Theresa was sitting at the concierge desk when a woman walked in. She came up to the desk, and was clearly frazzled. Without even giving Theresa a chance to wish her a good morning, the woman started talking.

“Hi there,” she started, but didn’t wait for a response.”My husband and I came in for an appointment this morning, and while we were in here a tire on our car went flat. Can you call someone to come help us? Or do you have a phone number or something like that?”

“Sure thing,” Theresa said. Her first thought was to call the hospital’s public safety office. She talked to the safety official for a minute, asking the woman questions and conveying them to the official through the phone.

“Where is the car located?” the official finally asked.

When Theresa asked the woman, she answered, “About a block down, at a metered spot on the street.”

“Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do for that,” the official explained to Theresa. “We don’t have the authority to do anything to vehicles that aren’t on hospital property.” Theresa thanked him and hung up. She explained the situation to the woman, who became even more agitated.

“Well, what am I supposed to do?” she asked desperately.

“Don’t worry,” Theresa soothed her. “I can call someone else and see if they can help. Just give me another few minutes to make a call.” The woman calmed down a bit, and Theresa called one of the car vendors that Errand Solutions often worked with.

Theresa explained the situation to the receptionist at the vendor’s office. “Not a problem,” she said after Theresa finished. “We can have someone over there in about fifteen minutes.”

After thanking the vendor, Theresa wrote the name of the company on a piece of paper and handed it to the woman so that she’d know which company’s truck to watch for. Armed with this information, the woman left to wait by the car with her husband.

A little while later, Theresa looked up to find the woman and a man wearing the car vendor’s uniform walking up to the desk. “So, the car’s parked on a bend in the road,” the vendor said. “In order to safely replace the tire, I’m going to have to have the police come out and direct traffic, but my phone is on the blink.”

“Okay,” Theresa said. “I’ll give the police department a call for you.” Theresa dialed the non-emergency number for the local police department and made the request for a traffic cop to come and assist with roadside maintenance. When the vendor and the woman walked away, Theresa thought that everything had been taken care of and that the woman and her husband would be on their way in no time.

Much to Theresa’s surprise, the woman came back to the concierge desk one more time. Wondering what else she could possibly do for the woman, Theresa asked how things had gone. “Everything went off without a hitch,” the woman said. “Thank you so much – we really needed all the help you gave us, and we really appreciate it.”

Jasmine had finally met her match.

When Jasmine was three years old, she pieced together a replica of her mother’s face with dry macaroni, Elmer’s glue, and finger paints. The portrait is still exhibited on her mother’s refrigerator.

When Jasmine was nine years old she created a model of Neil Armstrong’s spacecraft, Gemini 8, with papier-mâché and colored paper. She won second place in her school’s science fair.

When Jasmine was in high school, she made a panorama of the battle scene from Shakespeare’s Henry V. She molded each horse and soldier from red clay, and she crafted the landscape from foam and acrylics. She passed her AP English class with flying colors.

But Jasmine was finally presented with a challenge she wasn’t sure she could overcome. Early that cold spring morning, a nurse wearing bright teal-and-orange scrubs strode into Jasmine’s office. The nurse was a larger woman named Linda; her huge smile and booming laugh seemed to illuminate the entire room. Jasmine pulled out her binder (which was covered in cherry-print duct tape) and pen (which she glued glitter and Hello Kitty stickers all over) and listened to Linda’s story.

“So our alarm clock doesn’t go off, and we’re running to the airport. Half of my things are in Mark’s bag, and half of his things are in mine. I swear we left a trail of socks and toothpaste behind us the entire way!” Linda gave a chipper chuckle as she told her story, and Jasmine instinctively smiled with her. “Anyway, we make it to the airport, and we get to security, and TSA is just tearing through every little piece of junk in our carry on bag. Now granted, we’ve got some random things in our bags. I mean, my husband somehow ends up with one of the hotel’s hand towels and several of my nail polishes. Up to this point, Mark and I are just cracking up at how ridiculous the whole situation is, but TSA wasn’t laughing with us.

“They started examined every item individually. Of course, we start to get nervous. You see, at this point, we only have twenty minutes to make our flight. We need to get out of security soon. But then they find Mark’s shoe.”

“His shoe?”

“He wore these giant ugly sneakers to the Moab Desert. I kept telling him, ‘They’re going to get destroyed! The Moab Desert is famous for quicksand!’ Sure enough, he sunk into some while we were on vacation. It took me almost an hour to pull him out! Here, check this out.”

Linda grabs her bag out from under her chair and pulls out the most disgusting sneaker Jasmine had ever seen. She swore she could have smelled the shoe before she saw it. The whole thing was calloused in mud and dirt, and the bottom of the heel was breaking apart.

“So this shoe ended up in my luggage, while the other one was in Mark’s carry on. Mark doesn’t know I have it; he assumes TSA took both shoes. To be honest, I had a feeling these shoes wouldn’t go through. I mean, look at them! But he had to have them. He keeps saying that they’re some sort of memento of his survival. I think he’s just being melodramatic, but that’s me. Anyway, the one security officer just picks up the shoe and shakes his head, and Mark knows exactly what he’s thinking. He starts shouting, ‘Don’t you dare take away my shoe! Don’t you dare!’” Linda starts laughing again. “Honey, let me give you some advice. If you want to get to your flight on time, don’t argue with security!”

Although they both laughed, Jasmine felt a nervous swelling in her stomach. She had a feeling she would have to do something with that sneaker, and the last thing she really wanted to do was touch it.

“Anyway, we always play practical jokes on each other, but with me starting this new job at the hospital, we really didn’t have a lot of time to plan anything. But I did come up with a crazy idea the other day. Like I said, he doesn’t realize that I have this shoe, and I know he’s been missing it like crazy. So I thought that you could put it in a box and send it to his office. But then you should leave a note that says something like‘You owe the post office forty bucks for postage,’ or something like that!” She laughed at her own little prank. “He’s so frugal, and he’d hate to pay for something that was always his!”

 

“So that’s all you want me to do? Stick this shoe in a box and leave it on his desk with a note?”

Linda laughed. “That’s it. It’s simple, yet effective, right?”

Jasmine nodded in agreement, although she felt a little lost. The job sounded simple enough—and it was—but Jasmine wasn’t known for doing simple things. As an employee at Errand Solutions, she was known for taking simple things and making them beautiful or gorgeous or touching. The crafts she used to do as a kid transitioned into her work at Errand Solutions. When the hospital celebrated the opening of a new wing for cardiac patients, Jasmine crocheted plush hearts for all the doctors and nurses. For Christmas, she not only put up the tree, but crafted each decoration out of tongue depressors, hot glue, and Sharpies. Even her entire office seemed to shine from the glitter left behind from previous projects.

But the thought of that muddy, disgusting shoe somehow created a roadblock in her creativity. She couldn’t think of that little touch that tiny spark, to make Linda’s prank come to life. As she stood behind her desk in her office, staring at that dirty shoe, she felt like Dr. Frankenstein, standing over her dead creation, filled with frustration.

“Somehow I need to think outside the box,” she thought to herself.

And that’s when it hit her, the box. Next to the shoe was an old postal box Jasmine had picked up downstairs. Suddenly all the pieces started fitting together. She pulled out her sharpies and started writing different addresses all over the box. She then pulled out a pink hammer from the bejeweled toolbox she kept under her desk and pounded the walls of the box. She even tore a few holes in it with her fingers. Jasmine then placed the shoe in the middle of the box, and covered the whole thing with various stamps and address labels around her desk. She then wrapped it several times around with masking tape. Finally—the pièce de résistance—she shook the box several times so the dirt from the shoe would cover the inside of the box.

Never before had Jasmine been so proud of a project she had done at Errand Solution. She even kind of liked how gross it looked; to her, it represented the tumultuous yet loving adventures Linda and Mark were always getting into. When Linda finally got to see the box, she cracked up, and her laugh filled the room with so much joy that Jasmine couldn’t help but smile.

“That was the best idea ever! Oh, he’s going to be so mad he’s not going to know what to do! I love it! Love it!”

“You’re too sweet, Ms. Linda!”

A few days later, when she snuck into Mark’s office building and placed the box outside his door, she realized that there was always some beauty in the ugliest and smelliest of things, even in a pair of muddy sneakers. After that project, she was never afraid to get her hands a little dirty.

Matthew was a regular Errand Solutions customer. Whenever he needed something done right, and on time, Nichol was his point-woman. One day, he came into the Errand Solutions office with a larger request than usual.

“One of my best employees has a birthday tomorrow,” he told Nichol. “Greta is the hardest working woman, and I know that she doesn’t do a lot by the way of treating herself. I thought I’d get a cake for her.”

“How nice!” Nichol answered. “What kind of cake did you want to get for her?”

“Well, her favorite fruit is raspberry,” he said, “so I was thinking a chocolate raspberry cake.”

“Yum.” Nichol was a little jealous of Greta, who would be able to eat the cake once it was done. “How big?”

“A half-sheet should do it,” Matthew said. “That way she’ll have some and can share with some people. If she wants to,” he added, laughing.

Nichol laughed with him, but she knew it wouldn’t be an easy order to place. A half-sheet cake was more work for the baker, and would cost extra, but that wasn’t the real problem. Chocolate raspberry wasn’t a standard flavor of cake; the baker would have to custom make it. Never one to give up on a challenge, Nichol looked up the number for one of the best bakeries in town and placed a call.

“What size?” the bored voice on the other end of the line asked when she asked to place a cake order.

“A half-sheet,” Nichol said. “I’m going to need it delivered tomorrow.”

“No problem, but that’ll cost extra. What flavor?”

“Chocolate raspberry.” Nichol was met with a moment of silence.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do it,” the voice finally answered her. “That’s a custom flavor, and I can’t do a custom flavor and a custom size in that time frame.”

Nichol hung up with that bakery and tried another. She met with the same result at several bakeries. After a frustrating hour of trying to haggle with high-end bakers, she came to a realization: if she took the delivery out of the bargain, maybe a baker would take the order.

The last bakery on the list was Nichol’s favorite bakery. It was the place she went to for all of her personal orders for special occasions, and she was on friendly terms with the staff. She had thought it would be nice to go to a more prominent baker with her order, but, upon reflection, she thought that her personal relationship with this particular baker might help her situation.

“Hello, Nichol!” She was met with a cheery voice when she placed her call. “What can I get for you?”

“I have a customer who needs a half-sheet cake by tomorrow,” she said. “He wants a chocolate raspberry flavor.”

“The size and the flavor I can do,” the baker said, “but the delivery might be an issue.”

“I was thinking that I could pick it up when it was ready,” Nichol said.

“In that case, no problem! Swing by tomorrow morning and we’ll have it.”

On her way to work the next morning, Nichol stopped at the bakery to pick up the cake that Matthew had ordered for Greta. It was beautiful. It was a white chocolate raspberry mousse cake (they let her taste a sample while she was there – it was delicious) with red and white buttercream frosting. They had even decorated the edges of the cake with pieces of freshly cut strawberries, pineapples, and kiwis. After showing the cake to Nichol for inspection, the baker placed the cake in a neat white box and tied it up with a red ribbon.

Nichol delivered the cake to Matthew when he got to his office at 10. “It’s beautiful,” she told him. “They gave me a sample of it, too, and it’s delicious. Greta’s going to love it.”

The next day, Nichol received an email from Matthew with a picture of Greta’s face as she opened the cake box to find her birthday surprise. Having tasted the cake herself, Nichol knew that Greta was in for a fantastic birthday.

One of the nurses had called in sick, leaving Michelle to administer medications to all of their patients in addition to those she already cared for. Because of the number of patients she needed to see, Michelle was making her normal rounds at a break-neck pace. Everyone on the floor needed medications, in the correct dosages, and at the correct times. She was going at more than twice her normal pace and had the panicky feeling that she was constantly falling behind. In the chaotic rush of making sure everyone got the physical attention they needed, Michelle was unable to make sure that they got the personal attention that she knew they also needed. However badly she felt about this, she knew she needed to set her priorities, and that the physical care of the patients needed to be her first concern.

“Good morning,” Michelle said as she breezed into a patient’s room. Even to her own ears, she sounded a little out of breath. Hoping the patient hadn’t noticed how rushed she was, Michelle grabbed the clipboard at the foot of the bed, noted the medications the patient needed – anxiety medication and vomiting suppressant – and the appropriate dosages. She returned the clipboard to its peg and turned away to retrieve the medications.

“Stop! Don’t go!” The patient grabbed Michelle’s wrist, detaining her in the room. “I don’t want to be alone! I’ve been alone in here too long.”

“I know it’s lonely, I’m just going to get your medicine and come right back,” Michelle said, trying to gently pry her wrist out of the patient’s vise-like grip.

“I don’t want to die alone,” the patient said.

“You won’t die here,” Michelle said. “I promise. I’ll be right back.”

“No!” The patient wouldn’t let go of Michelle’s wrist. She started crying, begging Michelle not to leave her, convinced she was going to die.

Michelle wondered what she was going to do; the patient obviously needed her anxiety medications in order to have some peace, but she wouldn’t be able to get it for her if the patient kept on this way. Knowing that there wasn’t another nurse on the floor to help her yet, Michelle started to worry that she wouldn’t be able to handle the situation. Just as the thought started to become alarming to her, she heard a knock on the door.

Phyllis from Errand Solutions popped her head in the door. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked. Without waiting for a response from Michelle, Phyllis entered the room and took the patient’s hand, releasing Michelle. She sat down next to the bed.

“I don’t want to die alone,” the patient told her.

“I don’t think you’ll die today, but I’ll sit with you,” Phyllis said happily.She started to talk about what was going on downstairs in the lobby, a funny story about a little boy who asked her for an autograph. The patient began to calm down and listened to Phyllis’s story, never letting go of her hand.

Michelle slipped out to get the patient’s medications, and when she came back, the patient took her medications with very little fuss. Remembering how many patients she had left to see, Michelle slipped out of the room again and finished making her rounds.

Later in the day, she returned to find Phyllis still sitting with the patient. The patient was no longer crying, but was laughing and joking with Phyllis. Michelle smiled to herself, glad to see that someone was both able and willing to provide the personal care the patient needed when she hadn’t been able to.

Celebrating the sacrament of anointing of the sick is a normal occurrence in a hospital. So much so, in fact, that Anneke and the rest of the Star Service staff have the phone numbers for all of the on-call staff at the local Catholic church on file at the service desk. Whenever a patient or their family decides it’s time to celebrate the sacrament, Anneke calls the church and makes an appointment for the priest to come to the hospital.

Sue came to the Errand Solutions desk to make arrangements for a priest to come to the hospital and offer the sacrament to her mother.

“She’d like to see a priest,” Sue said. “I don’t think it’s an emergency just yet, but her doctor doesn’t think she’s going to get any better.”

Anneke nodded and took the number of the room Sue’s mother was in, promising to call the church for Sue.

Anneke called the church office and spoke with the administrative assistant. She gave her the name of Sue’s mother, her room number, and told her about the situation. An appointment was made for the next morning, and Anneke sent a message to Sue telling her what time to expect the priest.

Late the next afternoon, Sue returned to the Errand Solutions desk. “The priest didn’t make it over last night,” she said. “I talked to my mother’s doctor this morning, and he doesn’t think she has much time left. Could you call again and see if he’s coming?”

“Absolutely,” Anneke said. “I’ll give them another call right now.” Sue still looked worried. Anneke, knowing how important it is for both patients and their family members to feel comfort, especially on a spiritual level, at times like this, tried to reassure Sue. “Something probably came up at the church last night,” she said.

“I’m sure he’ll be here soon, but I’ll give them another call. Go be with your mother, I’ll take care of this.”

Once Sue left, Anneke called the church, only to by answered by the machine. The office had closed down for the evening already. Knowing how important this was for Sue and her mother, Anneke dug through her files to find the numbers for the on-call staff at the church. After several tries, Anneke reached a member of the church staff and told her about Sue and her mother. “It wasn’t an emergency last night,” Anneke explained, “but things got worse overnight, and they’d really like to see a priest as soon as possible.”

“Okay,” the staffer said. “I’ll call Father and send him over right away.” Anneke hung up reassured and turned to her other work.

A few hours passed, and Anneke neither saw a priest walk in nor heard from Sue. Her coworkers were getting ready to go home for the evening, but she sat at the desk shuffling paperwork. She wanted to be there in case Sue came back asking about the priest. Just before seven, Anneke looked up to see a man wearing a Roman collar under a cardigan walking down the hall. Relieved, she finally packed up her bag and headed home for the night.

The next morning, Anneke looked up to see Sue coming to the desk again. She was worried for a minute – she was sure she had seen the priest walking by last night. Sue quickly relieved her fears.

“Thank you so much for finding a priest for us,” she said. She told Anneke about the celebration of the sacrament and how her mother had been able to participate.“It was beautiful,” she added. “She wouldn’t have been able to do that this morning. Her organs deteriorated so much overnight that I don’t think she would have even known a priest was in the room if he had come this morning.”

Bobby wanted a pet—more than anything in the world. In fact, it was the only thing on his Christmas list this year. Cindy didn’t know what to do.

“He’s allergic to everything! Dogs, cats, horses, birds, rabbits. Everything. We tried some fish last year, but he wanted to HOLD them. That got messy real fast.”

Louise chuckled. As an Errand Solutions site manager, she thought she’d heard everything, but her customers always continued to surprise her. Thinking of the chickens and horses in her back yard at home, Louise had an idea. “Have you thought of a more unconventional pet for your son?” she asked.

Cindy laughed. “If you’re talking about one of your chickens, then no way. My husband would kill me!”

Louise laughed along with Cindy. “You can’t have one of my chickens! But I know where you could get one of your own.”

“Can you imagine a chicken running around the house? Oh Bobby would LOVE it. I can just see him chasing it all over the living room. Feathers flying. Eggs everywhere. I’d never hear the end of it!”

“Haha! But think of all the money you’d save on eggs.”

“Oh lord. That would be a great day, until I had to clean up. But if you have another idea, I’m open to suggestions.”

“Ok, so chickens are out. Let me see what else I can come up with. Come see me tomorrow.” Cindy left, still laughing at the thought of her husband’s face as he was greeted with a room full of feathers when he got home from work.

Louise had only been half serious about the chicken, but it had definitely given her some ideas. She hopped on the Internet and started to research. By the next morning, she had a great idea, and couldn’t wait for Cindy to stop into the office. By the time Cindy arrived just after lunch, Louise was about to burst.

“Have you ever thought about an iguana?” she exclaimed, forgetting to even say hello.

“An iguana?” Cindy’s expression moved from surprised to thoughtful. “I hadn’t. Aren’t they really messy?”

Louise was ready, because she had thought the same thing before she clicked on that article. “Actually, no. They’re one of the cleanest reptiles around. I have a stack of articles about what great pets they make for kids who are allergic to everything else. And best of all – they’re fairly easy to care for, so you won’t have to do all the heavy lifting.”

Cindy looked skeptical. “My husband suggested a snake, but I refused to even think about that. There’s no way I could imagine buying mice to feed to another animal. What do iguanas eat anyway?”

Louise had also asked herself the same question the day before, and she was confident that her answer would be just what Cindy was looking for: “Vegetables. They don’t eat meat at all.”

“Really?” Cindy was surprised. “And they’re not hostile or anything?”

“Nope. They’re very gentle. Perfect for kids. I kind of want to get one for my granddaughter now.”

Cindy nodded her head. “All right then. An iguana it is. Now I just have to figure out where to get one.”

Louise smiled and produced a stack of papers. It was already done. She was so sure that Cindy would go for the iguana plan, she’d gone ahead and contacted the local pet stores and even an iguana society to get all the information Cindy would need.

“There are two iguanas waiting to meet you and Bobby at the pet store down on 51. I told them you’d probably be in this weekend.”

Cindy laughed again. “It’s like you can read my mind. Thanks so much for all your hard work.”

“Happy to do it. You be sure and take pictures on Christmas morning. I want to see Bobby’s face when he opens his presents!”

Cindy promised she would and left the office. Louise smiled to herself, happy with another satisfied customer, and turned back to the computer to email her son about the present for her granddaughter.

* *  *  *  *  *

After receiving the emailed photo of Cindy’s son, proudly holding Henry the Iguana on Christmas Day, Louise taped it to the front of the large purple folder of cards and thank you notes from her other customers. His smile would be the first thing she saw whenever she pulled out the folder to file something away—which she did at least twice a week. Her customers were all so wonderful.

Then the phone rang.

Louise had barely lifted the phone when the voice on the other line starting speaking in rapid Spanish.

“I’m sorry, I can’t understand you. Can you speak English?” she asked.

“No! No anglais!” the voice exclaimed.

Louise exhaled. “Ok, hold on. I’ll try to find someone to help,” she said, knowing that the caller probably couldn’t understand her at all.

Luckily, a nurse who had been into Louise’s office many times to buy movie tickets was just down the hall. Louise knew that Marta spoke Spanish, because they’d talked about how important it was to Marta that her children start learning their family’s native language early on.

“Marta! Can you help translate a phone call for me? It sounds like an emergency!”

Marta quickly followed Louise back to the office and picked up the phone. She started speaking to the caller. Louise watched as Marta’s eyes widened.

With a confused look on her face, Marta looked at Louise. “Do you know anything about an iguana?”

Louise looked startled. “Maybe?”

“This woman said she called the number on the fridge for the Iguana Lady. She’s a nanny. The child’s name is Bobby something?”

“Oh my. Yes, I know that iguana. What’s wrong?”

Marta turned back to the phone and continued to speak.

“He’s choking on a Lego?” Marta looked back at Louise, not sure what to do. “She says she tried calling a veterinarian but they said they didn’t do that. I don’t know what that means!”

Thinking fast, Louise sat down at her desk and started flipping through the phonebook.

“Can you tell her not to worry and that we’ll send help right away?”

Marta relayed the message, and hung up the phone. “How on earth are you going to help her?” she asked Louise.

Louise knew from her time on the farm that there were special vets for horses and pigs and cows. She assumed there were also special vets for iguanas. No sooner had Marta asked her the question, did Louise have the answer.

“A reptile vet. We’ll make something happen in a hurry.”

Marta sat down; she now wanted to see what would happen.

Louise pulled up Cindy’s home address from her profile and prepared to give it to the vet. But after speaking with the vet, she had a few more calls to make. They could take care of the animal, but they didn’t do house calls, even in an emergency situation, because of liabilities.

Louise had heard of another situation like this, years ago. She hopped online and googled “pet ambulance”. There was one in the area and she made another call.

After everything was set in motion, Louise called Cindy at her desk to let her know what was going on. “Oh no!” Cindy cried. “What am I going to do?”

“Just go meet them at the vet’s office. He’s already on his way. And please keep me posted. I’m here if you need anything else.”

Marta and Louise sat in the office, still a bit stunned at the quick flurry of activity. “I guess there’s nothing else we can do right now,” Marta said. “I’ll check back later to see what happened.” And she left the office.

Louise couldn’t just sit there, she was too anxious. She pulled up her files from the previous December and called up the pet store and the iguana society to see if there was anything else that needed to be done. Before long, she was compiling a list of resources for Cindy that would help with her pet’s recovery or, god forbid, help her to find a new iguana.

She was putting everything into a folder, when the phone rang. It was Cindy.

“He’s fine. They got the Lego out and he’s expected to make a full recovery.”

Louise breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh I’m so glad! I’ve been thinking about him all afternoon.”

“There’s no way he would have made it without your help. I know I’ve called you a lifesaver before, but now it’s really true. Thanks so much for everything!” Cindy exclaimed.

Louise looked at her photo of Cindy’s son Bobby and Henry the Iguana and smiled. It was time to go find Marta and tell her the good news.