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I got to agree with Oswald here, see… *A slightly long story ahead!*

Like that one time I was waiting in a line to get an autograph to couple of books from Don Rosa back some years. I was already buying one for a friend who likes his work as well.

Also I’m one of those insufferable people who want to talk to random people, so I got to commenting things to people ahead and behind me. Shared couple of words with a younger lady behind me.

Then I noticed that whereas everyone else was carrying a Don Rosa’s best this and Uncle Scrooge’s Adventures in this, she hadn’t picked a book. I asked which one she’d be taking. After all there were strategically placed piles of them all along the lines.

She said that she’d not be taking any of them. That she was only in the line to ask if Don Rosa might sign a piece of paper or something for her brother, who was the actual fan of Rosa’s, since she didn’t have money to buy the books at the moment.

Now that wasn’t right, thought I. Not to mention there might be a chance even a kind old man as Don Rosa might not want to sign any random piece of paper. But what was there to do? It’d be at least better to ask and find out, than not try at all, right?

So in the end I might have gotten a bit nervous for her, ‘cose to me, she seemed to start to get nervous too the closer we got to Don Rosa.

Also I had this ol’ habit of helping random people too, giving money on charities and whatnot. I was working back then, so it wasn’t that much of a burden. Soooo…

I just told her to pick one of the books from the piles that were still coming our way. Naturally she was a bit baffled and I had to repeat that she should just take one of the books. I’d pay it for her.

Now here the story gets a bit shameful on my part. Given the wisdom of years, it’d be kinda easy to figure that someone would be moved by such a random gesture from a totally strange person coming up suddenly on such a spot. But yeah, she was moved. And while she did take up a book she thought her brother might like, she was on the verge of tears and the closer we got to Don Rosa, the more teary eye she got and she even started sobbing a little.

And I was totally paralyzed in that moment. I didn’t have the first idea of what to do. So I kept my facing forward for the most of it, just walked to Don when it was my turn and had him sign my books. I waited for her to get her book signed, I didn’t even look at Don to see how he’d react or have just completely forgotten it if I did. We went to the cashier, I payed the books and I want to say that I at least waved good bye to her. I can’t even remember if I said any parting words in that moment.

*But the long and short of this tale was that…* Sometimes you just have to help people.

And though I admit I did not handle the rest of it the best way possible, I do like to think that the brother of this lady was glad to receive the signed book and that maybe he or his sister were later on inspired by this encounter to do something good for another in turn. That’s all there really is to it.

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