People around town said Mr. Luther had the first, and
last, dime he ever made.
They said If everybody's lips were as tight as Mr. Luther, there would be no talking
in this world just a lot of high-pitched whistling.
Mr. Luther helped nobody but Mr. Luther.
People said that was the reason he never married, he did not want to even share his love.
Mr. Luther was easy to find. Some days you would find him sitting outside of the
building that once housed his office. He retired early but since he really had no
place to go or anyone to spend time with, he turned his old office into his new apartment.
He would sit in front of the aging brick building and just watch the traffic go
past on the bustling street in front of it. Some people waved as they passed.
Most didn't.
Mr. Luther lead a lonely, isolated existence, and truth be known, he was a lonely man.
He had not always been that way. Once he was young, vibrant and outgoing. A
promising and handsome young business man. He was considered a prime catch in town.
And he was caught. Miss Lucy caught both his eye and his heart. She
soon broke the latter and fled from the former and Mr. Luther was never the same again.
His parents passed away, and Mr. Luther began to withdraw deeper and deeper inside
himself, until finally, he became the Mr. Luther most people knew and...well, let's just
say they knew him.
Aside from his perch in front of his old office building, Mr. Luther's other favorite
place to be was on a bench, under a cooling tree, down by the river that ran the length of
the little town in which he lived. It was a nice friendly place with a lot of
interesting faces, and quick-paced activities.
Mr. Luther loved to see the kids at play. If he had a regret in his life it was that
he never had children. He envied the young parents he saw strolling along the river
children in hand. He grew sad every time he saw a father and son playing ball in the
green park area. Mr. Luther, in the twilight of his years, regretted he let so much
life get by him.
He became a keen observer of the human condition. He did not have real friends but
he got to know the comings and goings of a lot of the visitors to the park and they became
an imaginary family of sorts for Luther. There was Miss Frances who came
down to the river ever day on her lunch hour from the bank. And of course, Ted, he
has been fighting the battle of the bulge. He jogged along the river each day and
then went to the ice cream stand to re-energize himself. Luther smiled
thinking about Ted's Catch-22 situation.
Then there was his favorite, Sammy.
He guessed Sammy was somewhere around 9 years old. He always arrived by himself and
left by himself. He never saw parents with him. Every day his routine was
almost as predictable as Mr. Luther's. Sammy would come down to the river, he would
skip a few rocks across its surface. He then would go to the bank of pay
phones which were adjacent to the park and check each one to see if anybody had left any
change behind. A big smile would cross his face when he encountered a stray nickel,
dime or quarter.
..
Mr. Luther would just sit quietly on his bench observing. He wondered why Billy both
was alone and why, such a bright and lively little boy could seem so lonely. Sammy
almost seemed as lonely as Mr. Luther..
Since time was one thing Mr. Luther had plenty of, he went searching for the answer to his
new mystery. He found out that Sammy's parents both had died in a devastating fire.
Sammy almost had lost his life but a brave fireman rescued the little boy.
But he was never quite the same since. An aunt took him in, but her resources
were minimal and taking care of a growing boy seemed more than what she could handle by
herself.
Miss Jane they all called her. She had a ready smile and a big heart but
financially, she was barely able to care for herself but she just kept struggling to keep
house and home together for Sammy and herself.
The next day, with a head full of new information, Mr. Luther maintained his ritual of
visiting the park. This time, before he sat on the bench, he reached into his
pocket and extracted a handful of the bright quarters he got from the bank just before he
came to the river.
He went to the pay phones and left several quarters in each of the change compartments.
Then he went back to the bench and quietly went about his business of observing
people.
Sammy arrived right on schedule at the close of his school day. He skipped a few
rocks across the choppy water of the river and then went to the phones to look for
overlooked change. To his surprise and amazement, he found rewards in each phone he
checked. With each new discovery his smile grew wider. He left the park
skipping merrily, he realized in his small pocket he had some help for Aunt Jane.
Each day Mr. Luther repeated his kind-hearted act of generosity. It now had become
part of his daily pattern. He still would sit in front of his old office for awhile
but now he kept his eye on his watch. He knew he had to be at the bank by 2 p.m. to
get to the river with a fresh supply of quarters before Sammy got out from school.
Three weeks into this routine, Mr. Luther was rushing up the main street to get to the
bank. He got his quarters and rushed to place the treasure in the coin returns of
the pay phones. He was just placing two quarters in the first phone when he was
startled by a small voice behind him. "So you are the one who has been leaving
the quarters in the phone."
It was Sammy. It was a teacher's workshop so he did not have school this day.
He arrived at the park early and there was not a quarter to be found. That is
when Sammy knew for sure that someone was behind his windfall, that he had a benefactor
somewhere.
There was no denying what he was doing, so Mr. Luther confessed to Sammy that he indeed
had been putting quarters in the phone. Sammy smiled and said, "I thought
so."
"I watched you smile each time I would find one. I kinda figured that
maybe you were behind my good fortune. And even if you were not, it was good to see
you smile. You know people say you never smile because you were afraid of
giving away a glimpse of your teeth, that you never give anything away."
Sammy's honesty pricked Mr. Luther's heart. Through the eyes of this child, he saw
all too clearly what he had become, heard from innocent lips what other people thought of
him. He could not hold them back, tears started to fall down his checks.
"Don't be sad Mr. Luther," Sammy said. "That is what people think.
I have seen you smile a lot and I know you are not as stingy as they say, you have
been leaving me quarters every day."
Mr. Luther had to brighten at Sammy's boyish enthusiasm and cheer.
"Besides I want you to be my friend. I am like you, I do not have many friends
either," Sammy continued.
He reached out his little hand to Luther and pulled him along. "Come on,
I want to introduce you to my Aunt Jane. I want to let her know what a good new
friend I have!"
That was the start of a new day and a new life for Mr. Luther.
Aunt Jane not only caught Mr. Luther's eye but she soon won his heart. Aunt Jane and
Mr. Luther soon discovered it was not when you find real love but if. They loved one
another and they both loved little Sammy to death.
As a family a new routine developed. Aunt Jane and Mr. Luther, newly wedded husband
and wife, would sit on the park bench and hold hands as they watched Sammy skip
rocks across the rolling waters of the river. God had turned loneliness into togetherness
and with love, had joined and transformed three separate lives into a family.
