My scooter wouldn't scoot!

My scooter wouldn't scoot in the afternoon heat. I tried & I tried but she wouldn't start. I tried too much & flooded it. I came inside & called my other job to tell them what was going on. My boss was not pleased. His boss is in town so he had to baby-sit the boss.  That meant that he couldn't cover the desk. After a few minutes I went back out, hoping the flooding had dried enough to start; no such luck. The temp was at 106 & she wasn't starting.  
As I stood there, befuddled & annoyed, I reviewed the situation and remembered noticing how far forward the scooter looked as I approached it but dismissed that thought and focused on why the fuck is gasoline coming out of the side of the engine and dripping onto the asphalt? But the ugly truth was that by parking her about 3 feet forward from where I normally park I left the scooter exposed to the full force the Arizona sun and the fuel in the tank vaporized giving me a stubborn case of vapor lock.
A neighbor in a black SUV pulled up to his usual parking space, the first one after the covered parking.  We’ve had a couple of conversations over the time that I’ve lived at Riverstone but hadn’t exchanged names. He ambled over to my piece of shade to see if he could be helpful in any way.  When I explained that I’d flooded the engine while trying to get the scooter started he reminded me of how to un-flood an engine.  He helped by holding the throttle opened up all the way while I pushed the ignition switch.  That didn’t help.
At that point the kind stranger surprised me by offering to take me wherever I needed to go.  I explained that I work down by the freeway and twenty second street and I work the 2-10 shift so getting home would be pretty tough, especially since I don’t know the bus system.  That’s when he really blew my mind by saying “That’s no trouble, I can come pick you up.”
“Are you sure?” I asked him, “It’s 10 miles each way”
“It’s no trouble,” he assured me.  “Should I pick you up at ten then?”
“Ten thirty would be better, it usually takes me that long to get my end of shift paperwork done.”
Remembering how annoyed my boss sounded when I called in I gratefully accepted this offer to help from a friend that I didn’t even know I had.  Then I asked him to wait a few minutes while I went to my apartment to get my bag in which I carry my net book and munchies for my mid-shift meal.  While up there I called work to let him know that I’d found a ride and would be in after all.  He sounded genuinely grateful when I told him I’d be in.
Even though I’m convinced that all people suck at least part of the time, the kind neighbor reminded me that there are some who will blow your mind when they treat you the way they would want to be treated.

Kenny Rogers Meets Gandalf the Grey

Standing in the cashier’s line at a local Walmart I had Paul Simon’s most recent album, So Beautiful So What, playing in my ears. The line was mercifully short and before I knew it the little oriental lady behind the cash register was swiping my two jugs of Arizona Ice Tea and the mattress liner across the price tag reader and telling me how much I owed. With the music in my ear I didn’t really hear what she said but I could see the amount on the screen so I swiped my debit card and punched in my PIN.   Flashing a friendly smile at me, she said something that I assumed had to do with the weather. “Yeah, it’s too windy,” I replied as I waited for the transaction to run its course. She smiled and shook her head before saying what looked like a repetition of what she had said. Apologizing, I paused my iPod and asked her to please repeat what she had said.
“You look like country singer.” Her heavily accented English sounded charming. “Are you country singer?”
“No,” I replied with a smile, “I only sing in the shower.”
That amusing little incident made my rare foray into Walmart a bit more bearable than anticipated and it reminded me of a recent comment I made on Facebook in which I told Bonnie Jones, whom I haven't seen in over 20 years, that I now look like an unfinished morph between Kenny Rogers and Gandalf the Grey.