The "You Can't Miss It" Story

It was an ordinary day. We had just moved into our dream house a few days earlier. For years we lived in Grandview Heights which is a beautiful neighborhood in Manheim Township, Lancaster, PA. We had a three story house on a shaded street. Behind us was another row of similar houses. Between the houses was a shared alleyway. Many, many times I walked down the alley to visit my friend Wayne P. Many, many times Wayne walked up the alley to visit me. I'm not sure about the up and down of the alley, we just said that. We were friends and coached baseball together for many, many years. When I walked down the alley to tell Wayne about our move out of the neighborhood, I knew it would be hard. And it was! But, we had found the house of our dreams. Actually the house of our dreams would have been along the Chesapeake Bay, but we couldn't afford that dream, so we moved into a house that looked the same, but was in Lancaster. Wayne and I talked about the advantages and disadvantages of moving. The biggest advantage was that we were moving away from our duplex neighbors who collected flammable materials and stored them next to their oil burner in their basement. One of their close friends told me one day, "You better move before they burn your house down." To get ready for the move I started to build some new furniture. A really neat coffee table with two display drawers and a sofa table with a display drawer which was the height of the back of the new sofa we were getting. When Wayne saw them, he asked if I could help him make a coffee table just like my new one. We used the same plans and bought the wood. Arranged to get together for the construction. The week-end after we moved, he came over REAL early on Saturday morning to go up to school where I taught, to make the table. It was still dark when he arrived and I left through my garage and hopped in his car. He backed out of my drive and all of a sudden, CRASH! "What the h**l was that?" he said. I turned around and looked out the window and said, "I don't know." We got out and....."Geez, you knocked my mailbox into the middle of the street! I guess I should put lights on it." This is not any mailbox, but the one that is a wooden unit that sits, or sat until a few seconds ago, almost five feet high and is about two feet square. Made from the same wood as my house. It housed a regular sized US Mail box. We picked it up and put it back in the foot deep hole that was now under the car. "No damage done," I said. "Let's get out of here before the neighbors call the cops!" I said, half laughing. You see, Wayne is a cop! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.