Dec 16 2007
The Two People You Meet at Discount Tire (Part Two)
My spirits uplifted by my conversation with a total stranger whom I most likely never would see again, I certainly didn’t expect what came next.
I watched through the show room’s plate glass windows to the service bay. As our minivan Homer rested on the hydraulic lift, his tires helplessly hanging a few feet above the ground, I wondered what the hold-up was. Complimentary coffee in a pump-action carafe sat on a table below the windows. I thought about it, then remembered that anything but decaf would send me bouncing around the office like Cornholio.
A woman’s reflection walked up behind mine. I turned to face her, my head tilted down because she stood barely five feet tall, if that. She was a brunette with dashes of gray, about my age, dressed in casual business attire. I motioned toward the counter. “Go ahead. I’ve been helped already.” She stared blankly and said nothing.
I turned away to ponder the vulnerable Homer. He seemed listless, unaware that although he was getting on in years, he still was part of the lauded Honda Odyssey line. I apologized internally for all the abuse he had suffered at our hands. We had left him little room to be lauded.
“Mark,” a female voice behind me said. She used the same tone one might employ when identifying an object for a small child.
She saw I was Mark, said I was Mark, and I was Mark.
I turned. The wee woman repeated, “Mark.” She pointed at herself and smiled. “Mindy.”
“Mindy?! Hey, Mindy!” I opted out of the courtesy lean-in and pulled her in for a bear-hug.
I hadn’t seen her in 19 years. Although we never hung out together, we had mutual friends and our fathers were close. Plus, when you’re nearly 400 miles from your hometown of (then) 5,000 population, you tend to get excited to see an old friend.
We did a quick catch-up — how many kids do you have? How old? Are they short or are they tall (that was my question)? I had heard from someone that she lived in this area, but without a last name, it’s hard to find someone from the high school days. I’m sure some women are glad to change their names for that exact reason when they marry.
She and I never dated, per se. One time her best friend and mine tried to fix us up on a double-date at my house, but we just wound up sitting on the recliners while the other couple sucked face in another room.
We exchanged numbers and retreated back to our respective workplaces. I tucked hers behind the yet unused e-mail address I got from a college friend I bumped into at Sport Clips. Maybe I’ll call and our families will have dinner.
Maybe.
(Note: I’ll just save you some time and tell you now that I already thought of the “Mark and Mindy” joke.)
Now ain’t that a co-inky-dink update: The following Saturday night, Shannon and I saw and spoke with the old college friend whose e-mail address I haven’t used yet.
CRAP!!! I was totally going to say the Mark and Mindy thing. That is too darned cool!!! How exciting to run into someone who remembered you and recognized you after so long. I love running into old friends. I hope to do it soon when we go back to my home town for Christmas. It would be really cool to have your families get together for dinner.
Same thing happened to me. There was two girls we sorta took in at church - one was 14 the other 11. We made sure they were able to do other things with the other youth, took them to church and places, spent time with them - stuff like that. But they were in a family situation that finally took them away. This was twenty years ago. A few days ago, day after Thanksgiving in fact, my doorbell rang and. lo and behold, there they were, standingon my doorstep. We spent the next three hours catching up. What a wonderful surprise that was!
Sounds like my story at the post office recently when I saw a guy I had worked with back in the mid 70’s! (yes, I’m that old)
Hey Curt, you ever going to blog again????
Yeah, I thought about making the Mark and Mindy joke, but then thought, “Nah, new jokes would be better.”
(heh heh, I totally just made you say “Na-Nu”)
I love running into old friends, exchanging phone numbers and then forgetting to call them for so long that it would be strange to pick up the phone so you just never do, but you keep their number in your cell phone because it would seem so final to delete it. And then it’s awkward should you ever run into them again, but hey, it’s not like they called you either! At least…that’s how I do it, anyway.
Here’s hoping you do a better job with it than I do ;)
I would be really surprised to run into those same people at a tire store. Especially this far out of the way of Texas! And yeah, I was thinking of the obvious joke, too, and I was saying “na-nu” before Moksha even planted the suggestion.
What’s really got me buggered here is picturing Mark bouncing off the walls like Cornholio. That’s moderately disturbing. Yet entertaining at the same time!
“I am cornholio, need TP for my bunghole.” Beavis
Little Mindy. I always liked her, because she was always upbeat and smiling.
That’s strange that you would run into her, but the tire store was probably your best bet. You would have never seen her in Wal-Mart…she’s too little.
Amy - I thought it was pretty cool. Even though I came from a small town in a tiny county of a sparsely populated state, I run into people from my hometown in the weirdest places. My wife’s from the big town of Little Rock, where she attended a large high school, and we never bump into people she knows.
Curt - Obviously you made a difference in their lives if they came to see you after all those years. Very cool story.
Dave - Yeah, if you were working in the ’70’s — whoa. Did they have computers then? ;-)
Moksha - It’s a good thing I like saying, “na-nu.” I’m already doing better than you on the friends thing. I e-mailed that guy from college today and he already replied. We’ve agreed to have dinner with our families after the holidays are behind us.
Simon - I already drive Shannon crazy with my hyperactive behavior on weekend mornings. Caffeine and sugar on top of that would not be good.
Charles - Good quote from Cornholio.
You’re right about Mindy, and she still smiles a lot (once you recognize her).