Our car was broken into over the weekend. The thief or thieves stole the registration, insurance information, a pair of sunglasses, a hundred bucks, two toolbags filled with emergency supplies, and an earthquake kit.
A man saw me on Monday morning figuring all of this out and walked over to lament my loss. He’s a bit of a street figure, grizzled and tall, and he walks with a limp. Over the years, we’ve adopted a weird habit of greeting each other formally if we see each other, wishing the other good tidings. Sir, have a good day. And to you, sir, as well. He’s known among the neighbors for owning six or seven vintage cars that he parks on the street, most of them undriveable, he spends his days towing them around the neighborhood to avoid parking tickets. One has “Grendel” painted down the side. Another is filled with plastic doll-heads. Are they garbage? Are they sculpture?
A day after the break-in, he left a note in our mailbox. He’d found our registration and insurance card dumped a block away. A day later, another note, to say he’d found almost everything else – not the sunglasses – strewn in an alley.
What is a “Samaritan” anyway? Says the dictionary:
A member of a people inhabiting Samaria in biblical times, or of the modern community in the region of Nablus claiming descent from them.
Says Wikipedia:
Samaritan is an upcoming American superhero thriller film directed by Julius Avery, and starring Sylvester Stallone and Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton.
A few days later, I saw him walking down the block, I ran outside and handed him an envelope with a thank-you note and finder’s fee. Before I could say anything, he said quietly to himself, “A thank-you card? A thank-you card. A thank-you card!”
“Yeah,” I said, laughing. “Well, we really appreciate it.”
“I try to keep an eye out,” he said, holding the card in two hands. Then he looked up at me and grinned. “Sir, you have a good day.”
What the what? An occasional newsletter by Rosecrans Baldwin of (very) short essays about things he finds beautiful. Any books mentioned are on a list at Bookshop.
Rosecrans’s next book, Everything Now, forthcoming June 2021, is available for preorder via Amazon, Bookshop, or your local store.