You never know

I was thirteen when my father took the notion that I spend the summer working with Jim. Jim was the maintenance man where my father worked. My father wore a necktie. Jim did not. “You’ll learn things,” said my father … and I did. Jim taught me how to start a balky lawnmower, make a key for a lock, mop a floor, polish brass, clean a toilet. Jim taught me to help when someone had a flat tire … never to take wooden nickels … always to call home at noon … to be kind to strangers because, as Jim said, “You never know.”