Whos is your neighbor? The NYT has a Sunday column called Metropolitan Diary that features short stories about living in NYC. Many are like this one from today:
I was biking across West 15th Street on my way home from the Union Square Greenmarket. I had a flat of ripe strawberries attached to the back of my bike with a bungee cord.
I was planning to make strawberry conserve for everyone who had helped me through my recent chemotherapy.
I didn’t notice the pothole until it was too late. Strawberries went flying, and I ran into the street to retrieve them.
The driver of a black S.U.V. behind me also hit the brakes, blocking traffic as I gathered up my errant berries. Then my bike tipped over, and quarts of strawberries sprayed across the pavement.
As I grabbed my helmet, a woman on the sidewalk offered to hold my bike steady while I scooped up the berries. She couldn’t stay long, she explained, because she was waiting for an air-conditioner to be delivered.
Just then, the air-conditioner man got out of his van on the other side of the street and came over to help. The S.U.V. driver continued to block traffic until all the berries were back in their boxes.
I thanked my strawberry Samaritans profusely and pedaled home, where I washed the berries and made eight cups of jam.
— Catherine Fredman
Strawberry Spill
Dear Diary:I was biking across West 15th Street on my way home from the Union Square Greenmarket. I had a flat of ripe strawberries attached to the back of my bike with a bungee cord.
I was planning to make strawberry conserve for everyone who had helped me through my recent chemotherapy.
I didn’t notice the pothole until it was too late. Strawberries went flying, and I ran into the street to retrieve them.
The driver of a black S.U.V. behind me also hit the brakes, blocking traffic as I gathered up my errant berries. Then my bike tipped over, and quarts of strawberries sprayed across the pavement.
As I grabbed my helmet, a woman on the sidewalk offered to hold my bike steady while I scooped up the berries. She couldn’t stay long, she explained, because she was waiting for an air-conditioner to be delivered.
Just then, the air-conditioner man got out of his van on the other side of the street and came over to help. The S.U.V. driver continued to block traffic until all the berries were back in their boxes.
I thanked my strawberry Samaritans profusely and pedaled home, where I washed the berries and made eight cups of jam.
— Catherine Fredman
