My husband has a soft spot for the down and out, and sometimes he gets more than he bargained for in doing a good deed. When a friend rode up on his bicycle the other day and asked for some odd jobs, Howard spent the morning with him mowing and weed-eating in the yard.
About noon, Howard came in and asked me to make him a sandwich while he took Joe home in our truck. It was only a short distance away, so I wondered what was taking him so long. Then the phone rang. "Joe wants me to help him move a few boxes," Howard said, "I'll be a little late."
Time wore on, and finally my hungry husband came home, explaining: "Joe got evicted from his apartment, and he wanted me take some boxes in my truck to a storage unit he had rented. I said okay, but it turned out he hadn't even packed the boxes yet. When we got to the storage facility, he had to fill out papers to get the unit." So that's what took so long!
"He wants me to come back tomorrow and help him move the rest of his stuff," Howard said wearily. He told me Joe was worried about where he would live, as his girl friend had no room, because her brother was living with her. The next day he found out Joe had secured a place at his niece's home, but he had to sleep on the floor, since more relatives were staying with her.
Yesterday Joe helped Howard and our son cut up a tree and do work on the farm, and when my helpful husband was taking him home, he was informed that Joe needed to find a mattress to sleep on on the hard floor.
"Take me to the Salvation Army," Joe said. They had no mattresses. Joe directed him to several other charitable organizations, but they either had none or no longer gave out mattresses. Try Habitat," Joe said hopefully, "maybe they have one."
An employee was just locking the door to Habitat for Humanity when they arrived. "Do you have any mattresses?" Joe inquired, to which she said, "No, but we just put one in the dumpster out back."
"It looked okay, with no stains," my husband said. "Joe was elated!" Maybe he'll be able to get a good night's sleep and Howard will get some rest!
"Now let's go get some lunch!" my spouse suggested. We had fun taking advantage of the 50-cent corn dogs at Sonic, and the free ice cream (custard) cones at Freddy's! Last night we went to the church Fall Festival, for which we had helped decorate, and enjoyed seeing the cute kiddos, the ingenious program skits with a message, and the fresh-baked soft pretzels. There were also the chocolate fountain (the theme was Willy Wonka), candy apples and plenty of candy!
Going out the church door, I was met by an adorable munchkin coming in covered in fur. "Are you a bear?" I asked the probably 4-year-old child. "No, I'm a girl!" she exclaimed. "What is your costume?" I clarified, and she said, "A fox!"
We got home in time to cover the plants for the expected freeze and went to bed on a satisfied note, thankful for a good day!
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