Neighborliness

Because i've recently moved into an apartment more than twice the size of my former apartment, i *needed* new furniture. Bookshelves, to be exact. So i traipsed off to a good place to get cheap bookshelves, and found the one i wanted.

At this good place, the furniture comes in boxes, and the new owner has to assemble it themselves. My sturdy little car (well, it's not so sturdy, considering how often it's been to Crazy Joe's lately!) can hold quite a bit of stuff. I've fit four other college students and all our sleeping bags, pillows, and suitcases into it and it's hauled itself quite nicely up into the San Bernardino Mountains, as well as quite a bit of stuff from this good place from my prior move and need for bookshelves. Anyway, I digress. My little car can hold quite a bit of stuff. The back seat slides down nearly flat, so i've shoved long boxes of bookcases through the trunk and over the back seat. That was my plan on this occasion.

But i've had $5 worth of recycling to drop off for weeks in the trunk, and long lines of people with $20 worth of recycling at the centers each time i try. And a bike rack. And some camping gear (pots and a burner). And emergency stuff, like oil for the car and water for me or the car and a blanket. And whatdayaknow, a big bookshelf, no matter how compactly packaged, won't fit with all that in the trunk. Silly me.

So, i tried putting the bookshelf in sideways, like a large passenger taking up all three spaces in the back seat. It was 1" too long. I tried having it on a slight diagonal from the ground to the ceiling, or across the seat, and no luck. I couldn't get the door shut.

Two women came out to their car, parked next to mine, as i was attempting maneuver #3. I opened my trunk, figuring i could move the bicycle rack and some stuff onto the front seat, and then put the back seat down, and like a puzzle, get that bookshelf in. Only, i was pretty sure i wasn't going to be able to lift it out of the side of the car and around to the back...and stood there, staring at the awkward shapes in my trunk, trying to figure out where to start.

One of the women said: Are you doing this by yourself? I said yes. She said--with a strong European accent--you can't, you are too small. And i laughed, because it was true, and because i didn't know what to do about it. She announced, "We will help you" and called her friend over. She was a cabinet maker, she knew these things, and she said it would fit if i rolled the front seat down flat against the backseat. All three of us then hefted and heaved the bookcase across, and although i felt like i was driving a strange bookshelf hearse, it did fit. I thanked them profusely, and one of them said: "No problem. You would have done it for me."

They were strangers. They didn't have to help me. And seeming like practical, sturdy women, they could have thought: sheesh, what's this dingie girl trying to do? Instead, that five minutes of kindness helped me feel very much less alone in the world.

And I hope she is right.