Last week I lost yet another mailbox on the narrow road in front of Casa Lulu. By the next afternoon I had straightened the steel fence post that supported it and life was pretty much back to normal.
continued...
A couple of days later a stranger rang the bell and, since I didn't know him and I like to surprise salespeople, I opened the door full on and released Lulu who went to do her little greeting dance. The man squatted down and welcomed her with open arms then told me his niece trains Rotties for therapy dogs.
He introduced himself and told me he had a friend in his car whose wife had mowed down my mailbox and they needed information for their insurance company. I went down to meet the man and, as soon as he saw me he said, "Kenny Redmond - seventh grade - Karns Elementary School." I hadn't seen Coach Bob Dagley in 56 years. I stood there in the rain for thirty minutes as I chatted with one of my favorite teachers.
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Mr. Dagley
May I presume that this is the same Bob Dagley that moved on to be assistant principal at Farragut? And how is he doing? I always liked him.
Mr. Dagley is somewhat frail
(in reply to fischbobber)
Mr. Dagley is somewhat frail but his mind is sharp and yes, he was always one of my favorite childhood influences.
As to the mailbox, I had already repaired it. It was knocked over a few weeks ago and I replaced the cedar post then with a steel fence post. This time I just straightened it as best I could and fastened the box onto it with three stainless steel hose clamps. The insurance agent called yesterday and I told him to forget about it because my repairs cost me all of $1.97 each for the clamps but my neighbor, who also lost a box would probably tell him his was made of unobtainium.
A couple of years ago a kid mowed both the boxes down and showed up to repair them just as I was returning from buying a new one. He had already replaced mine but said the neighbor's box was beyond help and he would have to go buy one. I gave him the one I had just bought and he placed it on the neighbor's post.
I forgot all about it until a month or so later when I started to pay for my breakfast at Scotties and Marsha told me my tab had been picked up by a young man who said something about a mailbox.
"Who threw the cookie?"
(in reply to redmondkr)
Of all the stories I have through high school, the mystery of who threw the cookie stands supreme.
Someone threw a cookie. I was eating with Kimbrough and Trotts that day when someone threw a cookie. The three of us, based upon a lecture and demonstration by some students concerned with the freshness of the cookies, had a pretty good idea of a couple folks that might have been involved. We didn't actually see the throw, or at least I didn't, and I determined that refusing to lie or postulate was probably the key to my social survival. On our way to the grand inquisition, one of the guys I would have suspected leaned over and said, "Don't tell anybody, but I threw the cookie."
I just looked at him and said, "Why did you tell me that?"
Dagley took over at that point. He drew up a document that said not only did I not throw the cookie, I didn't know who threw the cookie. At this point I had an excused absence through this math class I hated. No one signed. Then he hauled me into his office and explained that I was a leader and people looked up to me and asked who threw the cookie. This went on for quite some time, it was really civilized , and finally B jumped up and confessed. He made it a hair bit more than a little dramatic and when he was done Dagley turned to the rest of us and asked us if this was right. We agreed it was and as we got up to leave B looked at his partner G, and said," This is the last time I'm taking the rap for you G." and Dagley stared a laser through the room. The funniest and scariest thing I ever witnessed. At the same time.
Lovely story. Thanks for
Lovely story. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, very sweet. How do these
Yes, very sweet.
How do these coaches/teachers remember so far back?
?
I wonder if he would have contacted you about your insurance if his car didn't cost so much to get fixed.
*
(in reply to Anonymous923)
How do you know what it costs to fix this man's car?
I live just around the block from Kenny, on another such treacherous rural road. My son and I have each plowed down rural mailboxes over the years and both times we chose to quickly replace the mailboxes out-of-pocket rather than to file any property damage claim.
Of course, we also help remove the roadkill routinely left in front of the homes of all our elderly neighbors, too.
I think you may be dismissive (or maybe unaware) of the prevailing rules of Country Etiquette.
He contacted me about his
(in reply to Anonymous923)
He contacted me about his insurance replacing the mailbox - not my insurance repairing his car. His agent asked for photos of the damaged mailbox. I'm not in the habit of paying for damage my mailbox does to vehicles whose drivers leave the roadway to knock it over.
This guy in the Diesel dually from about three years ago met some clown in the middle of the road and had a choice of hitting him head on or removing my mailbox. He came back the next day - one of the hottest of the season - and put me up a new box. I did bring him a cold Snapple Peach Tea for his efforts though.