I was tree planting in Northern Sask., millennia ago, when our camp burned down one long weekend. We were not allowed to weekend in the camp for fear that we might get drunk and, I dunno, burn it down or something.
So there I was, on the Victoria Day Monday or whatever, with the heebie-jeebies from 3 days' heroic boozing, and no place to live. These guys that I knew directed me to a house nearby, saying that the lady there ran a sort of boarding house and would probably put me up until the insurance kicked in a day or two later.
So I knocked on her door, and she said, no, she didn't run a boarding house or anything of the sort. Must have been a quaint little joke on the part of my acquaintances. But she said she'd put me up anyway, for nothing, I could have her bed, and she would sleep with the kids in their bed.
So that's how it went. I didn't have to milk the cows in the morning or anything. She was just helping out a stranger in difficulty.
I mean, there I was, 3 days drunk, just a jean-jacketed long-haired laborer, and she helped me out. I'll never forget this. I know that she could read that I wasn't a threat, but I wonder, how can you read that? Some people are just totally beyond me.