Yes, that occasionally over-used term described in less high-fallutin terms as: ‘accident’, ‘chance’, ‘fate’……you get the point.
The ‘real life’ event was the CV failure on my Dodge Caravan after hitting a piece of junk in the road.
My poor old van was dragged into the only local shop that even had a clue as to what to do. In this small rural mid-western town I was totally at their mercy. As I sat in the grubby waiting room contemplating the reality of the actual wait, the office manager-service manager-secretary-part owner breezed into my view. She wasn’t hard to miss!
Several things caught my attention immediately: the ‘BBW-ness’ was impossible to miss, this was one big lady! I commanded my eyes to her face and was happy to see a pretty, blue-eyed 50ish woman smiling pleasantly at me. She was nicely dressed in a woman’s version of bibbed denim overalls. Have to confess that I stared at her chest a bit too long and when returning to her face there was that ‘you-naughty-boy!’ smirk. I probably blushed.
“Well, Mr. McOlder, your van needs a new CV assembly that will take two days to arrive and another day to install”
“That’s not all. I notice that your van is full of boxes and they look heavy. In order to do the work and the final alignment properly the van will have to be unloaded.”
[Groan with expletive!]“What are you selling, Mr. McOlder? I hope it’s OK if I assume that you are a traveling salesman.”
“No, no…yes…you are right on the button! Please call me ‘Mac’. I sell pretty decorations to people that arrange home parties and take orders. Very similar to that plastic-container style of home-based fun.” I couldn’t tell if I should be apologetic or proud. There certainly was no clue on her nicely made-up face.
“Do you have a lot of items with you?”
“At least one of almost everything!” I groaned, “It will take almost half of the day after it is finished just to re-load!”
“Hmmmmm”, says my captor, and leaves the area. I hang my head in my hands and try to figure how the immediate remainder of my life could be arranged. [I could never have guessed!]
Twenty minutes later a van similar to mine [but, with four wheels that work!] drives into the shop. Another nicely dressed, well padded, lady poured out and came into the seating area. “Are you ‘Mac’? I nodded.
My ‘captor’ appeared instantly. “Oh! Goody! You’re here already! Mac, this is Nell. I’m Edith. I called Nell and I think we have a plan if you are willing…….”
“I’m all ears!” I quip. Both ladies seemed to enjoy that one.
Well, you are pretty stranded in our little town. We don’t even have a motel or cabins or a B&B. So, here’s our proposition….” Both ladies really enjoyed that one!
Edith continued, “You come to stay in my guest room. Nell will transport your items in her van to my house. We will call everyone we know and, AND!, we will have the most exciting sales party ever tossed in ‘these-here-parts’!”
They both broke down on this one! [What kind of place had I landed in? I half-expected Rod Serling to be the mechanic!] :uhoh3:
I figured that you had to live here a generation or two to really ‘get’ the local humor. But, the plan was very good in so many ways! “Sounds great to me!” Was my clever response. And, by golly! They glanced at each other and giggled at that! Oh well……
The plan went off great! My products were a great hit and I either sold or took orders on almost everything. This had to be the most exciting thing since…? But, by 10 pm the nearly twenty 50ish ladies and a couple of gay guys bid me farewell and I was beat, whipped! [No! this is not that kind of story!] I was pooped…[still a miss-leading term]……… I was very ready for that guest-room bed!