Not One of Those Days

This is part of an ongoing group of flash stories capturing little moments from daily life.

The leaves and pine needles down in the yard were finally too much, so I mowed the lawn yesterday. I have a yard covering probably 1.5 acres, and I mow it with a Husqvarna riding mower that has a fifty-four-inch cutting radius, which helps keep the time down to about seventy-five minutes on a good day where the bags only need to be emptied twice.

This was not one of those days.

Just a third through the front lawn, it was time to empty the pine needles and grass clippings. I pulled over to the wood line next to the yard and emptied two of the bags onto a pile of old clippings. When I grabbed the handle of the third bag, I found the plastic bottom cracked and broken.

Sigh. I shut the mower off and, after emptying it, hauled the bag inside. I spent about fifteen minutes cleaning the surface, telling Lauren what was happening, cutting strips of duct tape, and taping the bottom back together. “Can probably order a new bag off Amazon or Walmart,” I told Lauren.

I headed back out to continue. Twenty minutes later, I glanced at my phone to see a message from Lauren to the family. It was a screenshot from the Snap story of fourteen-year-old Graham:

The duct tape held fine, the bag worked well through at least six loads, and I finished mowing without trouble or incident, probably all thanks to the thoughts and prayers of Graham and his friends. Thanks for caring, team!