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On Maple Street at gray morning, Mia and Toby high-five beside tipped trash bins and scattered leaves, gloves on their hands, a red wagon waiting next to them under overcast outdoor light.
Morning felt gray on Maple Street. Tipped bins rattled, and leaves skittered. Mia whispered, 'Our neighborhood needs helpers.' Toby grinned, 'Best friends, big hearts?' They high-fived and grabbed gloves and a wagon.
Outside on Maple Street in bright morning light, Mia and Toby kneel beside open recycling bins, stacking cans while Toby hands a runaway hat to a waving neighbor, brooms and upright bins lining the sidewalk.
They scooped cans, sorted recycling, and set bins upright. 'Teamwork!' Mia cheered. Toby trotted ahead, returning a runaway hat. 'Thanks!' someone called, waving. The friends laughed and kept helping, sweeping sidewalks together.
In a sunny front-yard garden, Mia crouches beside their red wagon taping a 'Free Help' sign, while Toby kneels on the sidewalk writing 'Follow the smiles' in blue chalk amid bright heart drawings and watered flower pots.
They watered droopy garden pots and drew bright chalk hearts. 'Follow the smiles,' Toby wrote with blue. Mia taped a 'Free Help' sign to their wagon. Soon, hands waved. More neighbors joined tidying.
On the sunlit street that now gleams clean, Mia and Toby stand hand-in-hand before a giant multicolored chalk heart reading 'Thank you!', neatly stacked brooms and empty wagons resting nearby.
By afternoon, Maple Street sparkled. A giant chalk heart read, 'Thank you!' 'Small kind things made big smiles,' Mia said. 'Because we shared them,' Toby added. Their big hearts felt bigger.
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