Surprise!

The season is fast approaching when bell ringers position themselves outside cold store fronts, collecting coins for the needy.  Almost without fail, each year brings word on the evening news that a valuable coin has been donated by an unknown good-hearted person.

I also leave surprise presents sometimes.  They are not given to bell ringers but  I may choose to drop the surprise outside storefronts where they stand, or inside, wherever there is a handy depository, i.e.  trash bin.  My surprise "donation" is NOTHING like gold coins.    Nope.  It's pooh.  Dog pooh to be exact.  You see I have two dogs to walk each day and after they do their business, I pick up the offending product using the bag in which my morning newspaper arrives.  So far so good, right?  There's nothing unusual about this practice.  Ah, but you are not me.

Having two dogs means two leashes and busy hands.  Add in to the equation a bag of pooh and you might understand why sometimes I carefully place the wrapped up product into my coat pocket.  There.  Now I can better control the dogs for the rest of the walk.

Two or three hours later finds me doing errands around town and slowly I start to notice the car stinks, or is it the air outside of the grocery store?  The odor is so faint that it takes awhile for me to put two and two together.  Oh!  I've got pooh in my pocket!  Silly me!

So as I approach a business or the library or the local Caribou, I hunt for a "donation box".  With a bit of guilt easily brushed aside, I rid myself of the obnoxious "cologne" and continue on with my day.

The next time you see a bell-ringer, think of me.