When I was a kid me and my friends rode our bikes everywhere. Sometimes we rode for miles to get places; like to the bowling alley or to the mall. I remember once when I was about 11 or 12 me and my friend Dave rode up to the Arcade many miles away on a major thoroughfare.
On the trip home I got two flat tires, about halfway home. We didn’t know what to do at first. Because we were kids we didn’t have any money. Not a cent, which wasn’t unusual. We needed a dime for the pay phone to call my dad to come and get us.
So we were walking our bikes and we passed a 7-11. We thought about it and we went inside and the owner happen to be behind the counter. We told him our situation and said, “Hey, how about giving us a dime and we will weed the sidewalk in front of your store”? It had weeds growing from every crack. He smiled and said sure. So we got on our hands and knees on the pavement and pulled tough crabgrass out until it was perfect. ’
We went back inside and the guy took pity on us and gave us each a dime AND two free Slurpee’s.
So we called my dad and half an hour later he came and picked us up and we put our bikes in the trunk and he took us home.
The kindness of a stranger saved us.