A friend asked me for a ride to his college this morning. I said that would be no problem as I had to deliver a package to the college anyway.
But I joked there would be a fee. He laughed.
He wanted me to take him to his townhouse near the college so I dropped him off and we said goodbye. I drove across town and found a restaurant for lunch.
Then I drove to the college where I had never been. It’s a big place. One hundred acres, 21 parking lots, three floors, 15,000 students. More entrances than an African jungle.
I found a parking lot near a door. I walked through the door and looked to see there was only one student in a long, empty hallway. The friend I had dropped off at his place an hour before stood there grinning at me.
I showed him the address of the office I needed to go to. He took me there.
Fee paid in full.
My wife and I were touring a large site in ancient Rome many years ago when we managed to get lost. We stopped a couple of tourists and asked for directions. We were grateful they responded in English.
By way of a brief chat, we discovered that the husband used to deliver bread to our farm in Canada more than 60 years ago. We never knew each other but we grew up five miles apart.
He remembered a bunch of kids running around our place.
One of them would have been me.
©2016 Jim Hagarty
