Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Help from a Stranger

April 28, 2015

While in town today, I needed to pick up a pair of small needlenose pliers for adjusting the reeds on my bassoon. So after having coffee and conversation with my friend Cameron, I headed from Starbucks across the road to Home Depot. While there, I decided to pick up a stinkin'' trinket for Linda. We used to have a collapsible leaf rake the tines of which were adjustable from about 8 inches wide to over two feet. It was handy for getting in between the plants in her gardens, so when it disappeared, she wasn't happy about it, and I thought that today would be a good time to replace it.

I checked out the garden department, but couldn't find what I was looking for. Just about then, a worker walked by and asked if I had found everything I wanted. I told him, no, I hadn't, and proceeded to describe the rake. "I've never seen anything like that here," he replied. I turned to go when a man called out to me.

"You looking for a collapsible lawn rake?" he asked.

"Sure am," was my reply.

"Well, I had one in my hands just a few minutes ago. I was at the Dollar General down on 3rd street next to the Farm Fresh. You know where I mean?"

"I do. Thank you."

"It was pretty sturdy, too; not one of these flimsy things that falls apart after you use it a couple times."

I left Home Depot and drove straight to the Dollar General. Sure enough, they had a box of them on a shelf. Six bucks apiece. I bought two, and tonight I am grateful for a stranger who overheard a conversation and stopped long enough to tip me off about this rake I wanted to get for Linda, but couldn't find in Home Depot. Without his intervention, I never would have thought to try out the Dollar General. It's pretty small stuff in light of the riots in Baltimore and the earthquake in Nepal, but most of life is small stuff, and since there's so much of it, it pays to be thankful for it.

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