A Note Left at the Hardware Store
By Christian Brydges
Taped to the counter at Pryce's Hardware, between the key-cutting machine and the jar of pens, there appeared one morning a handwritten note.
It read: "To whoever borrowed the long-handled cultivator from the shed behind the Legion on May 9th — we do not know who you are, but the vegetable plot at the seniors' centre is looking very well this year, and we thought you should know."
It was signed "The Tuesday Garden Committee."
Harold Pryce left the note on the counter for three weeks. He said it was because he hadn't got around to taking it down. Several people read it and said nothing. One person, whose name nobody recorded, left a small paper bag of zucchini beside the note on a Wednesday morning with a card that said "Sorry about the cultivator. It came back a different way."
Harold kept the card. He was not sure exactly why. But some things seemed worth keeping.