SAVED BY THE BELL
A Short Story by C.D. Reimer
Copyright 2011 C.D. Reimer
Smashwords Edition / September 2011
This 1,000-word short story first appeared in Ink Beans ezine (28 May 2011).
The cover art image was licensed from http://www.istockphoto.com.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
About The Author:
C.D. Reimer lives and works in Silicon Valley. His interests are ceramics, painting, tropical fish, and web programming. These keep him out of trouble when he’s not fixing broken users and consoling hurt computers.
After serving two tours through The Twilight Zone as a child and a young adult Christian, he writes about everyday reality that he often finds weird, twisted and absurd for being so normal.
He’s currently working on various short stories and his first
novel, and blogs about writing
and everything
else when he's not busy playing video games
writing fiction.
Connect With Me Online:
Smashwords.com: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/cdreimer
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cdreimer
Website: http://www.cdreimer.com
Writing Blog: http://blog.cdreimer.com
SAVED BY THE BELL
Working for God is never easy, especially when you’re a Good Samaritan collecting donations for the poor and the hungry in front of the local grocery store. I got my little folding table, a converted ammo box from my days in the Vietnam War with a combo lock on the end and a slot cut in the top to be the donation box, and, of course, my trusty bell that comes with the job. I’m out here seven days a week collecting spare change from the unwashed masses. Stand here long enough you get to know whom the regular customers are.
“Donations for the poor and the hungry,” I say, ringing my bell.
The Bible talks about the little old lady who gives her last two pennies to the temple treasury. I wish my little old lady had only two pennies to give. She lays her purse on my little table, pulls out a large change purse from inside, and spends the next ten minutes looking for odd coins like cashews in a can of mixed peanuts. Her donation can’t be in pennies, nickels, dimes or quarters; it has to be a gold or silver dollar coin, a half-dollar piece or a rare Indian Head penny. While standing in front of my table, no one else can make a donation until she is done.
I smile, ring my bell, and say, “God bless you.”