The Tale of the Fred Meyer Chucks (or $20 for gas)

I went to pick up some new low top Chucks at Fred Meyer. This is my first pair. Not my first pair of Chucks, but my first pair of the low top variety as I’ve been a hard core high top wearer since the mid/late 90’s. Not sure what made me make the change to low tops, I guess I’m getting old and lacing and tying the high tops are getting more and more difficult.

As we were walking out of the store I noticed that our van door was open. This didn’t come as much of a surprise to any of us since the door tends to not stay closed most of the time. The automatic sliding feature is pretty nifty, but on the passenger side, it has crapped out.

Heidi reminded me that I needed to get cash out of the ATM for the next few weeks groceries so Eve and I turned around to head back to the ATM while Heidi loaded two of the three girls into the van. About 50 feet away from the machine, a guy, probably in his early to mid twenties was crouching on the sidewalk. I didn’t pay much attention to him, but he called over to me;

“Excuse me.”

He was a lot more polite than I would have thought.

“I can’t believe I’m asking, but I was supposed to pick up my daughter an hour ago but I’m out of gas and have no money.”

I knew he was lying right away.

“This is really tough for me to ask, but do you have a buck or two?”

He was very convincing. If he was lying, he was great at it.

“Sure, give me a second.” I said.

I turned to the ATM and put my card in.

“Don’t forget to get your card when you’re done.” Evelyn reminded me.

“I won’t.”

Punched in my numbers, added $20 to the amount Heidi needed for groceries. Grabbed the cash and turned to give it to the guy.

“Hey,” Eve stopped me, “did you get your card?”

“Oh, no, I didn’t. Thank you sweetie.”

I got my card and walked over to the guy. He hadn’t moved. Hadn’t come over to where I was to hover until I gave him money, which is what I expected. He just stayed right where he was and patiently waited. When I handed him the money he looked very surprised.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“Is there anyway I can pay you back?”

“Nah.”

“You sure?”

“Yep, just use it rightly.” (I never say rightly in a sentence, but I just did.)

“Is that your van?”

My heart skipped a beat when he asked me this.

“Yeah.”

“The door’s been open for some time. I tried to close it, but it just opened back up.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of broken. Thanks man.”

“No problem. Thank you.”

I walked back over to the van to help Heidi get the girls all buckled and took a quick visual stock of the contents. Nothing was out of place, nothing was missing. It was just as we left it.

I don’t know who that guy was, or what he’s going to do with that money, but there was so much about those few minutes that made me really pause and wonder who’s around me asking for help. Normally I wouldn’t have done anything for him, but something in me said I should. And all the evidence (at least the stereotypical stuff) pointed towards him not lying to me.

The whole thing was a very interesting experience. From the crazy quiet store (due to the Superbowl), the car door, the guy asking for cash, to Eve reminding me before I forgot my card to get my card, then me forgetting it.

I don’t know how to wrap up this story, but I haven’t given up my high top Chucks, just added some low tops to the mix.