樂天的雜貨舖

Driving through Nevada, Utah, Arizona, we arrived in San Diego, a beautiful port city of California, on an early spring morning of 1996.

San Diego is located in the southeast of Los Angeles and these two cities are about 180 kilometers apart.

Along the coast of San Diego, there is a naval base. Not very far away, there is a civil port where was crowded with fishing boats and white yachts. The tall masts of the boats were widespread like a forest. It looked so great and impressive.

Some sea gulls flew in the blue sky and some hopped on the green grass. A red San Diego Trolly was whistling at the station while the breeze gave me a gentle kiss on my face. Standing on this wonderful land, I felt entirely free and happy.

After taking some photos with my children, I drove a red Pontiac sedan running on the clean and wide street. A white wood house caught our eyes as we were passing by.

“What‘s that, honey?” my wife asked

“Kansas City Barbeque. It‘s probably a restaurant."    

“How about having a lunch over there?”

“Yes, ma‘am.” I replied

We found a place for parking in downtown. My wife and children got out of the car, and put some coins into the parking meter. I pushed down the main control button of the car consciously. But after the door was closed, I found the key was still inside. And even more unfortunately, the engine was still running. Oh, what have I done!

I took a look around there. No tools, no telephone booth, no garage, nothing but a few people far away.

“What should I do?” I cried in my heart

I kicked the tire angrily, pulled the doorknob roughly, knocked the window violently, but all these didn’t help.

At that moment, a white man came out of the building and said in a polite way, “Do you have any problem?”

“Yes, a big problem. The key is inside.”

“Do you want me to call a locksmith? It probably needs to pay 20 or 30 dollars.”

“No problem. Could you make the call for me?”

“Sure. Um…my office is on the first floor. Won‘t you come in and have a cup of coffee?”

“Thank you. We stay here. That‘ll be fine.”

Ten minutes had passed, and he didn‘t show up. I entered his office. He saw me and said, “I’ve called 2 companies, but their technicians were out for work. I’ll keep trying.”   I went outside and told my wife about the situation. 

A little while later, two black men were approaching us and said, “Hi, buddy! You’ve got any problem?”

“Yes, the key is inside.”

One of them said, “Is this car yours?”

“No, I rent it from Avis.”

“Oh! There should be an urgent call number on the contract. You can call them for help.”

Yes, he just hit the point.

My wife found the contract in her shoulder bag. I took it, rushed in the office, and asked to call Avis.

Then thing had a favorable turn.

Avis provided us the telephone number of Pontiac. And Pontiac promised the serviceman would arrive in 30 minutes and the service would be free.

While we were waiting, I took some new coins out and said to the white man, “These are the coins of my country. They are 50, 10, 5, 1 dollar and 50 cents. I hope you can keep them for fun.” We exchanged business cards mutually. His name is Jacob and he is an architect.

The Pontiac kept his promise. Within 30 minutes, a technician appeared. He took out a key from his pocket, put it into the key hole, switched slightly and the door was open. Wow! What a pleasant surprise!

After so many years, I still remember the scene of that day. When I think of this, I still feel like to say, “Thank you, my friends!” 

                       作者：David之寫意人生  日期：2012/02/19