#75 Surprises

Leo woke up not to the sound of his alarm clock, but to a loud knocking at his door. It was 4 AM, well before his 5:30 AM alarm. He put on his robe and went to the door to find a policeman.

“Are you Mr. Hickman?”, the cop asked.

“Uh… no – Hickman lives next door”, Leo said, gesturing toward the right, as the officer apologized and excused himself.

Leo couldn’t get back to sleep, and when his alarm rang it felt like the world crashed down on him. He reluctantly got up, got ready for work, and walked out the door. No sign of the police, and interestingly the lights were on in Hickman’s house – he never had to wake up early! Leo paid it no mind and got in his car to drive to work.

At work, Leo received word that his request for a raise hadn’t come through, although he had received 2 extra weeks vacation each year. He wasn’t aware that this was an intermediate option between raise and no raise. Leo spent the first half of the day annoyed, and cooled by mid-afternoon. At least he had something good in the surprise, even though it wasn’t exactly what he wanted.

That night Leo came home and told his wife about the day.

“That’s OK Leo, two extra weeks gives us more time together”, she said as they sat down to dinner.

“Oh, by the way, did you hear about the Hickmans?”, Leo’s wife asked.

“Naw, just saw a cop this morning looking for them. Didn’t have a chance to look into it further”, Leo explained.

“Their daughter was in a major car accident this morning. She’s hurt pretty bad but they think she’ll make a full recovery – just might take 6 months or longer”, Leo’s wife reported.

“That’s horrible”, Leo exclaimed. He couldn’t help but think about his own daughter, living away at college. He’d call her later tonight just to make sure she was OK.

[SSDay]

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