The Universal Favour Bank

The Universal Favour Bank, where favour deposits are made to the favour bank without expectation of repayment. The Universe (God, the Source, the Divine, the One, the Spirit, the Creator, the Supreme Being, All-That-Is) will repay the favour with interest when the account holder needs it.

For the Smallest of Favours by Mary Deal

Moving to Kauai, Hawaii, the most remote place on earth, was traumatic at first. I couldn’t find work.

In San Francisco and Sacramento in the 1980s, I made $40 - $80 an hour as a business consultant. No such positions existed on Kauai. I knew that already and had planned to look for a nice position. What I found were jobs that paid a person without a higher degree up to $8 per hour for work I had done for $80.

That really threw me. I lived off my savings while I kept searching. But my savings dwindled and I was determined not to touch my retirement. I wasn’t old enough to retire unless I wanted to pay nearly half of my withdrawals to taxes.

In the back of my mind, I heard myself wondering where I had gone wrong. I didn’t deserve this “bad luck.” I also wondered what I had done to deserve my plans for a great new life falling apart.

I was becoming desperate and tried to work out a budget to help me live off a very meager salary. It was either that or move back to the Mainland and live off my son till I got on my feet again. How impossible! He was just getting his life together too.

Desperate as I was, I thought, Abandon my hopes? No way. I worked too long and hard to manifest the biggest dream of my lifetime, that of living on Kauai.

One day, needing peace and quiet to think, I went to the beach. I had heard of Glass Beach where, starting at the turn of the century till about the 1950s, old bottles and such had been thrown over the cliff side into the dump. Lots of locals enhanced their island decor with bowls of sparkling sea-tumbled glass.

I went on a whim, didn’t even have a beach towel with me. Just as I pulled in to park – no one else was there - I saw a young barefoot woman walking on hot rocks on the road. She wore only the skimpiest of bikinis, was gloriously tanned, but seemed in great distress. I wondered if it was that her feet were burning. She kept frantically waving to me.

She approached and danced over the rocks beside the car and I lowered my window. Before I could say anything, she asked, “Could you help me? I locked myself out of my car.”

No other cars were parked at the beach. “Where?” I asked.

“Up there on the hill,” she said.

I couldn’t believe she walked all that distance barefooted. She was no local person with tough calloused feet. “Get in,” I said quickly, thinking to get her soles some relief.

“That’s okay,” she said. “If you have an extra pair of floppies and a towel, I can walk down to Ele`Ele and see my sister in a shop there.” Most local people carried the extra items that she asked for. I still hadn’t learned to.

“Get in, “ I said again. I’m not one to turn my back on a person in distress, not even this mild kind of dilemma. “I’ll take you.”

She looked surprised. I nodded to the other side of the car and leaned over and opened the door. She jumped inside and I could tell her feet were suffering.

“I’m Mary,” I said.

“Lindy.” We shook hands. “I can’t believe you’d do this for me.”

“Why not?” I asked. “You like walking on blisters?” I could see no other relief for this cute young woman whose eyes already laughed at her predicament.

We drove the mile to the shop where her sister worked. She was going to walk that far in a skimpy bikini and bare feet if I had not happened along. My feet hurt from the thought, not to mention the sunburn. I waited to make sure she could find someone to jimmy her car window or door. She came out and said, “We’ve got a guy meeting us at my car. My sister can take me back.”

“No way,” I said. “I’ll take you. You sister can stay at work.”

Once we got back to her car, the man in a truck came and had some difficulty getting her door unlocked. I wasn’t about to leave the poor woman if the man proved no help. I stayed.

After the door was opened and we’d had a great laugh, she said, “I see you came looking for glass down on the lower beach.”

“Something pretty to take away the blues,” I said.

We talked some more. Then she said, “You know since you helped me, I’m going to show you where you can get bigger pieces of glass. Most people don’t know about this place. I don’t know what you’ll do with yours but I sell mine on the Internet when I’m in between jobs.”

The lights went on in my head. She showed me where to find giant pieces of ocean-tumbled glass. I went home that day with a new friend and new idea to support myself till I found work.

In a few weeks, I stopped looking for work. I sold glass in the Internet. People bid outrageously, as if they knew I needed help.

When I saw how well the glass sold, I decided to look into selling other Hawaii and Pacific Rim merchandise. Finally, I opened an eBay store. That store supported me, so that I could stay home and write, which I had been doing part-time. I was able to finish three more novels.

After a couple of years, I retired with a nice savings built up and a wonderful new friend in Lindy. She helped me turn my life around.

But that’s not all. Lindy emailed me a photo of a large oil painting she completed. She was just learning. She said I inspired her to try something new, that she appreciated the way I never gave up. Again, the talk of painting was another jolt to my sensibility. I used to paint. My canvasses were in demand. Now I’ve begun to paint again and my first painting in twenty years sold in 30 minutes to the first person that saw it. And, you bet, I’m still painting, between writing and other busy work on my Web site to promote my books.

What a fortuitous day it was on the beach meeting Lindy, a messenger when I needed one, and friends we’ll be forever.

If we care for others, without expectation of returned favours, the Universal Favour Bank takes care of us in the most miraculous of ways.

Mary Deal.

About Mary Deal

Mary lives in Kauai, Hawaii, she is a writer and runs a Writing Resource Website WriteAnyGenre.com. Mary's novels include:

The Ka is a paranormal Egyptian fantasy that takes place mostly in Valley of the Queens, Egypt. It's slip-stream, transporting the reader back and forth between a modern-day archaeological dig and Egypt's 18th Dynasty.

Archaeologists discover a tomb and begin deciphering the hieroglyphs. They have no way of knowing that the glyphs are coded with spells and magic that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Purchase The Ka from :
Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.jp.


The Tropics is an adventure novel that takes place in both the Caribbean and Hawaiian Islands.

As one local newspaper writer said in her review: “Based on Deal’s real-life, near-death experiences and shatters notions of stereotypical islands of paradise.”

To that I would add that The Tropics is ...about life beyond the façade of tropical breezes and swaying palm trees, with people being stretched to the limits of survival.

Purchase The Tropics from :
Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.jp.

More Favour Bank Stories

Encounter with a stranger in Paris by Roisin.

Life’s Other Rewards by Sean Moriarty.

Capitalism With A Buddhist Twist by Jane Genova.

'Miracles' due to the Favour Bank Principle by Phil Evans.

May we all have plenty of deposits to make by Elle Smith Fagan.

Recycling Favours, a Favourbank Story by Shirl T.


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