Friday, December 10, 2010

Friday Afternoon

     This afternoon after I was settled in to an afternoon full of agency work, my husband called me from the road. He told me as a libary board member he was supposed to have taken food donations and two very large tables to the library that afternoon to be used for their holiday sale the following day. He asked me to do it for him since he wouldn't be back in time.
     The tables are the tables that seat twelve people each that we use for Thanksgiving. We had 46 people at our house for Thanksgiving this year and what a blessing it was!
     I had to drag them upstairs as they are old and heavy and then get them in the back of my younger son, Luke's pick up truck. This truck had belonged to Luke's grandfather many years before, is a 1992 and the tailgate rusted out years before and is missing. Luke is a college student who mows 3 cemeteries in the summer so it suits him well.
     My husband was driving the good truck and I knew they wouldn't fit in my Corolla. I worried a little bit that the tables would fall out of the back but thought I would just drive very slowly. I drove about 35 mph down our road and into town.
     When I pulled into a parking place at the libary, I noticed both the tables were missing so I did a U turn in the middle of that busy street to go back and rescue them. Driving Luke's truck has never been easy for me and I'm afraid I held up traffic for awhile at the intersection before I could get it into reverse. Then as I rounded the bend on the main street, I saw them in the middle of the road. People were slowing down and looking at them strangely to see what they were.
     I left the truck running, parked illegally, got out and pulled one of them out of the road. Then a nice young man came out of nowhere, grabbed the other one and pulled that one out. He walked through the traffic with me and loaded both tables back on the truck. What a nice guy!!! I thanked him profusely. Honestly it was difficult enough getting them in the back of the truck the first time - am not certain I could have accomplished it again.
     It surprised me as well that the people in the busy intersection weren't angry to be held up; they were smiling and one lady was laughing. Would rather have that than people being angry.
     So I didn't have to take a turn, I drove behind the library, parked illegally [again] and dragged the tables one by one into the library and down the stairs. I also took in the food items for the sale. When I left the tables, I noticed there was a lot of snow on them from when they fell off the truck but by the look on my face, I guess the ladies decided not to say anything to me about it.
     Since I was out and about, I stopped at Lowe's to pick up a couple of things. As I walked through the poinsetta  section, I noticed carts of beautifully scented Easter lilies. I couldn't walk by them without stopping to take a whiff. Their scent is the closest thing to heaven without really being there. The girl unloading them off a cart told me quietly the store had ordered Christmas cactuses but that the warehouse had sent them Easter lilies by mistake. I couldn't help but wonder if people would buy them.
     Then at the light on the way home waiting at an intersection, I noticed my husband's Golden Retriever, Pike, who was sitting in the passenger seat next to me staring through the window at the car next to me. I didn't want to be snoopy but I looked over. There was a little girl holding a Golden Retriever puppy that was wearing a bright red sweater. The little girl was holding the puppy's paw so that it was waving at Pike. For a second I thought Pike might wave back...

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