Small Kindnesses

It was 1965, or thereabouts; seemingly a lifetime ago.

I was sleeping out in a makeshift tent in my buddy’s backyard. We made those tents by throwing a blanket over a clothesline and then pounding the corners down into the grass with clothespins. Sleeping bags were laid out on an old plastic tablecloth on the ground.

We were around 12 years old.

On this particular evening, sometime around midnight, we heard a rumble, and then a car’s headlights painted the side of our “tent.” It could only be one thing.

The neighbor whose property bordered my buddy’s backyard had an adult son with a shiny robin’s-egg-blue Corvette Stingray. We’d seen the car a few times before. He was probably visiting his parents for the weekend.

If you don’t know what a ’63 Corvette Stingray looks like, you should Google it. Nothing, and I mean nothing, on the road was cooler than a Corvette Stingray in those days. They were classic fastbacks with a split rear window. Even then, they were a rare sight. One in good condition today can bring over $100K at auction.

We didn’t know the driver, but we had seen him before. He was probably in his early twenties.

We crept out of the tent and hid in the shadows as the car rolled to a stop in the driveway.

He got out of the car: “Hey, what are you kids doing out here so late?”

We froze.

“I see you hiding over there; come out, right now!”

We were busted. Would he rat us out to our parents? We weren’t supposed to be up after 10 PM on sleep-outs.

We sheepishly moved out of the shadows and into the moonlight.

“Cool car,” my buddy said.

‘

“Have you guys ever ridden in a Stingray?” He asked.

He might as well have asked us if we had ever been to the moon. No one our age had ever ridden in a Stingray. We were too scared to reply.

“Do you kids want to go for a ride?”

What? Really?

“Sure,” my buddy answered immediately.

“Well, hop in!”

A Corvette Stingray is a two-seater. So, I ended up squeezing behind the passenger seat in a space no larger than a duffel bag, while my buddy, who was doing all the talking, rode shotgun.

With the windows down and the engine roaring, we were off down a winding deserted road. We were only gone for about 15 minutes, but it was the coolest thing we had ever done in our lives. I’ve never forgotten it.

The following Monday at school, we recounted every detail of the midnight ride to our 6^th-grade buddies. No one could believe it. We were instant celebrities.

So why am I sharing this story?

Small kindnesses!

Most young adults in those days, especially those cool enough to own a Stingray, wouldn’t have given two kids in the middle of the night the time of day.

I don’t think I ever saw Steve Kerr again, but I remember his name.

I was reminiscing about this recently and wondered if I had ever done anything that nice for someone?

Probably not; opportunities for small kindnesses are often overlooked.

But here’s the thing: some small kindnesses are remembered for a lifetime!

It’s something to think about.

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