Sequel to The Brown Elephant
Once again I found a piece of furniture for my daughter at The Brown Elephant, the resale shop near Whole Foods on Halstead in Chicago.
Lauren and I had walked to Whole Foods and naturally stopped at The Brown Elephant on the way. Actually, earlier I had spotted a substantial white metal file cabinet, 3½' or more wide by 3' tall, 2' deep, quite contemporary, slick actually. Very high-style.
Lauren liked it too. In the photo, this looks more like a file cabinet. In real life, it looks much wider and substantial. It really looks Hollywood!
We sure have great good fortune in resale stores. And also possibly an affinity with white cabinets! (See earlier blog http://godwriting.org/the_brown_elephant.html)
A man standing next to us was checking out the file cabinet and asked if we had bought it.
I said yes. Then I asked him if he had been interested in it. He shook his head no and said that this cabinet was heavy and strong. I asked him if he thought the drawers could come out. He examined it further and thought they couldn't.
I don't believe I was so bold -- but then I said: "Do you want to help us move it?"
He did!
The cabinet wouldn't fit into his truck, so our new friend, Abdellalif, drove Lauren home to get her Pontiac Vibe which had plenty of room. This gentleman who moved Lauren's new decorater's dream file cabinet to her apartment insisted he was doing this as a friend.
Not only would he not accept any money for his help, he:
*Tipped the valet parking guy at Lauren's place!
*Paid for street parking for Lauren's car in front of The Brown Elephant!
*Tipped an employee at the store who helped move the heavy file cabinet out from the store!
*And then would not let us treat him to something to eat at Whole Foods!
Where do such nice people come from? From Africa, of course!
Abdul is from Morocco. There is the same remarkable hospitality in Morocco as there is in South Africa. And here we are in Chicago!
Abdul has been in the U.S. for ten years. He has six brothers and two sisters. He is the only one of his family to live in the U.S. He will be going home to visit his family later this summer. Lucky family.
We are surrounded by goodness and mercy. This must be how world peace arises.
Comments
Gloria Dear, Why are you so surpriced meeting all those nice people, Like is attracted to like. Not only from Africa I met some terrific people in Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Enland and many more places. My first seafaring trip was To America. In Philidelphia I was night watchman. The shoreside had also a night watchman we came to talk and in the morning He came and picked me up showed my around and the hospitality at his home was fantastic. Him and his wife were keen Rollerskaters. So nice people are every where. It is such a pitty that they are never in the news. They might bring Papers but not in the paper. Love Jack
Beloved Jack, you make such good points! Remember, I do a blog a day. I can only write what is true for me at the moment!
Such cute photos!