“Ring up that first,” said the man to the checkout clerk standing behind us in line, and I immediately sensed his intent. I had observed his genuine kindness and fondness toward Evelyn, who was sitting flat butted, carefully choosing glittery accessories from the “you know you want to buy this” area in the waiting line to buy groceries. Her attention was glued on a pop-it purse and a lip gloss flip phone and oh, and the man.
“I’m three and a half,” she proudly declared, holding up her signature pinkie, ring, and middle finger, “And I’m going to have a birthday party.” I chimed in, “In less than a month.” The man smiled and replied, “Well, that should be fun.” As he continued pushing his cart, I warned Evelyn to move, but he reassured us, saying, “Oh, darling, you’re fine. I would never hurt you.”
As the last of our groceries were being rung up, I watched as Evelyn reluctantly placed the toys back on the shelf. While I inserted my debit card into the reader, I noticed the man pick up the toy phone and place it on his pile on the conveyor belt. I couldn’t help but wonder if he had a grandchild.
When I was handed my receipt and heard the first beep of his items, I knew what was about to happen.
The man, wearing a 2024 Trump for President hat, his untrimmed toes hanging off the edge of thick-strapped, off-brand slides, and his reddened face, walked past me and bent down to Evelyn’s height. He presented her with the glittery gift, saying, “Since I won’t be at your party, I wanted to give your gift from me now.” Evelyn hesitated, her face contorted as if to say, “It’s not mine; I can’t take it.” However, he gently insisted, and I encouraged her, saying, “He’s getting it for you.”
By then, both clerks and several other shoppers within earshot had stopped to witness the heartwarming moment. I looked around and saw people with huge smiles, expressions of “Aw,” and comments like “How sweet.” I was deeply moved to the point of tears. The kindness of a complete stranger is truly incredible.
“If you say please, you can have some, but only if you say please,” Evelyn tells with her present in her pocket. So I do, and am granted permission to circle my fingers in the slippery wax and press it to my lips. And you better believe it’s the only toy she knows that exists right now.
And now, onto other matters. On an open-aired Polaris ATV, my sister-in-law’s face bobbled as she drove in the back part of her property to a place where she stopped and swiveled the camera for me to see. She’d met our house’s builder the previous day, and besides the ‘good vibes’ she got from him, she was telling me there was a discrepancy between where he and she thought we wanted it. So she wanted me to see for myself.
Squinting, I oriented myself to the acre strip of land on my 6.1″ iPhone screen, but I couldn’t. “Um, this isn’t the land Dave and I looked at.” Turns out when we visited in August, Dave and I should have had a chaperone visit to the property because we checked out the wrong spot completely. This isn’t a problem exactly, it’s just the size we thought we were working with — the difference between half a basketball court and a football field opens a can of worms of possibilities. So yeah, one or both of us should probably make the five-hour flight to reassess and like the first astronauts on the moon did, make sure we stake our flag on the correct planet.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I’m at a heart-wrenching part in the book ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’. According to my Kindle, I have an hour and a half left, which is good, because my heart can’t take much more of this. It’s perfectly written but brutal.
See ya! Love, Jaclynn”
Going On 40 