MONTAGUE – The idea was to pay for the meal quietly and sneak out as quickly as possible.
Only Jeleasa Hicken and Nicolle Victor got caught — nabbed red handed in the process of performing a random act of kindness here this week.
The two roommates from Charlottetown popped by to visit with their parents in Lower Montague and Cardigan and then decided to pick up a treat at a local drive-thru and purchase a coffee for someone behind them in the line.
“Then we thought we’d go to a restaurant and pay for another person’s lunch before we head back to town,’’ said 19-year-old Nicolle, a student at UPEI.
They wound up at Kate’s Café at the Down East Mall and spotted someone chowing down on a lettuce and tomato sandwich.
“It was mid-afternoon so there weren’t many customers at that time,’’ said 18-year-old Jeleasa, who works at Tim Horton’s in Charlottetown and has witnessed many such random acts sweeping the province. “We went to pay for the meal and tried to get out as quick as possible.”
That’s because the lucky recipient getting a free meal was finishing up and ready to head for the cash register as well.
The young women, who plan to attend Holland College in the fall, made it out the door and even to the parking lot, but were soon tracked down to admit to their deed. They were accosted by the customer, requested to do an interview, pose for a photograph, and even reveal their motives in a video.
“We didn’t know we were buying lunch for a Guardian reporter,” they laughed.
@ Tim L .... "it almost sounds like they were perpetrating a real crime..." Relax. That's the point of the article, wording it like that on purpose.... It's called irony.