One in the Bush – Rufus Leaking

My wife Rose appreciates shopping at places where she knows she can find what she wants. Our local Walgreens on Pearl Street is a favorite stop. Quite often I drive her there and then wait in the car for her to get what she wants and needs. I used to walk around inside the store to kill time, but what usually happened was I bought potato chips, candy and pop along with a copy of the Tacoma News Tribune. A couple of times Rose was even waiting in the car for me when I came out the door. Not my most shining hour.

I thought it over and remembered my weight going up from the candy and chips. I changed my waiting into a major improvement. Walgreens doesn’t have a huge parking lot, but it’s pretty good sized. I decided to use the parking lot as my exercise station. I began just walking around the outside of the building and then expanded to the edges of the parking lot and then graduating to crossing the street and walking around the junior high school. I wore a black raincoat, a warm dark hat, and black leather gloves until I felt like mothers waiting for their children appeared as if they wanted to report me as a child thief. I stopped walking around the school and pretty much stuck within the Walgreens lot. Once I got used to my route I even picked up some garbage I found laying around and put it in their trash can.

Walgreens is on the corner and connects with a large open park. I didn’t want to stir up the child porno worry again, so I pretty much stayed away from the rolling landscape and flat sports fields. However, I did become interested in the chain link fence that separated the parking lot from the parks’ bushes and trees.

The fence was a secure wall holding back green bushes. After a while, things just didn’t seem right and I had the same problem I had at the school, but worse. I could feel eyes on me, but not all the time. I was getting curiouser and curiouser. I felt like I was being pulled in. I began parking at Walgreens even when Rose wasn’t with me.

Finally, on a very cold day I saw a few puffs of smoke wafting upwards through the greenery where I had felt a pull of eyes on my back. I didn’t want to stick my head too close to the fence, so I changed my routine and my clothing. I began jogging and stayed fairly close to the fence, but was careful not to stare. I decided to use my electronic tools and put into action a tiny video camera. I jogged around the perimeter and then on the final lap I walked like I was really tired and hugged the fence a bit. The third day I struck oil.

I spotted two green metal homemade hooks in the fence about seven feet apart. I continued the runs. The hooks weren’t always in use, but they were in the same place from time to time. I counted the steps from the hooks to the sidewalk and then walked up the hill on the park side until I was even with the hooks . . . or at least close. I noted where I was and called Cloverleaf Pizza for delivery. I stuffed the Pepperoni Pizza into a clear plastic bag and returned to the park and nudged the pizza box into the greenery just above where I had seen the hooks.

I waited for fifteen minutes and then walked up to where the hooks had been and looked up and around and said, “I have a half of a hundred dollar bill. I’m going to stick it in the fence and step away. If you take it, I have the other half waiting for you, in person.”

In less than five minutes a young man appeared. I gave him my name, and the other half of the hundred. He just looked at me and then we began a conversation. His name was Rufus.

He was twenty-five and broke. I asked him what he could or liked to do. It turned out his father had been a roofer and taught him to do other odd jobs, but he had stopped and taken up drinking and drugs. I asked, “Could you hide a bicycle in your little greenery. He nodded yes. “Let’s go,” I said and the two of us drove to the Sixth Avenue Goodwill. When we left Rufus had some tools, some proper work clothes, underwear and socks, and a girl’s bike with a basket on the handlebars. I asked, “Do you have a problem with riding a girl’s bike? His response was “No, sir.” I gave him my address and told him to be there the next morning at eight-thirty. He was there at eight. Rose fed him what looked like a dozen pieces of French Toast, but I think that perhaps he took half home.

I paid Rufus everyday. He was early everyday and did a nice job of everything I asked him to do. A neighbor asked about his skill for fixing a leaking gutter. I gave him a thumbs up. From the smile on my neighbor’s face a couple of days later Rufus must have done a really good job at a very reasonable price.

A week later I introduced Dr Weirdo (Jack) to Rufus. I had already told Jack about the worker and his skills. Dr Weirdo has a coterie of investment friends. Three weeks later Jack and Rufus had a new partnership business called “Rufus Leaking . . . and Home Repairs.” And a month after that Jack was thrilled and so was Rose when Jack gave her a little gift from the new business. Rose put the lettuce  directly into our bank . . . the freezer.