Yesterday was moving day for Lindon Books. In order to lower their rent, they moved to the space next door. They didn’t need a moving van or packing boxes. What they needed was muscle power and it arrived in the energetic form of the Mother/Daughter Book Club members, along with other avid readers from the community. Armloads of books were scooped from the old shelves and carried next door to the new shelves. One enthusiastic reader, age eleven, shouted, “Books! Books! Wonderful books!” as she marched along. After weeks of a Moving Sale, stock was sparse, but there was still a lot of merchandise, and these volunteers schlepped all of it out one door and in the next.
One of my neighbors works for a company that installs hardwood floors. The short end pieces, which the company discards, make great kindling. The employees are free to take it, so Tim keeps me supplied with kindling for my wood stove every winter. This week he delivered two big boxes full, a welcome gift that will help warm many a cold night ahead.
Yesterday morning I found a bag of plums hanging on my gate. Although there wasn’t any note, I know which neighbors have a plum tree. They often share produce from their garden, too.
The local feed store has birdseed on sale. I go through a lot of birdseed, but it comes in forty or fifty pound bags so I only buy it when I know I can get help to unload it. The store clerks will put it in my trunk, but I’m not able to lift the heavy bags out. Knowing this, Jenny called to say if I want to take advantage of the sale (she feeds the birds, too) she’d be glad to come out to unload the bags for me.
All of this gives me hope for our society. There is so much animosity in the news that I sometimes wonder whatever became of civility, and good manners, and respect. Then I look at my small corner of the world, and I see kids gladly helping their community book store stay in business, and I see generous neighbors and friends watching out for each other, and I trust that somehow, just as in my fiction, the good guys will win.