It’s winter in Chardon and we just had our first big snow. When Binky got to the Square that morning a man from the city services department was unloading a snow blower. He was getting ready to clean off the sidewalks around the courthouse. He saw Binky and he went over to his truck. He got out a snow shovel and brought it to Binky. The city worker said, “Hi Binky, if you want to, you can shovel off that area over by the side of the courthouse. People don’t use it in the winter and the pigeons could eat there.” Binky was pleased. After he had shoveled off the area for the pigeons to eat, he saw that the courthouse steps weren’t shoveled off yet. They were probably very slippery. Binky decided he would help out and he began shoveling off the steps that went into the courthouse. The city worker finished the snow blowing just about the same time as Binky finished shoveling the steps. The worker brought a bag of salt over to the steps and he and Binky began spreading it. Soon the steps wouldn’t be slippery anymore. Binky was very pleased. The two things he liked in life were being helpful and feeding the pigeons.
As they were finishing spreading salt, the Sheriff’s cruiser pulled up. Sheriff Heidelberg got out of the cruiser and walked over to the courthouse steps. Binky and the city worker were just finishing spreading salt.
“Looks good boys,” said Sheriff Heidelberg. “We just got a call about somebody stealing city equipment.” The sheriff opened the complaint papers that he had been given and said, “Let me see.”
“It says here that somebody has stolen a snow shovel from the city.” At that point he stopped reading, turned around and looked at the second floor of the Courthouse Annex. There was that judge standing in the window scowling. Sheriff Heidelberg look back at the papers and thought to himself, “Doesn’t that guy have anything else to do?”
“Binky, were you stealing a snow shovel,” asked the Sheriff.
“No,” answered Binky. “I was shoveling off the steps of the courthouse so people wouldn’t slip and fall.”
“Well, you guys are doing a great job, keep it up.” said the sheriff.” I’ve got to get back to the Safety Center.” He looked over to the Courthouse Annex once more and thought to himself, “a 35 year career in police work and now I’ve got to answer goofy calls like this.” He got back in his cruiser and drove away.
Later in the day the Sheriff pulled up again. He got out of the cruiser and opened the trunk. He pulled out a brand new snow shovel. He brought it over to Binky and said “Binky in consideration of your good citizenship and a volunteerism in our county, the law enforcement community is presenting you with this snow shovel. We have had your name engraved on it. Sure enough, Binky looked at the shove and It had a gold label on it that said, “To Binky a REAL citizen who is a REAL help”
Binky was overwhelmed. This was like an award, a real award for doing a real thing that helped real people. Sheriff Heidelberg reached out and shook Binky’s hand. Then he fished in his shirt pocket and pulled out his business card. He handed it to Binky. “Call me anytime Binky.”
As the Sheriff walked back to his cruiser he thought to himself, “When that judge hears about this he’ll probably invent some kind of shovel award for himself. But I don’t guess it’ll be snow that he’s shoveling.”
NEXT TIME: Binky Does Math
The opinions expressed are solely those of Dave Partington and of course Bud, Randy, Harold, Larry and the rest of the guys sitting at the bar at Bud’s. Bud’s Geauga Corners is a work of fiction. Bud’s Geauga Corners is paid for solely by Dave Partington.
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