I hope you love good stories

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"I guess you do not have to believe in God but so many good things happened to me and I am grateful. So there should be someone to   express   the gratitude to.'

F. Iskander

The   Human   Place

Everything    I describe here really happened.

1. Highlander Among Us

 

This took place   in   late 1990s   when I was an engineering supervisor on a very   tough project. I   worked   at least 70   hours a week and   still could not   cover the whole scope. Deadlines were swiftly approaching and   everyone was very nervous, me especially because for me it was the first big one.   No wonder   that   I at first did not even pay attention to a resume   someone put on my desk. It    had notes from   lots   of supervisors before me. Obviously, nobody was interested.

It was already dark outside when I   decided   to go home. I picked up the resume and started reading it   on   the way to   the exit.   I read it once. Then I stopped, Then I read it again.   Then I turned back to my   office   and sent a short e-mail to   HR:

-           This person must be hired on the spot, no questions asked.

In the morning     I got a call from HR:

-           Hey, Mark,   did you send this message?

-           Yes,   I sure did.

-           What's the idea? Nobody wanted him before you.

-           Do you have a copy of the resume?

-           Yes, here.

-           Read the first paragraph word- by-word.

There was a pause on the other side and then the HR- person chuckled:

-           Yes,- he said, "We need this one."

The paragraph stated, " Engineering experience since 1886."

Who knows, maybe   the   Immortal   Highlander   decided to become an engineer? That man never came for the interview.

2. Dogs   In   The Fall

 

  This   happened to me in 1972   in the former   country of mine, Russia. I was 16 years' old and   it was a   deep   fall. I was alone   in our   "community garden',   removing   the electric water pump from the well.   In those times   organizations   were assigned parcels   of land which were divided among   the employees, approximately   4000ft^2 per family to   erect a   summer   cottage, grow fruits and vegetables, spend time with the kids.   The organizational   parcels   were surrounded   by fences with gates but inside there were no   walls between the   family areas except that people planted all kinds of bushes.   The parcels were down the river from the city;   you had to   go for about an hour by the ferry and then- disembark and walk for an hour   to   reach the destination. There were no paved roads, only    gravel lanes and makeshift bridges over the streams. Those with the cars were the   lucky ones but   most of us never had a car at those times.   I came alone, late in the fall, several weeks before the   navigation   stopped for winter. I   loved n   those   days of   silence. It was a weekday (did I mention that I skipped school) and   then   the place was truly deserted.   I unpacked, picked   the   remaining apples from the trees and proceeded   to unscrew the electric pump from the suction tube. Electricity was   there   through winter but nobody would go there in the frost.     I   took off the pump and was   plugging the tube when I felt that someone else was there with me   at my place. In fact,   not just someone else but a group of strangers. A pack of dogs, about ten of them were standing quietly behind me, watching for a while.

People abandoned their dogs routinely. In summer they would pick up a puppy to play and in the fall they would realize that they could not keep it. The abandoned     dogs would   form packs and roam the countryside. Eventually they all would end dead; country people would kill them in winter. But it was fall. And     here they were, between me and    the cottage. They entered through the open gate, ten mongrels, the leader being a rather ugly mutt- a combination of a Mastiff and maybe a Labrador.   He was big.   And he was looking me straight into the face. No fear and no subservience.

I stood there looking at them desperately trying to keep cool and not get scared.   The leader was growling     quietly   but so far the dogs did not look angry. They looked   more   like confused. But they surely looked hungry and   I was the only meal around. Even if I could maneuver myself to the cottage, I was stuck there     with nothing but apples,     even without water because water was here,   in the well with the manual pump remaining. Water? I looked at the   leader     again:; he seemed   wanting to tell me something.

-           Do   you want water?- I asked.

The leader growled in   a     somewhat different tune and licked    the wet grass around the pump.

-           Ok.- I said. "I   need to get the barrel."

I moved slowly towards the cottage and the   dogs   didn't seem to mind. I pulled out a   flat aluminum barrel, the one we used   for laundry, placed it under the pump   discharge and started to pump manually. In about     10 minutes the barrel was filled with crispy water.   I stopped and said,

-           Help yourself.

I moved away from the barrel to the porch, got some apples and scattered them around. Then I waited.

The dogs didn't move for a while.   It was getting darker and I caught myself on the thought that even if they let me out I would have to go on foot with them following me in the dark.   Then   suddenly, very orderly, one- by --one, they approached the   barrel   and drank the water.   Then they went for the   apples.    In about half- hour    they finished the job and   looked at me. The leader growled something to them. Again, very orderly they started to leave, each dog wagging its tail towards me.   The leader     was    the last to leave and he looked   at me from the gate. It was as if   he   promised   that my return in the dark would be safe, Then they vanished as quite as they appeared.

A friend of mine   when     he heard this story, told me that I was very lucky. Apparently,   there   were numerous cases when those packs of dogs attacked people, especially children. He said that most likely they were not that hungry that day. But   in my opinion   something else happened;   somehow they   appreciated the respect I exhibited towards them.     How, I am not sure.

3. How It Was In Y1946

 

This story I heard from my father. Maybe I even told it here before, in a comment.   Still it is worth repeating. In Y1946 my dad, then a 15years' old kid   returned   to our city of Kiev, Ukraine after the city was freed from the Germans in    Y1943. Kiev was nearly all destroyed but by the Y1946 they opened an all- boys High School and my dad   studied there. There were severe food shortages and     the city   government arranged that all students in the school received   buns of freshly- baked bread every day.   Many kids   did not eat those buns but wanted to take them home to their families. Only that was dangerous     because gangs of homeless and very hungry kids usually surrounded the school and   took those buns by force especially from the younger kids. Obviously, there were no buses or any kind of protection. So once   the   schoolboys made a decision to take   the matters into their own hands; they came out en masse and attacked the gangs in the   long- term fight.

The fight was severe, cruel   and brutal. It lasted   for       so long that   the teachers   at last called the   municipality and asked for help. And the City Council sent troops, real military regiments with the orders to restore order     by any means necessary.

I must explain that it was Y1946 and the soldiers and their   commanders were war veterans. They had seen everything and   could   do anything. They came     out in full gear and   were   responsible to no one. Those were tough times and    the   City Council would not give a damn about some dead gang members   if it came to it.

According to my dad the action took about 10 minutes. Soldiers   surrounded   the   fight scene and moved in swiftly and   efficiently. They opened fire into the air and     that stopped the fight. Then they rounded up the   most active   persons. Others   were   ordered to disperse. No one was hurt or mistreated. Not one person was even restrained.

School kids could be distinguished by their uniforms and thus   were   left untouched. As for the gang leaders, those     most notorious were     identified     by the police officers who accompanied the soldiers and   knew   the   situation. Even though the detained     folks   were   not charged with anything but   instead put on the accelerated placement   in orphanages. There was never any     accident   near the school again.

When I watched   recently the   University of   CA, Davis   police actions against OWS- pepper- spraying the   sitting   kids or   police in full gear   arresting   hundreds of the OWS people elsewhere I remembered that story.   Those soldiers in the Y1946     were not just pros of war. They were fathers themselves, most of them. They had just won the war of wars for those very   kids   and they felt their connection and responsibility. I wonder if any of those policemen who pepper- sprayed kids in the Y2011     felt any connection to those mistreated.

I had chosen those stories     because of the thread. The thread is not in the miracles but rather in one common idea- if you are human you better exercise two main qualities: curiosity and restraint.   Those two provide a necessary balance for the soul.     Curiosity prepares you   to act upon the opportunity when it occurs. Restraint     enables you to do the right thing-to turn the opportunity into the good deed.. Take one of these away- and evil prevails in your deeds no matter how you deny it.

Hope you had a good time. As Tom Lehrer said,   "And if   you   hated   my stories, you shouldn't have allowed me to begin."

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Authors Bio:

The writer is 67 years old, semi- retired engineer, PhD, PE. I write fiction on a regular basis and I am also 10 years on OEN.