An elderly woman came to live at our entrance. Grandmother Iskra. She was 84 years old. A kind, nice woman, always in a good mood, smiling, friendly. For me, she is influential!

Her first job was to decorate the entrance with flower pots. Beautiful! The next day the brightest flowers were gone, they were stolen. At the nearby stops you could see dark-skinned sellers of flower pots, the pots of Grandma Iskra …

The neighbors and I decided to lock the entrance and install an intercom. And Grandma Iskra framed quotes from famous people on the walls, awakening the conscience of people. And again she put flower pots. Comfortable!

Noisy teenagers began to gather on the stairs. Our grandmother came out and … offered them water and juice. They laughed for a long time. They broke the pots, broke the frames.

The next day, she put the flowers back on and hung the frames with quotes from classic writers. She arranged books under the bulletin board next to the mailboxes. The young men came again. They were making noise, shouting. She went out and … offered them tea, water, and some of her freshly baked cookies that smelled delicious at home. The children could not resist. And on departure they even took books from the shelf with a promise to read them. The flowers were not touched, nor did the frames.

The next day, she took out a plastic bottle of water so that anyone who decided to take care of the flowers could water them. And … new books. In the evening the teenagers came and to our surprise they … watered the flowers, laughed softly, chatted friendly. The grandmother returned to them with her tea, rolls, and another full bottle of water. She asked the children to take care of the flowers.

Teenagers started coming to the entrance every day. An indignant neighbor even called the police. When the police started questioning the children, our grandmother came out and said that they were her guests who had come for books and to help with the flowers. Even at the departure of the police, she handed out books from her sweets and sent them with “God be with you boys!”

We soon had a surprise. Masters installed a real library at the entrance and next to it they hung an announcement:

“Please! If you have interesting books at home that you have already read, please share them! Be so good. And those who have taken to reading, bring them back, finishing if you like. They may be needed and important for someone else! ”

The small entrance library was filled with books. We installed a second one. Flowers began to be taken out by other neighbors. Quotes in beautiful frames, too. Every night we left the front door unlocked for Grandma’s teens. It was not uncommon on the way home from work to see children sitting on the stairs reading books under the stair lights.

Grandmother Iskra died. And her children kept coming. Sometimes in groups, sometimes one by one. They had split themselves in some order. They watered their grandmother’s flowers, read books. Not a single flower withered. And under Grandma Iskra’s obituary they painted a lantern, their symbol.

Nikola Dimitrov