Grampa’s stories #8

Heroes 

At least I don’t have to get up until 4. I am grateful for that. The paper route was daily at 3am. But one particular morning, I was still tired while showering and getting dressed. I collected my things and drove to the train station. 


Sometimes at times like this, I imagine myself on a beautiful beach. It helps. Do you ever do that?



There were the typical folks waiting on the platform. It was still dark, and once the train arrived, I climbed the stairs to the upper level—like I always do. Once I got inside where there were lights, I noticed three large food stains stretching down the front of my shirt. How did I do that? There were no people around, so I did what anyone would do in this situation: I licked the spots with my tongue until the stains were gone. Proud of myself for being so resourceful, I sat back in my seat and waited for my station. We made the typical train stops, including mine. I just needed to hop on the bus, and in ten minutes I was at work. I smuggly patted myself on the back as I thought about how well I was handling the challenges of the day. And it wasn’t even 10am yet. 


Everything was going peachy, until I noticed this rank odor coming from my surroundings. It wasn’t like this yesterday. What in the world? I was on a roll so I inspected the area. I thought something strange must be going on here. Then I realized to my horror, it was me. My shirt wasn’t just dirty. It was putrid. In my haste, I grabbed a shirt on the hanger that must have had a rough day and put it on without checking its condition. Hey. It was dark at the time. Now I know why there was no one around me on the train. This just keeps getting worse. I glanced down at my watch and realized I still had hours of work left in the day. What am I going to do now?


Well, when you find yourself in such a despicable situation, you look for a hero. That’s what I did, and I found Alyssa and Ray. And Tommy. Happily they saved the day and brought me a replacement shirt. 


And of course Jer, since he willingly shared the new shirt…and deodorant. 


It’s always good to have heroes. 


Thank you!

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