Sam reach up and took the small broom off a nail he’d placed there nearly 30 years ago just for that reason. Every evening before he left his small shop, he liked to sweep clean the shiny work hardened surface of his heavy, steel table.

After hanging the broom back on the nail he walked over to the big cast iron stove in the middle of the room and opened the creaky door. He grabbed one of the larger chunks of oak from the bin and tossed it inside. It landed on the hot bed of coals with a shower of sparks.

Seven or eight mismatched and well used chairs circled the front of the stove and Sam sat down on the nearest one to watch the smoke slowly curl up around the log and find its way up and into the long stovepipe. After a minute, the wood burst brightly into flames that danced and lit up his face.

Sam was a good man. Not perfect though, because honestly nobody’s perfect. All his neighbors would say, “He’d give you the shirt off his back.” Whatever that meant. People had brought items to be repaired or fabricated to his big repair shop in town for 30 years or so. Everyone was surprised when he’d closed it down, but Sam said, “I’m tired of the rat race.”

Once in a while, one of Sam’s close friends would smile and say, “Sam, you wouldn’t be so tired of it if you’d be willing to turn at least some of the responsibility over to someone else.” That was hard for Sam. He’d started this business.

Even after the big shop had been closed down, long time customers from the community still called with small repair jobs. Sam had an old barn on his yard that he’d set up years ago with a few pieces of metal working machinery. Most days now, you’d find a couple fellows sitting in front of the stove around 10’oclock. Today, one of them had came in and said, “I snagged a pan of brownies when I walked out the door. Here, you want one? Sure. I’ll get you a cup a coffee too if you’d like.” They all had a great time together. 

 It had been just a couple weeks ago one of the men walked in and had the news that a big gust of wind had tore the roof clean off the neighbors chicken house and there was tin and building supplies scattered all over the yard. A few of the men had got up from their chairs in the group and left to “go lend a hand where they could”. They were a solid group of men bound together by a sense of community and helping one another.

A dinner bell rang twice in the distance and Sam smiled. He got up, closed the door to the stove and adjusted the damper. Passing though the heavy oak door on the side of the building into the gathering darkness, he walked down the worn path in the grass over to a white two-story house with bright lights shining out of the windows. Stopping for a minute on the porch, he stood to watch his breath smoke in the stillness. Fall was in the air and nights were getting colder. The interstate was half a mile away and he could see headlights and hear the faint noise of cars and trucks fitfully passing to and fro in the darkness. He reached for the doorknob and stepped inside the warm house.

*****

A couple of hours away, a young man struggled across the room and over to the door with two duffel bags. He tried using his knee to turn the handle but finding this impossible, kicked the door handle several times in frustration before finally setting down one of the heavy bags. Throwing open the door and scraping both sides of the opening, he stumbled out of the house, across the porch, down the steps and into the street. He struggled over to a faded car with a 30 day tag and threw open the trunk with a mournful creak. He hurled his bags in, slammed the trunk down with a vengeance and walked over to the drivers door. He climbed in. The starter whined for a second, then caught and the car came to life. The rear tires spun loose gravel and the car gained speed. The single dim red tail light almost faded from view before it turned the corner at the end of the street and was gone.

*****

Inside the warmth of his home, Sam walked over to the stove where his wife Sadie was stirring a big pot of steaming chowder. “Are you planning on having the whole community in?” he teased her. She smiled. “It’s just as easy to make a big pot if your making it anyway. I thought maybe one of the neighbors could use a jar of soup or we could have the children over one of these evenings this week.”

At the table, Sam commented, “This is the best soup I’ve ever had.”

Sadie smiled, “You said that last time, dear.”

“It was the best I’d ever had last time, and I think it’s even better this time.

 Sadie, I’ve been wishing I could share some of what I’ve been given with someone else. The boys have taken occupations of their own… the grandchildren aren’t quite old enough to spend a lot of time here in the shop.”

“You need to fix the arm rest on the porch swing,”

Sam smiled. “Ok. I’ll get that first thing in the morning. It won’t take but 15 minutes.”

“I’ll remind you”

They both smiled.

Sam continued. “I used to think that selling the big shop we had in town and working out of the small one here on our yard was going to be so much simpler and better. It is simpler, but somehow it doesn’t feel quite the same as working with a crew of men. I thought that doing all these little projects I’ve wanted to do my whole life was going to be fun, but it just feels like something is missing.”

Sadie leaned her chin on her hand and her brow furrowed like she did when she was thinking. “I was feeling a little like that this morning until I thought about making a big pot of soup for the neighbors and children. Once I got started chopping up all those vegetables and started thinking about how happy they would be to eat some good hot soup on a cold day, I guess I kind of forgot about being unhappy myself.”

Supper was over and the table was cleared. Sam sat in his favorite rocker with his Bible in his lap and his feet stretched out to the fire.

******

The young man veered onto the interstate and after several miles of bone jarring vibration finally found a speed that seemed to work if he kept both hands on the wheel. “It’s so bloody cold in here.” He cranked the heater knob back and forth to no avail and finally whacked the top of the dash several times with his fist. “I bet that stupid guy I bought this car from knew this heater didn’t work. He just wanted to sell it before winter came so he didn’t have to fix it. I wonder what else he didn’t tell me? Everyone is out to get everyone these days and you gotta watch out for yourself. That’s exactly why I left. I’m going to take care of myself and don’t need anyone else telling me what to do. They’ll sure be surprised when they see me a few years from now driving a new car and living in a nice house.

I bet I can find a job in Bakersville. I heard everyone there lives in a nice house with a couple of fancy cars there. When I show back up in a year, they’ll wish they’d all been nicer to me and given me the respect I deserved cuz I’ll respect someone if they give me respect. That’s the only way I roll. The haters are always gonna hate and you can’t change ‘em. Why waste your time? That’s why I left because I’m tired of being compared to everyone else. I’ll show ‘em exactly what they’ve been missing.

With a sudden bang the left front tire blew and the car skidded sideways down the highway. It crossed over the middle line, narrowly missed a road sign, and came to rest in the opposite ditch facing the way he’d came from.

After a while, the young man opened the car door, slowly got out and walked through the tall weeds to where the tire lay shredded and still smoking on the highway. He stood there a moment and walked over to the car and opened the trunk where he removed the large duffel bags.

After much effort, he lifted out a spare tire.

“I can’t believe I’m out here in the middle of nowhere with a blown tire. There’s nobody even living out here except some dumb ranchers. Good thing I know how to take care of myself. There's not a lot of people that know how to change a car tire. I can take care of myself. 

Now where’s that stupid jack? I bet that’s another thing they didn’t tell me about this car was that it didn’t come with a jack. Are you serious? I wish that salesman was here right now, and I’d see how he was going to change a tire with no jack. I’d just sit back and laugh, but now what am I gonna do. Nobody wants to stop and help a guy these days. Looks like there’s a house down this road here. Maybe he’s got a jack.”

The young man trudged up the road towards the two-story house with bright lights.

“Why do these kinds of things always happen to me? Everybody is out to get me and push me down. I’d bet money this old rancher up here won’t even answer the door. Man, it’s a long way up here and it’s so dark and cold. Why don’t they put some streetlights up? If this guy even has a jack, I know he probably won’t loan it to me. All ranchers I’ve heard of are mean and hard to deal with. I bet he’s so mean nobody’ll even live with him. He’ll probably come to the door with a gun, but I’ll be ready for him.

*****

“Sam!” Sadie called from the sink. “There’s a young man walking up to the front door. Maybe he has had trouble out on the road! Please, do have him come in! It’s cold outside.”

Sam swung his feet down and quickly walked over to the door, opening it wide. The soft light from inside lit up the porch to show a young man standing at the top of the steps. His hair blew in the wind, his eyes were angry slits and both hands were balled into tight fists.
“I don’t even want your stupid jack!” he shouted at Sam across the porch.

 With that, he turned and walked down the steps.

“Come back young fellow! Can I help you?”

Sam called, but the walls the young man had built were high.

He never turned again and his form disappeared back into the night.