My Good Deed

by Pa rock
Good Citizen

This evening I was at our local Lowe's admiring their climbing roses - Don Juan's and America's - after spending the better part of three days hacking and pulling up climbing roses! I really wanted to buy a Don Juan - they smell wonderful! - but was disappointed in the foliage on the four that they had in stock. The America's on the other hand, while not as fragrant, had beautiful, healthy foliage. As I was pondering what to do, a very sweet lady with an accent that I could not place, walked up and started talking to me about the roses. She, too, wanted a Don Juan.

The lady was concerned about getting the very tall plant home in her small sedan. She asked if I was driving a truck, and I said that no, I was driving the convertible next to her sedan. She wandered off into the store. I selected the best America and followed her in where I did some more shopping. As I came to the front of the garden center, my new friend was at the checkout with a Don Juan and chattering with a sales clerk about how best to get it in her car.

Suddenly the lady turned to me and asked if I could drive her rose home. When I learned that she didn't live too far, I agreed, noting that the sales clerk had a smirk on his face that seemed to say "There's one born every minute!" Me, America, and Don Juan followed the lady to her home, where I carefully carried Don J. through the house and out to his new digs next to the patio.

The lady tried to pay me with a new red scarf that still had the tags on it. I declined - red is not my color - and told her just to pay the favor forward. I think that was a good investment.

I did find out about the accent. My new friend is a bank teller who has recently moved to Phoenix after many years in New Jersey. I told her that her accent was definitely not Jersey, and she said that she was a native of Lima, Peru. She said that she has a brother who is a tour guide in Cuzco and Machu Picchu. Him I would like to meet!

I have been invited back to check on Don J., and I may just do it!