Jake sat in his pickup waiting for the hardware store to open. Along with him, there were a couple more trucks parked in the row behind him; everyone wanted to get an early to start on the day's work.
He noticed a woman sitting in her car waiting off to one side. However, she seemed different because she was wearing what looked like a black evening dress. When the doors opened a few minutes late, she dashed into the door ahead of everyone else. Jake grabbed his list and his cup of coffee and walked into the store heading back to the plumbing area. He needed parts to fix his leaking toilet and some screws to fix a couple loose boards on the deck.
The lady was already back in the plumbing department talking frantically to the salesman. Gathering his parts not too far away, Jake was able to catch some of the conversation.
This woman had been out late last night and when she got home she was removing her tennis bracelet and dropped it down the drain. She wanted to know how to get it back out because it belonged to a friend.
The man was trying to show her how to remove the trap under the sink, but she was just getting furious. She complained that she did not have the money for a plumber and had no idea what he was trying to say.
She was a nice enough looking, her hair was a mess and it was obvious it had been a long hard night. Jake decided to see if he could help. If nothing else it would make the salesperson's day better so he could move on and help other people in the store.
Putting a few pieces of drainpipe together, Jake tightened them hand tight, trying to show her how they came apart. Handing them to her, she began to struggle trying to take them apart with her hands.
"No, you will need to use a wrench or pliers to loosen the nuts then it will slip apart," he told her.
She stood there looking at him with a blank hazy stare. "Wrench?" It was then her hands went to her head holding it trying to understand.
He finally said, "Where do you live? It will only take a couple minutes to get your bracelet out. I can follow you home and take it apart for you." Telling her he needed to buy a couple things first. He had already gotten his toilet parts and, looking on the rack, he added a trap wrench to his stuff. Walking to the hardware aisle, Jake grabbed a box of deck screws. Proceeding to the register, where he paid for the items.
As they walked to the woman's car, Jake got her address in case they got separated as he followed her home. She was still frantic, worried about the bracelet. Jake told her if she had not run much water after dropping it that it would most likely be safe.