— Oh, come on, it’s not such a disaster…
I bumped into Laura, our financial director, in the hallway, and she was proudly holding a cardboard box.
I asked:
— Did you bring the salaries from the bank?
— No, it’s a gift from an old friend I met in a traffic jam (the box says “Medical Supplies”).
— What’s he hinting at?
— Nothing at all, I’ve known him so long that I could give him something like deodorant, and he’d genuinely be happy about it. We first met in 1998. Back then, I had a huge car problem. I was young and foolish, bought a Toyota from a dodgy dealer, and the car had tampered ID numbers and fake customs clearance. Even some police officers I knew took money, promised to help, but did nothing. The final straw was having to empty my wallet of the last few pounds to bribe the traffic cops and prevent the car from being towed.
In short, the car was pricey, but now it’s only good for spare parts… I parked near the bins in my apartment block, sitting and eating poppy seed bagels, sobbing because I didn’t want to go home like that… Someone knocked on the window, I opened it. A man with a shovel in an orange vest apologized and cheerfully said:
Could you move your car five meters? We’re about to pave the area in front of the bins. What’s got you so upset?
I almost wanted to tell him to go away and close the window to block out the asphalt smell, but for some reason, I briefly explained my troubles to him.
He replied:
— Oh, don’t worry about it, it’s not the end of the world, as long as everyone’s healthy… You’re enjoying that bagel so much, could I have a piece?
I was annoyed at myself for sharing my woes with a road worker and by his cheek, but I absentmindedly offered him a bagel.
The man said:
— Can I have another one for my mate? There are two of us working here…
I was shocked by his audacity but handed over the second bagel. I drove away and cried peacefully without bothering anyone else. About ten minutes later, the worker knocked again.
I opened the window and snapped:
— Are you after more bagels!?
The man replied:
— No, do you have something to write with? Take this down.
He dictated a phone number from his notepad and added: This is my home number. Call after nine in the evening and say you’re calling about Dan. I’ll let him know. He’s a police commissioner and can surely sort this out for you…
The man said goodbye and vanished in the grey asphalt smoke, leaving me dumbstruck. That evening, I made the call (what did I have to lose..?).
In just two days, at the DMV, my car was officially registered and I received brand new license plates! (Even the workers there jumped out of their booths to be extra helpful…)
I spent a week looking for this road worker, Dan, to thank him. I finally found him on a nearby street. I thanked him profusely, gave him expensive chocolates, champagne, coffee, and other things I can’t recall, and asked him how he knew the commissioner so well that the commissioner even sent regards to him and his wife…
And Dan explained that just six months ago, he was quite well-off, dealing in medical supplies, but the economic crisis destroyed his business. Now he juggles three jobs, working round-the-clock, and even his wife, who had never worked a day in her life, took a job in a school canteen washing dishes.
All to “stay afloat,” as they lived in a grand 200-square-meter flat in an upscale building, and with great effort, they tried to keep up appearances in front of their millionaire neighbors. They sold everything except the schoolbooks from their home, refusing to sell the flat, despite paying £700 a month just for utilities and security.
They managed on fifty pounds a month for the three of them (thankfully their daughter went to a regular school). Since then, Dan and I have become good friends with our families. We always celebrate the New Year together. Not even two years passed when Dan bounced back to a better position than before the crisis.
Today, I was waiting at a traffic light when someone knocked on my car roof, and there was Dan in an SUV:
— Hey, Lauren, want a Geiger counter as a present?
— Sure.
— Here you go, use it happily and don’t deny yourself anything…
