You Reap What You Sow

• Shaylea Strinati-kerr, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2012

One Day this charity worker called Mitchel went to the richest man in the valley called Dominic’s house and knocked on the door.
He knocked and knocked.
Finally, just when Mitchel was about to give up, the heavy door opened and a man walked out and looked down on the charity worker and started to turn around and head back inside the extravagant mansion of a house
“Wait!” yelled Mitchel. Which stopped Dominic in his tracks.
“What do you want?” He asked in an arrogant voice.
“We…I mean I was sent here to ask if you would make a donation to our charity?” Replied Mitchel.
“Why should I do that? I was never helped by anyone to get to the top of my career!” Dominic exclaimed with the slightest hint of resentment and regret in his voice, that seemed to grow louder and louder as every word came forth from Dominic’s mouth, until it sounded like he was close to exploding from all the bottled up emotion in him.
Mitchel just stood there, staring at the man’s retreating back, as he entered his heavy door and was gone from sight. Leaving him to staring into the dark wood of the door.
Then Mitchel, unable to believe what had just occurred started to leave with mixed emotions of regret, anger and most of all…confusion.
Questions began to run through his head. So fast it began to hurt.
“How could the richest man in the area just walk way?”
“Why would he do that?”
Though, the question that that plagued him was.
“Why was there so much resentment in the very few words the he had uttered?”

Later that very day, Dominic had an epiphany; he was standing in a clearing, many, many years later in life. There were many different kinds of people in the clearing, from all different backgrounds. One by one the people started to fade into a bright white light until there was only him. Once he was alone he wondered why he hadn’t been taken with the others into the light. Then a figure with wings came down from the light, the person was oddly familiar, them Dominic realized it was the charity worker who had been by his house earlier.
Dominic asked the man. “Why was I not taken with the light like the others?”
“The others” replied the man. “Had given all they had, and therefore where welcomed into heaven. While you never gave a moment in your life, so you will not be coming through heaven’s doors.”
And with that Dominic was vanished into darkness.
After he had awoken the dream continued to plague him. So he went to the charity and gave his money.

Many years later when Dominic did actually die, he did not see the charity worker but a much older looking man, much like his father. Who said the two words that Dominic had always wanted to hear from his father.
“Welcome home.”