The Goodwill Drop-Off
From Create Your Own Story
I had several bags of clothing in the trunk of the car, ready to take to the Goodwill: shirts and pants I rarely wore, some dress pants with an unfortunate wine stain in the crotch, a suit that was out of style, excess tee shirts that always seemed to accumulate, and other trivial household items. I had been driving around with them all week, since I had spaced out dropping them off last week, when I got stoned right out of bed on Saturday. I got in the car and drove to the nearest drop-off box behind the strip mall about a mile away.
As I pulled around the building to the back, I noticed a car parked next to the large drop-off box. I parked next to it and began unloading the bags of clothes. When I got to the box, I didn't see the other donor, but I heard a quiet sobbing from the other side. I put down my load and peeked around the corner to see what was up. A pretty brunette was sitting on the curb with her knees up and her arms resting on them, crying softly into her sleeves.
"What's the matter? Can I help?" I asked.
She looked up at me with big puppy-dog eyes, red and puffy from tears. Her face was wet. She looked forlorn, but she brightened when she saw me. Standing up gracefully, she sniffled and said, "You can help! I put the wrong bag of clothes in the bin and I can't get it out. It has five hundred dollars in one of the pockets. I'll give you a hundred, if you can get it out. Please help me!"
Now that she was standing, I could see she was a short, cute young woman, probably in her early twenties, with shoulder-length brown hair, big blue eyes, and what looked like a good-sized chest under her red pullover top. The rest of her looked curved, though her track pants didn't show off her figure much. She was adorable, even miserable as she was.
"You don't need to pay me to help. Let me see what I can do," I said cheerfully and upbeat. I walked to the box and opened the hatch, sticking my head in the opening. A brown plastic grocery bag of clothes was resting about halfway down. A pair of nice shoes with heels was near the top of the bag. "Is it the brown shopping bag with the heels on top?" I asked over my shoulder.
"Yeah, that's it. I had my dress clothes in another bag, because I'm going to a party later, and wasn't going back to my apartment. Both bags look the same and I grabbed the wrong one. I was in such a hurry, I didn't notice until I got back to the car."
"I think I can reach it," I said as I leaned farther into the drop-off bin and reached an arm in. Stretching my fingers as far as they could go, I could just barely touch one of the handles. I tried several times, but just couldn't snag the plastic strip. My efforts rocked the container a bit, and the contents shifted, dropping the bag another two inches lower out of my reach.
"I need something to stand on, um, ... What's your name? I'm Leon."
"I'm Nicole. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you trying to do this."
I got into my car and pulled it around, so the front bumper was right in front of the opening to the bin. I got out of the car and stood on the bumper, reaching into the bin. With the extra height, it was no problem to grab a handle of the bag and lift it out. I got down off the car and handed it to Nicole. She took the bag and threw her arms around me, kissing me on the cheek. The bag bounced off my back.
"Thank you, Leon," she said breathily before she kissed me full on the lips.
My eyes popped open in surprise, but I quickly recovered and kissed her back. Suddenly, she stopped, realizing what she'd done, and released me from her hug.
"I'm sorry, Leon. I got kinda carried away in the excitement," she said, looking down rather sheepishly.
"No need to apologize, Nicole. I enjoyed it. It's not every day that a stranger gives you a kiss," I said, grinning widely. I remembered my fortune and thought that this certainly qualified as eventful.
