Last Saturday evening, I went shopping with Mum at a community supermarket. After we paid for the groceries we had bought at the shop, we set off on the trip home. It was a cold day. Dusk was setting in and a biting wind was howling. So frigid was the weather that I found I would not take my hands out of my pockets.

Somewhere on the way, we noticed an elderly man peddling carrots at a street corner. Mum thought for a while before she turned to me, saying, “Girl, let’s go over and get some carrots. We could use them in a hotpot for dinner this evening.” I nodded.

We approached the elderly man. He was not wearing a warm coat. Clad in an old torn jacket, he seemed to be shivering in the icy wind, his hands and complexion not a normal colour.

Mother took all of his carrots so that the pedlar could complete trading and go home sooner. Struck by Mum’s generosity, the elderly man reciprocated it by giving us some other vegetables for free.

When we resumed our trip home, I pulled my hands out of my pockets as if it weren’t that cold any more.