her side, even if he could only offer emotional comfort.
Martha would have to be very economical and look for any specials her local grocery shop provided. This meant she checked in once a week or sometimes even more. But even despite her situation, she still had a great heart. If someone asked Martha’s friends, they’d tell him she had the largest heart in the world. She was the first to offer assistance to everyone that knew her closely. No one else would have able to survive in her condition and she even thrived, occasionally volunteering to aid others. Her friends even affectionately called her “Mother Martha.”
Despite Martha’s own suffering, she would extend a helping hand without any hesitation. She was a sweet lady to the bone and would never give up her principles for any cause. Although Martha didn’t know it yet, one day she would offer charity without hesitation, but she never realized that it would come back to bite her when a man flashed a police badge after taking her money from her pension.
She would go to the neighborhood grocery store to pick some things that she really needed. She would check out the fresh fruit in the dairy aisle to find anything on clearance for her and her son. After discovering any excellent prices on items, she would pick out the essentials like bread and meat before heading to the counter and checking out. But today, she’d be challenged.
On this particular day of shopping, Martha observed a homeless man just trying to make it as well. Her heart went out to him; she knew how hard it was to make it sometimes. He was standing in front of her at the counter with a carton of milk and a loaf of bread in his arms. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to keep him sustained for a few days. But what happened next destroyed Martha’s heart.
She could sense that the man was having some type of difficulties. He started digging furiously in his pockets, and after emptying them, she spotted a massive hole in the stitching. That wasn’t good. The man started trembling and searched his coat pocket before laying down a few dimes on the counter. The cashier gazed at him before shaking his head with an unkind look in his eyes.
Martha realized she had to step in. “Hello, sir, would you like me to help you? I’d be pleased to pay for them,” she responded in a courteous voice. “Thank you so much,” he responded, his stance quickly softening. “I can’t pay you back, you know,” he continued with a look of worry in his eyes. But the aging woman waved her debit card over the card reader before stating, “Consider it a gift from Mother Martha,” with a smile.
The man had a smile on his face as he went out of the grocery shop with his groceries in his bag. Martha was touched to witness another kind deed make someone smile. She could afford an extra loaf of bread and milk when he needed it so greatly. But there were truths that the old woman wasn’t aware of, and the man wasn’t who he said he was.
Martha headed home, having paid for her groceries. She was delighted to show her kid the latest deal she’d found hiding in the aisle; the grocer had mislabeled a can of beef at a considerably lower price. Store policy meant that they had to give it to her at that price. When she opened her grocery bags on the kitchen counter, she noticed something wasn’t right.
Martha realized that the milk and bread that she had paid for was in her shopping bag. That means the homeless man didn’t get it. Did the cashier have something to do with it? The confused mother wondered what was going on. All of her items were there as well, so what had the man carried out? Had she just been part of something bigger than she intended?
The next morning, Martha decided that she couldn’t sit with the guilt. She thought that the homeless man was going hungry. She decided the only thing she could do was go back to the store; there she would hunt for the answers she sorely needed in order to be guilt-free again. She only hoped that despite all chances, he would be there again.
She was also intrigued about what had transpired and how she acquired his food. Surely he wasn’t carrying an empty bag. But the old woman didn’t know she was being taken for granted and was part of something far bigger than her.
Martha drove back to the store and started checking the parking lot and the aisles for the man from the day before. She didn’t see him, but something else attracted her eye: another excellent deal. She opted not to waste the gas in her car and started shopping. But the elderly woman had no notion someone was hunting for her as well; was she in some type of trouble?
As soon as Martha saw that first deal, she was sucked in. She had gone all this way already, so she might as well take advantage of the everyday offers that popped up. She assumed the homeless man could wait, but she had no idea that he was waiting nearby, waiting for the appropriate opportunity to pounce on her.
As Martha wandered across the aisle, she found there were quite a few deals, and many of them were better than the deals the day before. She looked around; surely this was some sort of mistake. But the elderly woman had no idea that the specialties were intentionally put there to pull her into a trap by the person she trusted the day before. She wasn’t planned on spending any more money, but there were certain things that she simply couldn’t pass up.
She’d typically have been skeptical, but she had her guard down. A simple visit quickly into an extended stay, allowing the person who was watching her to take full advantage of the situation. As Martha started filling up her basket, she had no idea what she was going to stumble upon; she was about to find the greatest component of the trap.
She saw a box of cereal at an outrageously cheap price. She could see more of what was written on the paper. Was that any type of threat? What would the older woman find while she was waiting to pay, and how would the man’s presence alter her situation? Would she be able to explain herself? The note named Martha by her name; it was certainly meant for her, but she couldn’t quite grasp what it meant.
She nervously looked about, but she didn’t see anyone. The old woman had had enough of people taking advantage of her. She had a kind heart, but she didn’t want to look at any more discounts; now all she wanted to do was go home. She decided to go directly to the checkout and go; she’d never find the homeless man at this point. After looking through all the odds and taking advantage of all the promotions, Martha proceeded to the checkout counter. She was fourth in line, but that wasn’t what troubled her.
The contents of the note rang out in her head. She couldn’t wait to return home, but she had no idea she was still being observed, and they were closer than she imagined. Confused, Martha the most; if she was in danger, why would the cop be so polite to her? Or was this just part of the good cop bad cop act she’d heard about?
When all was said and done, the police helped Martha load the groceries into her car. After that, he accompanied her to his cruiser. That was when Martha knew there was something more going on here; this officer had a goal, but it wasn’t to arrest her. He had something substantially grander in mind.
The man in command had displayed his badge, establishing his authority. But the odd part was what he was wearing: an identical uniform to what the police officer who led her out was wearing. What kind of mess had she gotten into, she pondered as she stared at the man in shock? She knew that if she were to go to jail, no one would be able to look after her son. That was what worried her the most.
It was evident that she had pushed her nose in business she should never have, but the man opened his mouth and offered an explanation. She thought about her young kid being taken away. “Little lady,” the police remarked with a serious look on his face, “as you can tell, I’m not homeless. I’m an ordinary working stiff who has to do some inventive things to get my job done. And you really helped out yesterday; call me Detective Castellanos.”
He stated that he’d been working undercover as a homeless guy for months and that she had unwittingly helped him crack the case he’d been working on. Officer Castellanos added that he knew the store had been robbed three times in the last year, but they could never find out how. It seemed the burglar would slip out of the store with stolen stuff, or he’d create suspicion. Castellanos had smuggled the tapes into his luggage, but the trouble came when he couldn’t genuinely afford the other products he was buying.
It was an unforeseen problem; the hole in his pocket was a bit too authentic, and his actual money had slipped through. But that’s when Mother Martha came in to save the day. He praised her on assisting them with the footage; he located the offender, the same clerk that stonewalled him the previous day.
