The Sweetest Thing
When I was ten, I was crazy about candy. Whenever in our small-town ____1____ with my mom, I would run my fingers through my favorite candy on the shelf.
Once there, thinking about all things sweet, I noticed a man a few feet away pushing buttons on the ATM machine. Dressed in a suit, he seemed to be late for something, ____2____ waiting for his cash to appear. The machine made a noise, and he immediately ____3____ a pile of bills and headed out. Curiously, I walked over to the ATM, where I started pressing the buttons as if knowing the ____4____. Then I looked into the bottom of the machine. There I saw it: a beautiful, crisp $20 bill! ____5____ I wanted to believe my magic made the cash appear, I knew the man in the suit must have left it behind.
I held the money in my hand, staring at the number “20” and feeling ____6____ than I ever had. I thought about slipping the money into my pocket. No one would know, but it didn’t feel ____7____. I knew it didn’t belong to me. I had to find its owner and give it back! So I told my mom what had happened. “We’ll look for him.” she said kindly. We rushed out and found him stepping into his car in the parking lot! We ____8____ him and asked whether he had left money at the cash machine.
“Let me ____9____,” he said, pulling out his wallet and bills. “Twenty, forty, eighty…Oh! You’re right,” he said with surprise, “I’m ____10____ a $20 bill.”
“Here you go,” I said, smiling with pride, as if I was a(n) ____11____ who had solved a mystery. “Thank you so much,” he said, bending down and shaking my hand. My heart ____12____. Before saying goodbye, he asked my mom for my name and ____13____. “I want to send your daughter a thank-you card,” he said.
On my way home, my ____14____ was racing. Twenty dollars. What could I have done with it? I bet I could have bought a puppy or every single candy bar in town! But now ____15____ of that would happen. Yet I knew I had done the right thing.
A few weeks later, I got a box with a note. I ripped it open to find packages of candy.
“Dear Felice, Thank you very much for ____16____ my $20. You are a great girl, and I appreciate your ____17____. I hope you enjoy this candy. Best Wishes, Tom.” Tom included his business card. It turned out he was vice-president for the candy company. The candy tasted sweet, each ____18____ reminding me that what I had done mattered. Although my honesty wouldn’t always be ____19____ with candy, it would make a difference to someone. And that was the ____20____ part of all.