Leslie wasn’t in the mood for surprises. Between her hangover and the long flight ahead, the last thing she expected was to find a crying child hiding in the airplane bathroom.
The boy, Ben, had stowed away by accident, thinking he was following his mother. In his arms was a bag of medicine meant for his sick grandmother—medicine he had taken, hoping to prove himself to his family. Now, stranded on the wrong plane, he was convinced he had doomed her.
Leslie, a flight attendant who spent more time in clubs than with her own young son, felt an unexpected tug at her heart. When the airline assigned her to watch Ben until his family could be contacted, she resisted—until a call from home shattered her. Her son, Joe, was ill, and the doctors were baffled.
Suddenly, Ben’s fear mirrored her own. She couldn’t abandon him.
In a move that surprised even herself, Leslie rearranged her schedule to personally escort Ben to Seattle. What she didn’t expect was the kindness that followed—Ben’s family, grieving the loss of his grandmother, redirected their crowdfunded medical funds to help Joe instead.
As Leslie held her healthy son months later, she realized something profound: sometimes, the people we help end up saving us right back.
