Easing the blow

Because of my predilection for eating, it's hard to spot any upside to a disruption in paychecks. But there have been a few moments of unbelievable sweetness triggered by the layoff.

Both happened on the Day of the Deed. One of our first calls was to the friend who'd booked Jan. 1 vacation arrangements for us, her and her husband, and another couple. How could we take a 9-day trip when I'd be out of work? We explained to our friend that we'd have to cancel and see how much money we could recover. Minutes afterward, her husband called to let us know that they'd lend us the money until whenever we were back on our feet again. And we weren't talking about fifty bucks here. Unbelievable.

Later that day, when we figured we should make ourselves eat dinner, we called to have a pie delivered from our usual pizzeria. The fellow who took the call, who's been taking our orders for 10 years now, proudly told us that he was heading back to Sri Lanka in three days for the birth of his first child. "What's new with you guys?" he asked. My wife told him.

When the delivery man arrived about 20 minutes later, he was balancing the pie on one hand while holding a coffee cup in the other. "It's a glass of wine from Ishmael," the guy who'd taken our order, the delivery man explained. "He thought you might need it."