My Honeydews Went Flying and a Group of Helpful Elderly Ladies Came to the Rescue
One Saturday morning, I joined my mum to the nearby market for our regular produce shopping. My mother continued browsing when I offered to bring the groceries back to the vehicle, which was stuffed into a small rolling cart. It was like a Mary Poppins bag – rather compact, but it was surprising how much you could load it up. That's what we believed.
With the trolley heaving under the load of an packed load of supplies, my mum rested a carton of sweet melons on top. She warned me to be cautious taking it back to the car.
All was going well as I weaved my way through the throngs of shoppers and out of the market. But as I was crossing the chaotically busy main intersection into the market, the trolley became lodged on the traffic island in the middle of the road, and the box of melons fell to the ground. They scattered, dramatically rolling out towards passersby and stationary cars.
As the little walking man changed from go to stop, I was shocked, mouth agape, trying to figure out how I was going to retrieve the melons rolling in multiple directions.
Suddenly, a band of several older women sprang to my assistance. White hair, head scarves and one with a cane – they looked like they had stepped out of the same nesting doll. They weren’t deterred by the cars inching their way towards us. Completely brave, they just held up their hands to stop the traffic, in each direction. They collected all the melons for me, not missing a single one, as I repaired the box to hold them.
I thanked them and they remained silent, just smiled and waved me farewell. I didn’t eat the melons – I was never a real fan of honeydew – but I share this story all the time because I love it so much.
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