#107 An Unexpected Rescue And The Music Experiment Continues
Picture this.
You are sitting in the line for the bank drive-through service.
It’s a busy time of day, there are several cars on either side of you, behind you etc.
You might be in a hurry.
Which is going to be just too bad for you because it turns out you are going to be here for a while.
As you gaze ahead to those pneumatic tubes, looking for signs of activity, hopeful that the folks at the front of the line are almost finished with their transactions, you start to wonder why nothing seems to be happening.
And no one is moving.
No wait, something is happening.
You cannot believe your eyes.
There is a small middle-aged woman climbing out the driver’s side window of her van.
Now she has hopped over to the top of a large concrete cube in between lanes.
And is inserting herself into the passenger side window of the honkin’ big pickup truck in the adjoining lane.
What the heck?!!
About five minutes pass.
During which time you hear some furious barking.
Followed by the egress of the small woman as she climbs back out of the truck, pauses on the concrete, and slithers into her own van again.
The bank tube activates, money is collected, and the two vehicles starring in this weird little scene depart.
When you finally get to the teller, if you are lucky, she will regale you with a story of perhaps one of her most memorable days on the job.
What has happened is this.
I am the small woman in the van.
The small agile woman.
Agility is required today.
Because today, as I sit minding my own business, waiting for the completion of my transaction here at the lovely bank, on this day a small crisis is unfolding.
The weather is nice so my window is open.
As are both windows of the ginormous pickup truck to my left.
I sort of hear the other customer chatting with the bank teller but honestly I’m not paying much attention.
Until I hear the tone of the conversation shift. The words are louder, there’s a sort of panic.
“I can’t turn the key. The pain in my hands is too bad. I can’t turn the key and I can’t move the car. I’m stuck!”
I look over and see that the occupant of the pickup is an elderly woman (there is also a small dog - we will get to him in a moment) and she is getting more and more distressed. Apparently she has cancer and a lot of pain in her hands. I don’t know how or why, but the truck has been turned off while she was conducting her bank business and now she cannot start it up again. She is truly trapped here in the bank drive-through lane.
The bank teller has no clue what to do.
There are cars piling up, both behind the woman in the truck and behind me.
The lane I am in is tight. It is not possible to open any of the vehicle doors wide enough for a body to get in or out. Her lane is even tighter because she is right next to the bank building where that little door opens instead of a tube thing.
If I pull forward to get out of my car, not only will I still not be able to get the other lady’s door open, the person behind me is going to naturally pull forward immediately into my spot.
For a split second I consider just cancelling my business and leaving.
But I cannot just ignore this.
I must help.
So I climb out my window, (fortunately, years of ballet training in my youth have contributed to continued agility, flexibility and balance) maneuver myself across the aforementioned concrete block, (helpfully positioned near both vehicles) and slide into her truck.
At this point the small dog, a rat terrier I believe, decides to assert his protective authority and makes it clear that he would very much like to chew my face off.
The elderly woman corrals him, desparately trying to keep him under control - and his tiny sharp teeth away from me - while I attempt to get her engine started.
I turn the key repeatedly but all that happens is the radio comes to life.
Frustration.
Light dawns.
She has turned her vehicle off while it was in gear.
I get her to put it back into park.
Success!!
Roar of ignition!!
Giant sigh of relief from all parties.
Torrents of gratitude from both the woman and the bank teller.
Not so much gratitude from the dog. Which would clearly still prefer to leave a few tooth marks on any part of my body he might manage to reach.
I beat a hasty retreat.
And am left to imagine how this adventure will be explained all those behind me.
Say what you will, my life is never boring.
Copyright© 2025 Anne Morse Hambrock All rights reserved.
Finding Light In The Dark
As I mentioned in issue #105 I will be giving a talk that is open to the public in a few weeks.
“Anne Morse Hambrock: Finding Light in the Dark"
Date and Time: Sunday May 18th 3:00 p.m.
Location: White Lilac 5029 6th Ave Kenosha WI
Tickets: $20 available online here
Making Music Installment 3
Writing new music can be a long convoluted process for me. Sometimes I work for hours trying a little of this and a little of that and don’t wind up with much to show for it. Today was one of those days. But here is a sample of yet another direction for the tune I’ve been workshopping here. For this one I’m working with the additional layer of a boomerang looper. Which means I had to take time today to remember how the heck all my cords go for hooking the thing up to my harp :-)
Anyway, here is the most recent installment of my journey with this piece.
From The Garden
Normally at this time of year we are planning our summer vegetable garden. Historically there have been copious amounts of San Marzano tomatoes for canning and cooking (they make marvelous sauce) and plenty of Zucchini to go with our customary herbs and hot peppers.
But this year we are trying something different. The peppers will be confined to pots that can be moved as needed, the herbs will be mostly relocated to the “kitchen garden” situated closer to the house, and the space pictured above will be home to any lettuces that come up voluntarily (you can already see a few) the well established chive and cilantro crops, and a new collection of wildflowers and bulbs. (Note that the Rhubarb has already staked out a pretty big claim on the existing territory…)
Dahlias and Gladiolus went into the ground this weekend and next week (weather permitting) will see the addtion of the following seeds:
I’m looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.
Books
If you like my work there are two book collections for sale.
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Keep The Messages And Comments Coming!
I appreciate the feedback and knowing how often I have struck a chord with your lives.
You are right…. Your life is never boring. Thank you for years of sharing your journeys—good and bad, happy and sad, and just plain strange (can strange be plain?)—and doing so in such an entertaining way.