There is a Quaker convention at our university campus all week. They've basically taken over our town - and I have to say that they are a little odd. But I didn't realize the extent of that observation until Tuesday when I was asked to go on a delivery for the pharmacy with a coworker. We needed to bring two wheelchairs and a pair of crutches to the student center for the Quakers.
"Wow," I said to my coworker, "those Quakers must be wild!"
When we arrived we were greeted by an older lady who told me how grateful they were to get the items because people were waiting for them; then she started ordering me around - "Come along. This way. THIS WAY!"
I gave my coworker a look and she giggled.
As the harping woman led us through a huge, milling crowd, another woman suddenly ran up to us frantically. "We have a person down! Over here! Person down!"**
I couldn't help feeling like I had just stepped into a war zone. I stopped for second, wondering if one of the wheelchairs was for this person. The woman must have thought we were nurses since we were both wearing what looked like blue scrubs. The woman leading us just kept walking as if she didn't hear the woman yelling at me, or see the woman laying on the concrete steps outside the building. She turned to see where I was and snapped her fingers at me, "Come along! Come along! Here! Here! We have to go inside!"
I scurried forward leaving the frantic woman standing there looking slightly confused. And I have to say, I was too.
When we got inside it was packed with people making it difficult to maneuver with a wheelchair. As I tried to pick my way through the crowd the woman started barking and snapping at me again telling me to hustle.
Man! I thought, there must be someone who
really needs this wheelchair!
We made our way through the building, all the while she was yelling at me to stay with her as she thought I just may wander off if she weren't constantly reminding me.
We reached the other end of the building, the end of the line, at what looked like a greeting area. She told us to put the wheelchairs in an alcove and said, "There, now we will have them when we need them. Thank you so much."
What? ...
What?As we made our way back to the car and past the woman laying on the concrete, now surrounded by EMT, I couldn't help feeling like I was getting cold looks from people who had watched us walk away with the wheelchairs - just so they could end up sitting unused in an alcove.
Bizarre.
*
This story reminded me of the time that I was at a hostel in Scotland. I had gotten there late and needed to get some laundry done. The guy at the desk agreed to unlock the laundry room for me as long as I promised to be quiet and not let anyone in.
No problem!
I was just finishing up a load when there was a huge commotion outside. When I looked out the ground level window all I could see were hundreds of feet running around. Suddenly the guy who had let me in the laundry burst in frantically yelling, "You need to go! The French are coming! The French are coming!!"
He was so distressed that all I could do was grab my things and follow him running out of the room. He ran ahead to the lobby. I couldn't help but want to see what the fuss was all about. Were we being invaded?
I peaked into the lobby. It was completely filled with children, apparently French children.
** When I was relaying the Quaker story to SSB he started laughing, "Paper dune! We've gat a paper dune!" [Mike Myers - So, I Married An Axe Murderer].
"Yes!" I said. "I was thinking the same thing at the time! It was hard not to laugh. 'Quaker down! Quaker down! We've got a quaker down!'"
8 comments:
This angle of my garden always produces the most full, lush looking shots of my garden and it is the side of the garden that I see the least of.
I love delphinium, and this year, despite the nasty drought that we are suffering, they have been doing quite well. I think the plum tree I had JD dismantle this spring was holding them back.
This picture reminds me how I need to finish painting the trim on my house! I do love this sunflower. I almost yanked it out a couple of times because I thought it would get too big for the spot, but I'm glad that I didn't. It ended up being short and full of flowers!
This is our pear tree. We've had it for two years and, boy, was it happy this year! I had already reduced the fruit by 1/3 by the time that I took this picture. I can't wait until they ripen. They are the best pears that I have ever eaten - like candy.
Your garden looks like a little bit of Paradise. Way to go! :)
Your garden looks awesome. Soooo jealous.
Mrs. L, it definitely has become a paradise!
Evil Spock, thanks. This is the first year that I thought that too.
I LOVE your garden! I'd do anything to have one like that...except gardening. :P Do you have black flies out your way?
AG, a lot of other people feel the same way. I actually have my neighbor coming over all the time telling me that I should give up gardening because it too much work!
We have gnats (A.K.A "no-see-ums"), which are nasty little critters that bite painless (most of the time) but leave you with blood dribbling down the back of your neck and a big itchy welt that lasts for a few days to over a week. Sometimes their bites even swell up my lymph nodes, making my neck all lumpy and painful.
Same thing?
Seeing these pictures just remind me of how my chili peppers, so full of hope, died.
Ew! Black flies aren't that bad, unless they bite. They do stalk my hair for some reason, though. Even if I take a walk one will follow me the whole way, bouncing on and off my head!
Shannon, aw, I'm so sorry to hear about your peppers! I was looking forward to the harvest.
AG, the gnats will crawl into your hair to bite your scalp leaving big, painful, weepy lumps.
I HATE GNATS!!!