Blue Armadillo weblog

Friday, March 01, 2002

I got this from my friend Kevin this morning, and while it's a little dated it's too good not to share.

Late Christmas week I was rushing around trying to get some last minute shopping done. I was stressed out and not thinking very fondly of the season right then. It was dark, cold, and wet in the parking lot as I was loading my car up with gifts that I felt obligated to buy. I noticed that I was missing a receipt that I might need later.

So mumbling under my breath, I retraced my steps to the mall entrance. As I was searching the wet pavement for the lost receipt, I heard a quiet sobbing.

The crying was coming from a poorly dressed boy of about 12 years old. He was short and thin. He had no coat. He was just wearing a ragged flannel shirt to protect him from the cold night's chill. Oddly enough, he was holding a hundred dollar bill in his hand. Thinking that he had gotten lost from his parents, I asked him what was wrong. He told me his sad story.

He said that he came from a large family. He had three brothers and four sisters. His father had died when he was nine years old. His mother was poorly educated and worked two full time jobs. She made very little to support her large family. Nevertheless, she had managed to skimp and save two hundred dollars to buy her children Christmas presents.

The young boy had been dropped off, by his mother, on the way to her second job. He was to use the money to buy presents for all his siblings and save just enough to take the bus home. He had not even entered the mall when a boy grabbed one of the hundred dollar bills and disappeared into the night.

"Why didn't you scream for help?" I asked.

The boy said, "I did."

"And nobody came to help you?" I queried.

The boy stared at the sidewalk and sadly shook his head.

"How loud did you scream?" I inquired.

The soft-spoken boy looked up and meekly whispered, "Help me!"

I realized that absolutely no one could have heard that poor boy cry for help. So I grabbed his other hundred bill and ran to my car.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Signed,

Kenneth Lay
Enron CEO

posted by John Heaton 9:25 AM | link

Thursday, February 28, 2002

I really liked this Baltimore City Paper feature about run-down diners in industrial parts of Baltimore. I'd like to see a companion piece in the Washington City Paper about similar places in DC. But of course there are no industrial areas of DC, so I'm probably out of luck.
posted by John Heaton 12:45 PM | link

Wednesday, February 27, 2002

I never took the SAT, but my perfect score on this "Taste of the SATs" quiz suggests that I would have done very well. Go me!
posted by John Heaton 2:45 PM | link

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