Lifebuoy Box

By Loren Moore

The Lifebuoy saga continues. When I went to the mailbox this afternoon there was another package. It was a box about eight by ten inches by five inches deep. Ah, but this one had a return address on.

The name and address was:  "Richard xxxxxxx from xxxxx, NH. 03038"

New Hampshire! I don’t know anyone in New Hampshire. In fact I’m only vaguely aware of where it is. I do know it is a long way from Texas.

Now the question is how did Richard learn about my problems with Lifebuoy soap?

I know I wrote about losing my friend Lifebuoy in that story. Then I wrote, "The Other Shoe" to tell about someone sending me a bar of Lifebuoy soap and not telling me who sent it. That led to the story, "Jokers Are Wild" in which I told about going to a special hospital.

But I didn’t send any of these stories to Richard. Like I said, I don’t even know the man.

Oh, I’ve been so worked up about this package that I haven’t even told you what was in it. Well, when I opened the package there was a real surprise in it. No, it was not another bar of Lifebuoy soap. It was something even better.

Now you say what could be better for me then another bar of Lifebuoy soap? Well let me tell you what was better.

It was an old tin box that Lifebuoy soap used to come in. It had the picture of an old seaman on the lid pointing to a package of lifebuoy soap and saying,

"I’m weather beaten but Lifebuoy Soap is never beaten!!"

When I saw the box tears came into my eyes. It’s been a long time since anyone has done something this nice for me.

I put my two bars of Lifebuoy soap in the tin box, and tomorrow I’m going to take it to the bank and lock it in my safety deposit box. That’s how much I value this tin box and those two bars of Lifebuoy soap.

Years from now when my will is probated and my safety deposit box is opened and they find this little tin Lifebuoy box with two bars of Lifebuoy soap in it, I wonder what they will think. They will probably think I was off my rocker. Maybe I am, after all I was in that special hospital.

For now though, I want to say to Richard whoever you are and where ever you are,

"Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have made an old man happy."

I’m going to write Richard a letter and tell him … but no, that’s a whole nother story for a different time.

[© Copyright 2003]