A Short Story…
Jessie had gone to bed early. He worried and worried and then his eyes grew heavy and slowly his breathing began a familiar movement as the muscles in his neck relaxed and he slept.
In the morning . . . too soon in the morning, his eyes opened and Jessie’s mind went into action. He knew what had to be done. He hated it, but it had to be done. He had been searching for a job for months. He had also gotten help from various organizations. He hated the term “good will”. All he really wanted was some local business to say “You’re Hired.”
Currently he was just hoping for a word or two like “Yes, please, the grass is way to high and needs to be cut and trimmed.” He had various items in his backpack. As the morning receded and the sun came out, a rarity sometimes in Western Washington, Jessie had targeted a neighborhood about a mile away. He had looked at various yards and listed five houses so far that needed help. He wanted a good list of ten. Once he got to ten he circled back to his first one and sold himself on five house clients.
By almost the end of the day Jessie was dragging a bit, but it was worthwhile he had actually six houses sold on mowing. He had also used his standard magic trick move as well. He was hoping for three and got four. He was paid at the end of the mowing for the work. The magic trick was returning to the person’s yard he had mowed and apologizing for borrowing a particular tool for the yard work. The mostly little old clients thought he was so nice and reliable and they rewarded him for being so trusting and above board. He got an extra $10 for being so perfect, but one didn’t offer the extra money and reacted in an almost nasty way. Jessie had seen people like this before . . . and he had a really good memory. Jessie listed him as a Donald Trump holdout, which meant he would keep an eye out on that yard.
By the time Jessie returned home he was dead tired. A loving kiss from his wife brought him back to life, however. He took a shower and drug himself to the kitchen table. Although he was dead tired, he sparked up with his wife. She was being rehired . . . with a bonus.
The next day, Jessie drove to the home of the owner who had held back instead of handing out a bonus. Jessie just couldn’t let things lay. Jessie had seen a number of long rooted “Yellow Creeping Jenny” weeds making a home for themselves the day before. Now he sprayed half a dozen and returned to the car. Just as he was pulling away onto the street Jessie heard someone yelling for him to stop. The old senior from the house hobbled as fast as he could. Jessie was worried the police might be on their way for something, but no the old man was thankful. He apologized for not coming out of his home. The senior explained it was he and his wife’s anniversary, and he always did what he could to help his wife’s efforts to maintain their yard. He handed Jessie an envelope, thanked Jessie again and went back inside his home.
Jessie drove home feeling better about what he could have done, but didn’t. He was calm and smiling just to be with his wife. He gave her the envelope and he made his way to the bathroom and a shower.
When Jessie was all dry and sat down he noticed the smile on his wife’s face as she said “Open the envelope.” Inside was several U.S. bills totaling one thousand dollars. They both laughed and hugged and thanked the world of seniors.
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