More Loot

Under a rising, milky, almost full moon, with still plenty of daylight, I got to the big tree with the big apples and discovered that I was not the only one interested in loot. A few rough and tough looking, probably Mexican guys were hanging out, aiming funky apples from the ground up at the good ones hanging out of reach. I had no hesitation joining them in my hunt for good enough apples for sauce for tomorrows addition to free meals offered at the nearby shelter. Once the guys understood that I wanted to bring the apples processed in to applesauce to the shelter, one stranger, Ramon, with his front teeth missing, took it upon himself to reach those ripe and juicy looking apples way above us by climbing up that old gnarly tree. We made a great team as he started to throw me apples one by one and I was able to catch each, except for one. In that way I was able to fill my whole backpack with freshly picked, ripe and juicy, beautifully intact apples.

The kindness of strangers tends to show up in the most surprising places with the most interesting faces. Ramon, with his missing front teeth, no doubt would have scared many a middle aged woman.

While some older, maybe wiser women proclaim to be nobody's mom and may decry those that support another's habit of begging by giving out of sentimentality rather then good judgment, some such woman may still get joy out of giving that which she prepared with love and attention and ingenuity and last but not in the least, with the most important, if unexpected helpful kindness of strangers.