Posted by
Scottie on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 5:52:48 PM
I met The Ornery Elephant, my erstwhile companion, in a chat room appropriately named the Lizard Lounge over at Little Green Footballs. He took me under his proverbial wing and privately explained the protocols of the site, introduced me to several of the other lizards, and did much to make me at ease and welcome in this strange new setting. I can honestly report that his kindness and generosity online are matched by his persona in the real world. At his invitation, we journeyed to the town of Lawrenceville, Illinois in order to aid a disabled veteran in need. While Lawrenceville is a short hour and a half or so from my home base in Terre Haute, it was an incredible trek for my newfound pal from Minnesota. (Check out The Elephant's Blog!)
The days before he arrived were inundated by a soaking rain of truly biblical proportions. Many homes were flooded; rivers had abandoned their banks and taken over the flood plains with a vengeance. I found myself stranded the night before The Elephant’s arrival unable to cross the mighty Wabash River. When the bridge that carried Interstate 70 was closed to all traffic as watchful engineers assessed the effects of the raging river waters on the structure, my last remaining link to home vanished. To think that my newfound friend had driven most of the way here in such a torrential storm made me shudder.
We contacted each other by cell phone, discussed the situation and made arrangements to meet the following day to help Bill the Veteran down in Lawrenceville notwithstanding the chaos that was swirling around us. How about that folks? My new buddy wasn’t just generous, but determined to keep his word as well! Even though there was more than ample reason to bow out; even though anybody would understand how the situation had changed; a promise is still a promise, and The Elephant was going to be as good as his word. We each hunkered down as best we could for the night and anticipated finally meeting one another in person the following day. (Check out Bill's Website!)
Sometime during the night the mighty Wabash River receded enough to allow Interstate 70 to reopen and my early morning return to home base was uneventful. The Missus was bursting with news and obviously relieved to see me home safe and sound as she busied herself getting me coffee between endless phone calls from our insurance clients. My cats were beside themselves at my arrival and I went to the basement and filled the feed dishes and emptied the litter boxes to their thankful chorus of meows. I then set myself to the task of loading tools into my big old work truck in preparation for my journey south to Lawrenceville. A cup of coffee, a quick kiss to the Missus and back on the road again.
Our host it seems is a late to bed, late to rise sort of fellow, so The Elephant arranged to meet me at a local Denney’s for breakfast, which I readily accepted. A cup of coffee isn’t exactly the proper fuel for a good days work, and my fare the night before had been kind of skimpy as most places were closed due to power outages. He greeted me heartily and every preconception I had of him was confirmed. He was a bright, outgoing, descent man that was obviously well suited to his chosen profession as a salesman. Politically he was nearly my clone. If I had considered him a friend before, I considered him a brother now. He dined lightly on some scrambled eggs and coffee while I tanked up on a hearty breakfast of eggs, hash browns, sausage, toast, and gravy washed down with prodigious amounts of coffee. My money was no good it seems, and The Elephant picked up the check on the way out.
We saddled up and he led me to Bill’s place with a short diversion to pick up another helper. We arrived at Bill’s place shortly and were greeted by Bill and his attendant herd of cats and kittens. Since I smelled of cats from my recent interaction with my own brood at home, they gravitated to me in droves. Each cat stopped by to receive my approbation and a scratch behind the ears. I was introduced to Kyle, who unknowingly would become the target of my wry humor for the day and then it was on to survey the jobsite.
Bill is one lucky fellow. His modest home sits on a piece of what can only be considered God’s country. His horse was grazing lazily in its corral, and the fresh country air was invigorating. The surroundings were lush with the prodigious growth of farm country and although the day was warm and offering to get a lot warmer, the breeze that wafted through the yard and the shade of the many trees surrounding the property largely mitigated the warm temperature. We set about sorting through the instructions that came with the Jungle gym Bill had purchased for his grandkids to use when they visited, and pulled out the workbench platform from the bed of the work truck to set up shop for the day.
Kyle, The Elephant and I formed a pretty good team as we quickly adjusted to each other and got down to the business at hand. One subassembly after another went together according to the plans as they day went swiftly by around us. Oblivious to the passage of time, we worked steadily and the project began to take shape. Various friends of Bill stopped by to see what was happening, and I had the pleasure of flirting with Dorothy on her (85th?) birthday. Bill kibitzed, and Kyle caught me in more than a few mistakes, but the project progressed steadily until at last the play set was complete. Bill thanked us and it was clear that he was very pleased with the results. Time to party!!
Our host had a couple of folks laboring away on a barbeque while we were wrapping things up and soon we were feasting on burgers, dogs, baked beans, chips, and some of the best potatoes ever produced by a grill master anywhere. We dined like kings as we surveyed our handiwork and gave in to just a little well deserved gloating. The cats wandered through doing what cats will do when food is afoot, their begging answered with scraps and tidbits from the throng. I was sorry I didn’t have a bit of room left for a piece of Dorothy’s birthday cake, nor did The Elephant. Basking in our success, we eventually took our leave of Bills little corner of heaven and bid our gracious host farewell.
What a wonderful day! I met and worked with a true friend; helped a veteran in need, got to work with a pretty sharp kid and met many wonderful people all the while basking in the best the heartland of America has to offer. As a final gesture of generosity, The Elephant pressed some money into my palm to help offset my cost of gas. Unbeknownst to him, I thanked God in my prayers that evening before I turned in and asked Him to watch over this wonderful, generous man on his long journey home. As much as I rail against many things going wrong in this great nation, it was most refreshing to touch base with the part of it that’s doing just fine and to commune with the people that truly make this country the greatest nation ever. God has truly blessed America.
Scottie