The Good Samaritan Strikes Again

Currently it's 19 degrees here in Norfolk which is certainly some of the coldest weather we've had in a very long time. The old steam radiators in my apartment are hissing and chattering away and the warmth is absolutely wonderful despite the fact that I have the radiators turned way back. Not quite turned off, but very close to it. If I had them wide open, I would be able to bake bread on my desk and fry eggs on the windowsill.

Typically I don't mind the cold, but this is a bit much. When I got home from work this evening, I had to park way down the block and walk to my apartment building and nearly froze en route. Had my path home been just a few steps farther, rescuers wouldn't find my body until spring when the snowbank melted. But this is Virginia and there was no snowbank, so I trudged on against the biting wind and blowing leaves.

And then there was the lady standing in her driveway madly waving a broomstick in the air.

Was she fighting off an attacking bee? Doubtful. Too cold for bees. Curious soul that I am, I stopped to investigate, staying well out of broomstick range. It turned out that sometime during the day the wind had blown a large piece of plastic wrap up into a tree in her otherwise pristine front yard which was billowing in the wind as we stood there in the bitter cold and fading light of evening. Even with the broom handle, she was a bit too short to reach and haul down plastic, so at my request, she offered me the broom stick which I began waving wildly in the air. A passing car slowed and for a moment I thought the driver was going to leap out and save us from what was obviously a robust attack by renegade bees.

But as I am nearly six-three, I soon got hold of the plastic and hauled it down. The lady issued a quick thanks and scurried inside with the plastic in hand and her hero, mission accomplished, trudged onward towards home.