I’d bought a nice new couch after my labrador chewed through the first one. But I didn’t put it in my apartment straight away. My plan was to swap the old couch for the new one right before my parents came to visit from overseas, so the dog wouldn’t have a chance to destroy it before their arrival.
My apartment was upstairs and the new couch was in storage on the ground floor, so I hired removalists to swap the two couches the day my parents arrived. They took the tattered old couch down – but didn’t carry the new one up. Instead, they left it on the street for anyone to grab, and were gone before I had the chance to correct them.
My neighbour, who was a lovely guy, saw what happened and offered to help me get the new couch up. But manoeuvring the bulky couch up a narrow set of stairs was a two-person job, and I just wasn’t strong enough to lift the other end. Neither were any of my friends.
I was frantic – I had to get this new couch up before my parents’ flight landed! So, in sheer desperation, I drove to the nearby gym and asked the receptionist if anyone there could help me out. I figured it was a room full of people lifting heavy weights, so where better to look for strong men? The receptionist told me she didn’t think she could ask anyone on my behalf, but that I was welcome to approach people directly.
Just then, a big, burly guy started walking out. I stopped him, frantically explaining I had a beautiful leather couch stranded on the side of the road, and asked if he could help. Looking mostly amused, he hopped in his car and followed me a kilometre back to my place.
There, he and my neighbour shooed me away, sending me off to pick up my parents from the airport. When I got back, the couch was safely in my apartment.
I thanked my neighbour profusely but never saw that man from the gym again. I wish I’d been able to tell him that he had restored my faith in people. Without any judgment or even asking me how I’d gotten myself into such a predicament, he offered his assistance.
I took a photo of the new couch, put it on Instagram and captioned it: “If I ever feel like giving up on the universe, show me this!” Now, any time I start doubting humanity, I look at that photo to remind myself of the kindness of strangers.
