Not All that Interested?

Now that their children are grown, Cindy and Jim Hawkins run a closet organizer business out of their home.  A few years ago, they moved to a house in a new community, and of course, the closet business came too.    Cindy was nervous about the move; it would be hard to build up a new base of customers, she knew, since their business was not known in the area and there was plenty of competition.  Leads had so far been scarce, almost non-existent.  What if they didn’t find any new work? Their future depended on it.

One Wednesday afternoon Jim had an appointment to give an estimate, so Cindy decided to go along too.  While Jim went into the house, she sat in the van and read Where Angels Walk. “I have a lot of faith in God and prayer,” she says, “but at the time, I didn’t think about angels much.  I was reading the book to learn more about them.”  She couldn’t imagine that angels would be all that interested in a closet organizer business, but she was so engrossed that she didn’t hear anyone approaching the van.  She jumped when she heard a tap on the window.  It was a man, probably wondering why a truck like hers would be parked in the neighborhood.  She had noticed the “No Solicitation” signs as they drove along, but they weren’t soliciting…  The area was very quiet and for just a moment, Cindy was afraid. 

But, no.  “I’m a construction worker,” the man told Cindy.  “I’m working on this street.  Grab a pen, will you?”  Cindy did.  “Write down this telephone number,” the man went on. Mystified, Cindy did.  “Is this your number?” she asked. 

“No, it’s the number of the family I was working for today,” he explained, pointing to a nearby house, also under construction.  “They’re only here on Wednesdays, so I saw them today and they asked me if I knew where they could buy closet organizers.  I saw your truck parked right there……….” 

“Oh yes!” Cindy was astonished and amazed.  “I’ll send my husband right over as soon as he’s finished here. And thank you, thank you SO much!”

It turned out to be the special job they needed, Cindy says.  “Jim received many referrals from that job, and he ended up working for about 80% of all the new homeowners---which kept us financially stable for two years.”

Despite Cindy’s frequent presence around the neighborhood, she never saw the construction worker again.  Now that they are planning a move to Atlanta, she knows she probably never will.  But he came when she needed him most. 

“I was packing the truck and noticed that the book, Where Angels Walk, is still in the pocket of the door,” Cindy said recently.  “We are hoping it works out just as well in Atlanta…”

 (C) 2006  Joan Wester Anderson   www.joanwanderson.com

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