December 28, 2008 - Sunday
 | Current mood:  accomplishedHeya Guys, I hadn't planned a mission on Christmas Eve, but I thought it was appropriate. I was sorta obligated, since I found a stray Barbie doll that had fallen out of a bag in the closet where I stored toys for the Toy Drop in Minneapolis. But now, I needed more toys. I scrounged around and came up with some unopened toys around the house. (Some of us collected these things, but now I have a far better use for them). Then I looked around at my other stockpiles. I had accumulated enough for drops of various things to other places as well. So I suited up. First I went to Apache Mall (the big mall in my town) and dropped the toys off at the Sharing Tree. As I entered, someone out in the parking lot yelped/hooted when they saw me. That's the only way I know to describe it. It was girl giving sort of a piercing "Whoo-hoo" from a car. I strolled into the mall with my bag and people stared. You have to remember that 99.9% of the people in my town don't even know I exist. I might have been in the City Pages, on MSN.com, the London Times and the New York Times, but people in this town don't seem to realize that I walk down their streets. My favorite part about this drop was some guy who was on his cell-phone. As I took the toys out of the bag and put them under the tree, he was in a babbling conversation. He glanced up at me and just stopped talking in mid-sentence. He was speechless. Maybe that's a superpower - to get people off of cell phones. As I exited the mall, I smiled, waved and said Merry Christmas to people I passed. Hey, I wear green, so I'm in the Christmas spirit. Then I went to Ronald McDonald House. I had a huge can of deluxe popcorn for the kids. For as many times as I'd been there, again, I met two young ladies whom I hadn't met before. I introduced myself and they asked me to fill out a form about my donation. I explained that I could only fill out so much, because I have a secret identity. They laughed and said that was just fine. By the time I finished the form and looked up, I looked up and there was one of the nice staff-guys I've seen a couple of times before. He was leaning against the wall and smiling. I said, "Hey, how're you doing?" He said, "Good, Geist. How are you, Man?" It was nice to see him again. I headed out for the pet shelter next. If you "get" me at all, you know that I protect the Forgotten. And that doesn't have limits as far as species. Animals are as helpless and needy as any of us. Paws N Claws wasn't open, but they have a bin for donations. It was pretty full and I added my contributions. Finally, I had a big bag of groceries that I had accumulated. I knew I wanted that to go to the homeless. We have a shelter in town called Dorothy Day House. They don't open their doors until 4pm, I think and it was around 3:30. I knew I could drop things off at the door. When I pulled up, there was a TV news van idling. I was thinking, "Holy crap. The local news media if finally going to get ahold of a story that I don't want them to have." But I needed to make this important donation. I got out, went to the door, where an elderly woman and two children were waiting. I was guessing that she might be their grandmother. I introduced myself (to the woman first, then the kids). She was shivering. I was kicking myself for having left hats, scarves and gloves in the trunk of my other vehicle. The young boy seemed kind of curious about me. So I told him that I was a Real-Life Superhero and shook his hand. He smiled. I told the woman that I had a bag of groceries for either them or the house. -Their choice. I left it on the stairs and got in my car. As I did, the reporter came out of the house and got in the van. He hadn't really seen me. Hey, I'm a geist, right? But the news van did need to turn around. As they did, they saw me. And I'm thinking, "You guys wouldn't know a story if it bit you..." And they drove right past me. Slowly, but they kept on going. It was a good Christmas Eve. I think I did what I could. I know that this is belated, but Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. Geist |
No comments:
Post a Comment