Now for the Good News

By AIE International LLC

“Now for the Good News” is a compilation of twelve short stories written by various writers throughout the United States. The stories regard Americans helping each other during difficult circumstances.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AIE International LLC
• Release date: Nov 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9780990486756

AIE International LLC

AIE International LLC is a small publishing company located in Wisconsin. We work with authors from around the world in a wide range of genres who are creative and original. Our philosophy is to work with writers who value and cherish the written word.

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Now for the Good News

AIE International LLC

This is for you.

Now for the Good News

AIE International LLC

2020 U.S. Copyright

Registration No. TXu 2-229-720

LCCN No: 2020925169

ISBN No. 978-0-9904867-5-6 Print

ISBN No. 978-0-9904867-6-3 Ebook

Published by AIE International LLC

Wisconsin, USA

Cover illustration, design, and concept by AIE International LLC

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved.

Without limiting the right under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication/book/cover/photos may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means (electric, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the author.

Table of Contents

Soup Powers by Tammy Pfaffi

A Better Life by Jennie Jeanne

Love Carries the Day by Morgan Chambers

An Unexpected Christmas Miracle by Sarah McCormick

A Port in the Storm by Amy Outland

Square Jaws and Warm Hearts by Lydia M. Owen

See a Need – Fill a Need by Stephanie Tungpalan

Finding Purpose through Disaster by James Sullivan

Music to Breathe by Laura DiFilippo

Dish Soap by Rachel Mohan

The Break Point by Gage Fine Lore

The Secret Santa by Jason Marcuz

Please, don’t forget that many wonderful people are helping each other every day.

1

Soup Powers

Once upon a day, on a recent November, I heard her plead for her demise, and promise it. She was dirty, messy, and upset. I was getting into my car near the far and neglected entrance of Safeway. She was sitting outside of it in a wheelchair with a thin, dirty, and worn-out sheet draped over her shoulders and an oxygen tube draped over her ears. She was huddled in the center of five men as they stood around her and tried to console her.

One man offered her his salvaged cup of lukewarm coffee to help her feel better. I could hear them, and I knew they meant as well as they could mean. Her nose was red from the cold weather, and she was crying. I guessed her to be in her early sixties. I could tell the men were freezing too and at a loss of words for her. So they fumbled through and did the best they knew how with nervous laughs, nudges, and quips about not saying stuff like that. Meaning stuff like saying she wanted to die that night and hoped she would. They all looked concerned and uncomfortable. The men awkwardly glanced at each other for guidance and direction about what to say. And they all looked just as equally disheveled.

Through her tears and crackling voice, she told them she couldn't take it any longer. Living on the ground next to the creek on the side of the highway was too much for her. She told them she was cold, and her bones hurt. She missed sleeping in a warm bed. Every day that the sun came up was only a reminder that she would have to get through and survive another day. She said that there was nothing she looked forward to and figured out a way to go later that night.

One man tried to rub her back soothingly and tell her it was going to be okay. She wasn't listening. He didn't look as though he believed his own words anyway. She told them she was so hungry that her stomach hurt. They each agreed with head nods that they understood; they also were hungry. In the eyes of a couple of those faces, I swear I could see the glimmer