Kept 'bills'? The $20 notes are how she paid. The lunch is what she gave them. Kept 'school'? That is where the students came from.
This one really happened. On Tuesday lunch break at the Albertsons deli in Cody, Wyoming, Cody High senior Hailie Schramm and her sister Kinzie were in line when the woman in front of them ordered, turned round and handed Kinzie $20. 'I'm going to pay for your lunch today,' she said. Then she did the same for Hailie, and for every Cody High student in the line, at least $100 of chicken and salads by Hailie's guess. None of them knew her, and nobody found out who she was. 'It was so completely random,' Hailie said. (Cowboy State Daily, 12 November.)
Every word, accounted for
AtA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
aA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
supermarketWhere it happened. The story is the same in any shop.
deliThe counter they were queuing at. A place, not what happened.
nearA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
theA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
highWhich school. A describing word.
schoolWhere the students came from, not what happened. 'Every school lunch' is not what she bought.
inA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
CodyThe town. A map detail.
WyomingThe state. A map detail.
aA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
strangerWho did it. Nobody knows her name. Stays.
inA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
lineWhere she was standing.
turnedWhat she did first, not the news.
aroundA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
keptHow long it went on. The lunch is the news.
pullingHow she paid.
outA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
$20How much each note was. A number, not the story.
billsThe best wrong word here: the cash is how she paid, the lunch is what she gave.
andA little word. It only holds the sentence together.
boughtWhat she did. Stays.
everyNot one or two. All of them. Stays.
studentWho got lunch. Stays.
lunchWhat she gave them. Stays.