The Honeydews Tumbled Away and a Group of Helpful Elderly Ladies Rushed to the Rescue
One weekend morning, I accompanied my mum to the local market for our weekly produce shop. Mum was still looking around when I offered to bring the shopping back to the car, which was stuffed into a small rolling cart. It was like a Mary Poppins bag – quite a small thing, but it was astonishing how much you could fit inside. That's what we believed.
With the cart straining under the load of an already full load of groceries, my mum placed a box of sweet melons on top. She cautioned me to be cautious getting it back to the car.
All was going well as I made my way through the crowds of people and out of the market. But as I was crossing the chaotically busy main crossing into the market, the trolley got stuck on the road divider in the middle of the road, and the crate of melons fell to the pavement. They went flying, dramatically tumbling out towards passersby and stationary cars.
As the little walking man switched from go to stop, I was stunned, mouth agape, trying to figure out how I was going to collect the melons shooting in multiple directions.
Out of nowhere, a band of three or four older women sprang to my assistance. Silver-haired, head scarves and one with a cane – they appeared as if they had stepped out of the same babushka doll. They didn't hesitate by the cars creeping their way towards us. Utterly fearless, they just raised their hands to stop the vehicles, in each direction. They gathered all the melons for me, retrieving a single one, as I repaired the box to hold them.
I expressed gratitude to them and they remained silent, just smiled and gestured me goodbye. I never consumed the melons – I was never a real fan of honeydew melon – but I tell this anecdote frequently because I adore it so much.
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