Sometimes good fortune is hidden, but it’s there all the same.
The man who lives on the corner is a good example of this. He had trouble with his rates. He’d sent several emails to the council about them. This was the third year he had received a council rate notice that contained a glaring error. Each year his notice had included a fee for a copy of the previous year’s rates notice; something that he had never received because he had never requested one. The first year was the worst for the simple reason that he had not been living there the previous year, so no copy could possibly exist. At the time, it was sorted out fairly quickly along with an apology. The same thing happened the second year, last year, and it was so annoying to find that the same error was being repeated. This time it took a great deal longer to sort out, and with no apology.
On this third occasion he had not called or sent emails, instead he went directly to the offices in person, being perfectly prepared to spend the entire day getting it resolved once and for all. He took no paperwork or notices or notes about the previous years. He deliberately left all of that at home. He only carried proof of his identity. He had decided to take on the burden of personally paying a visit to the relevant department. He knew full well, that all necessary information regarding the council’s mistakes would be there, in their own computer system. He would have them work it out.
The building held a number of local government departments, but he quickly found the section that dealt with rates. From the start he was made to feel that he was being a nuisance. Although the matter took only three hours in total to have it put right and not a whole day, the attitude he was facing the entire time came very close to out and out rudeness.
As he was leaving the building he paused at the top of the steps to breathe in the fresh air. He was so glad to get out of the place. He remembered telling his wife he’d text her when he was done. He was doing this when the odd looking guy came struggling up the steps. He thought at the time he was odd looking because he was rather portly for someone with such a young face. When he got to the top, between gasps, he croaked, “You’re leaving?”
Taken by surprise, the man just nodded.
“You’re really lucky,” he said in a low voice and went in.
Although this had seemed a bit strange, he figured that he was saying that the place was so awful that anybody coming out was far better off than anybody going in. As he made his way to his car he smiled at the thought. After all, he would have to completely agree with the sentiment.
It was as he unlocked his car that he heard the explosion.