She wasn’t even five years old, and they saw her walk the same route at the same time every day. Every afternoon, little Sofia Elena walked through the same streets she always did with her tiny steps. She returned to the path she’d taken after 20 minutes and had back home. Nobody knew why or where the little girl was going on these strange daily walks,
but most people recognized her as the granddaughter of Don Juan, a local electrician, and hoped she wouldn’t get lost. On one occasion, a new neighbour, unfamiliar with the logic already established among the villagers, noticed the girl in distress and dared to ask the little girl, Where are you going?
She replied with a meaningless phrase in a childish and barely understandable voice, It’s for my grandfather. The scene was repeated the next day because of the neighbourhood. The little girl would change her words and be able to provide him with more concrete information. Also, we’ll find out her entire story at the end of the article.
When questioned, the little girl repeated a response word for word.
It was for her grandfather, and she continued on her way. After a few days in that situation, the man realized that interrogating the girl would not yield the truth because she would always respond with the same enigmatic words. As a result, he decided to follow her on her journey to discover the meaning of her small steps. After doing so, he discovered a truth that surprised and moved him. What do you think was the surprise?
Let’s find out together the truth about her. Sofia Elena adored her grandfather more than anyone else. Her parents also lived in the same house and loved her and they had to work all day and had little time to spend with her. Her grandfather, on the other hand, was a retired electrician who, despite being on a pension,
felt strong enough to work and had established a small electrical workshop in the house where he lived with his daughter, granddaughter, and son-in-law. So it was Don Juan who spent the entire day with his granddaughter, spoiling her, and lavishing her with the affection that children require as they grow up.
And he was the one who drove Sophia Elena to the doctor when she came out. He was also the one who took her first steps and taught her to walk, and he was the one who heard her say his first words. The little girl was able to say Grandpa rather than Papa or Mama. On that particular occasion, Don Juan felt Sofia Elena was old enough to allow him to set up an electrical workshop in his home when she turned three years old. He’d do minor repairs, keep a flexible schedule, and thus couldn’t ignore his granddaughter.
His daughter and son-in-law had no objections to this because they understood that Don Juan still felt young and wanted to return to work so that he would not feel trapped. They also knew that Sophia Elena, the little girl, would always be safe by their side. Don Juan began repairing various electronic devices in his workshop every day. Town neighbours brought radios, televisions, blenders, and even cell phones to the house. The quiet but responsible man worked patiently on the repairs.
He never had a job that was too big for him. Don Juan decided not to charge for any of the repairs because he always managed to find the problem and a solution and because it was a job he did for fun rather than necessity. This endeared him even more to the people of the town. When they discovered that the man was not being paid for his services, they were furious. They brought her dresses, shoes, bracelets, necklaces, and anything else she could find in the local stores.
One afternoon, a town lady with little money but a small Orchard full of strawberry plants took a few specimens of his fruit and brought them to Juan in exchange for the repair of an old television set. The woman had no idea that in Don Juan’s house there was also a garden filled with strawberries planted by his wife because it was her favourite fruit in life, and as a result, no one in that house ate strawberries again after the woman died. This reminded them of her and caused them pain. Don Juan, on the other hand, was a gentleman. Sofia Elena, to his surprise, took a strawberry and ate it happily.
She was trying a new flavour for the first time, and she thought it was delicious. The child was innocent and unburdened by the prejudices of the adults, and the fruits provided her with nothing but immense satisfaction. In her childish mind, she reasoned that her grandfather loved strawberries, and that’s why the lady had given her a full tray of them, so she couldn’t eat them all. Her grandfather, on the other hand, was given a strawberry by her small and tender hand. Don Juan had not tasted strawberries since the death of his wife a few years ago, but he loved Sophia Elena and couldn’t resist the lovely gesture, so he accepted it.
To his surprise, he felt no pain but deep joy, because he realized at that moment that Sophia Lena was a good part of his wife, and he found himself happy eating strawberries after such a long time. Sophia Lena, a bright young lady, was aware that the fruit was identical to what she had grown in her garden, and because she believed no one else had noticed it, she felt she had made a significant discovery.
The following day, she took a few strawberries and brought them to her grandfather as a present. Don Juan, now free of the ghosts of the past, accepted and devoured them with relish every afternoon since then, and that lovely ritual has been solemnly repeated. Little Sophia picked a few strawberries from the garden and gave them to her grandfather until one afternoon when she went looking for strawberries, she discovered none because she had already plucked them all.
It’s unclear why, but Sophia Elena knew the location of the lady who once paid Don Juan to fix a television set with a tray of strawberries. So she went to the door and knocked with a recant and when it opened, she asked in a childish voice, can you give me strawberries? They are intended for her grandfather and Sofia Elena’s tenderness captivated the lady who continued to give her a couple of strawberries every afternoon which the little girl kept in her pockets and took to her grandfather.
Don Juan was oblivious to the fact that his granddaughter left the house every day and took 30 minutes to bring him the strawberries he thought came from his garden until that afternoon when his new neighbour in town dared to follow Sophia Lena and discovered the reason for her daily walks. Despite being enthralled by such a lovely act of love, the man became concerned for the girl’s safety and went to speak with her grandfather.
Don Juan did not chastise Sophia Lena because he was pleased with her and even to maintain her from being exposed to a daily walk alone in the street, he devised a solution that pleased everyone. He asked the lady for a few strawberry plants which he planted in his garden so that there would never be a shortage of that fruit in that house again.
Sofia Elena and her grandfather have continued to share that beautiful moment with some strawberries every afternoon since then except without the little girl having to expose herself to those daily walks in the street.
