Chapter 3 - A Pound of Coffee

For some, life is not easy, as Penny knew only too well. She had been partly disabled in a motor vehicle accident, approximately ten years earlier and lifting anything was never easy for her.

The next morning, as she was carrying groceries from her car into the apartment building, she spotted the twins heading for the doorway that led to the underground parking.

"Good morning, young ladies," Penny said to the twins. "This is a really beautiful place to live, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. We love it here,"Dana replied and paused momentarily. "We live with our dad. Our mom left us when we were five. She took most of our furniture, too."

"She went to live with a younger man," Dani added cautiously.

"He got her pregnant and she had a son." added Dana. "He's our step-brother. His name is Cody."

"I see."

Penny decided she had better change the subject, as she did not want to appear to be prying into their personal life.

"So, where are you girls off to, today?"

"We are just going to get our bicycles," replied Dani, the quieter of the twins.

"You can come bicycling with us, some time," offered Dana. "Do you have a bicycle?"

"That would be fun!" said Dani, her eyes lighting up. "We could have a picnic together."

"Thank you for inviting me," replied Penny graciously, looking more closely at the twins. They seemed to be happy, well adjusted girls, in spite of everything. "Yes, I do have a bicycle. That might be fun. Not today though, as I have a lot of unpacking to do.

"You have a lot of stuff," said Dana.

"A lot of work," suggested Penny.

"We don't have anything," said Dani.

"Would you young ladies like to help me carry my grocery bags to the elevator?"

"Sure, we can do that," replied Dana. "Then we going to spend the day at the park. Crystal usually comes with us, but she had to go to the doctor with her grandmother, today."

"We packed our own lunches," said Dani, pointing at her bright pink and yellow backpack. Dana's backpack was bright yellow and pink. "Peanut butter sandwiches."

Each of the girls picked up one of Penny's grocery bags.

"Crystal lives with her grandparents," said Dana. "Her mom and dad both left a long time ago. She was all alone until her grandparents took her in."

"Her grandmother has to sit in a wheelchair, all day,"added Dani. "Her grandfather is really old."

Penny could see that for the three girls, life was not easy either.

The girls headed for the elevator with the grocery bags, as Penny brought in a few more from her car.

"Would you like bananas for later?" Penny asked the girls, as she caught up with them at the elevator with the rest of the bags. She handed each of them a banana. "They are just right, not too ripe."

"Yes, please," both twins said simultaneously, accepting the bananas graciously.

"Thank you for helping me with my grocery bags."

"Thank you," they hollered together, racing for the doorway to the underground parking .

"Have a wonderful day!" Penny replied, with a smile. "Such sweet young girls, but such a sad story."

They were chubby but cute, with their brown eyes, short hair and bouncy curls.

"Now I need to get these groceries upstairs," said Penny to herself. "These bags are heavy, but from now on, I will only need to buy a few things at a time."

She hummed to herself as she got into the elevator and carried several bags of groceries down the long hallway to her apartment. "Two trips. I am really glad I rented the apartment right beside the elevator."

She sat down in the kitchen and rested briefly.

"I was sure the sales clerk packed that pound of coffee in one of my grocery bags," thought Penny, as she put her groceries in the cupboard. "Where is it?"

Several moments later, she checked her grocery store receipt and sure enough, she had purchased a pound of coffee, but it was nowhere to be found. "It must have fallen out of a grocery bag. I will have to take a look in my car or go back to the store and ask the sales clerk about it."

Meanwhile, the girls were giggling, as Dana pulled the pound of coffee out of her backpack and showed it to Dani.

"Dad is going to love this coffee," she said. "I am so glad we got it for him."

"Penny is not going to be happy when she finds out that it is missing," replied Dani.

"She's old and will never miss it," said Dana. "Besides that, now Dad can invite her over for coffee.