Page 16 - LIfesOuttakes2
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            The variety of personalities in the cellar made for     interesting stories.  Some of the characters there were     rough and some were highly refined, but I learned that each     person’s heart was much the same.  Some didn’t even     know the Pauls, but came to help, overcome by thought of     what it would feel like if the tragedy was their own.            In short order the harvest was in and the machinery     moved back to the farms from where it had come.  Farmers     who had brought it still had to harvest their own fields, for     they had chosen to help a neighbor first.            It was late at night, while our small group was     finishing the feeding, when the lights from a car turned into     the driveway.  Mr. Paul emerged and approached us to     thank us for our work.            “How’s the family?” someone asked.            Mr. Paul looked down in discouragement.  “Not well,     but some other relatives came so I could come home and     try to get the harvest in.”            Another member of our group put his hand on Mr.     Paul’s shoulder.  “Perhaps you should look in the cellar.”            As Mr. Paul stepped into the cellar and flipped the     switch, shining the lights on the huge mounds of potatoes,     this tough man with work roughened hands started to sob.                                       11
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