A Short Story…
The doorbell rang as I was brushing my teeth. I wasn’t expecting anyone, so I just ignored it . . . and then it rang two more times. I put my toothbrush on the counter and walked quickly to the front door. I looked through my little door with the enlargement glass and saw no one and then the bell rang again while I was looking through the door glass. I then stood there on my tippy-toes looking down and kind of saw the movement of someone with white hair. “What are you gonna do?”, I thought, so I opened the door and saw a somewhat almost familiar face in the neighborhood.
“Good morning” she said. I replied and she then said she needed a little help. She had volunteered to give Christmas presents to three people, but her son, who was supposed to drive her, had some sort of emergency. I asked her to come in where it was a quite a bit warmer. She nodded and followed me to the kitchen where she sat down at the breakfast table.
I had already eaten fried eggs and toast along with coffee. I had one un-fried egg, and one piece of toast left over. I asked the lady if she would like to help me clean up the kitchen by eating the fried egg, a piece of toast, and coffee. She said “Yes, whatever I can do to help.” I smiled and turned on the burner then put the fry pan back on the burner. The coffee would heat up soon enough, but I also turned on the small burner to heat up two breakfast sausages I bought at Dollar Tree. I thought it might be appreciated.
In between the cooking, Gerry (short for Geralddeen) told me tales of her and her family and asked about mine. There was quite a bit of humor involved in both our sharing. By the time Gerry had eaten breakfast and drunk two or three cups of coffee it was well after twelve. I asked, “Where we were headed to make the delivery?”
Gerry was surprised we had taken much of the day and remarked, “Perhaps we can do this next Saturday.” I had to smile. I had enjoyed the company. I said “Being friends with a neighbor is never a bad idea.” We both smiled. I walked her down hill to her front door and asked if there was anything else I could do to help her. We set up a time for the next Saturday. As I walked home, I just smiled and enjoyed re-thinking the half day I had shared with a neighbor.
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