A very unlucky experience led me to an interesting occurrence. It has been rainy and disgusting the last few days in NYC, and lo and behold en route from driving the homie Dart Adams to Penn Station in the midst of one of these inopportune rain storms, I hit a pot hole in the dark that was filled with water, hence disguising the fact that it was so deep that I think you could have touched the inner layers of Earth’s crust if you reached inside.
Needless to say it was pouring rain and I had a flat. I wasn’t about to get rained on, so I slowly drove the mile or two more back to my crib and parked it on the street until I could deal with it more.
Long story short, four or so days later (and thank the Jewish deity for Passover and thus the suspension of alternate side parking rules in NYC), I end up having to get the car towed because it turns out the spare that I had was flat too. Great. I get towed to a spot just a few blocks away on the outskirts of Queens, they do some confusing switcheroo of tires and rims that I don’t need to detail, and send me on my way with a temporary fix, instructing me to come back tomorrow for my repaired wheel and a new tire on it that will have me back in business.
I went back today, watched as they replaced the tire and all that, and then I went to pay. I had exact change but the guy goes to hand me a bill back. Then I noticed it was a two dollar bill. He hands it to me with a pen and goes “here, write ‘good luck’ on it.” I said OK, wrote good luck, and then handed it back to him. He said “no, it’s yours. Don’t ask me why. Just keep it. Remember it. One day you’ll understand.” I’m not in a place to say no to some free money, even if its a two dollar bill, so I pocketed it and asked no questions. As I was about to walk away he said something else to me that now escapes me, but I felt a sudden guilt about just taking money I didn’t earn, and I asked him if he was sure. Then he said this…
“I’ve been at this shop for three years. In those three years this is the only two dollar bill I ever received. I’m giving it to you now. You might need it more than I do. Just remember this.”
Well I’m not about to go forgetting it, that’s for sure. Looks like I got myself a new good luck charm. It also made me think of that guy who schooled me to dumpster diving game while waiting for the train – just one of those quirky NYC moments that come out of nowhere but end up impacting your mind in a special kind of way. It’s part of why I love this city. I hope one day whatever he intended that two dollar bill to do actually happens, because I’m going to go right back to his shop and thank him for it.
