What a coincidence, last Saturday I was driving in my car and I noticed a pair of shiny vise grips sitting in the road. I stopped and picked them up, but I was a little uncomfortable doing it. It felt like I was being watched angrily the whole time, I'm not sure why. It was all worth it in the end though, because it was actually a vintage 75th anniversary edition Petersen DeWitt 10CR, in like new condition.
There was also a small plastic tag hanging from the handle screw. I read the tag and it said, "Call this number to get your reward." Once I got home I called the number and a nice woman answered. She gave me an address and told me to meet her there at 8pm with a truck. I was intrigued, and the address wasn't too far away, so I got in my truck and drove over there. It was a nice home located near Page County Virginia. As soon as I pulled into the driveway, the garage door slowly started to open. I got out of my truck, and as the garage door lifted higher I found myself squinting from the bright light, reflecting off of hundreds of individual chrome objects. Then a woman appeared and started walking towards me, slowly and seductively. You wouldn't believe what she was wearing, so I'm not even going to talk about that. Anyways, she said she had a garage full of tools from her recently deceased brother. She said she put the Vise Grip plier in the road with a note on it, because she wanted to find someone who appreciates tools to give her brother's tools to. I looked around slowly. There were tool chests and totes everywhere, filled to the brim with vintage NOS and modern tools. Everything was high end, and nothing looked like it had ever been used, just like many of the tool pics on GJ. Makers from the US, Japan, Germany, you name it. Tools for every trade and occupation. I rubbed my eyes thinking I was seeing things, but I wasn't dreaming. It was all real.
A few minutes later, four more women appeared (all dressed as seductively as the first woman). They were carrying ramps which they placed on my truck's tailgate. Then they started rolling packed full tool chests, one at a time, up the ramps and into the back of my truck. 10 minutes later my truck was full. My truck's rear end was sitting on the bumpstops. I told the women that my truck couldn't hold any more tools. One woman replied, "I guess that means you will just have to come back and get the rest tomorrow. That works out well because it gives us a chance to see you again." This post is starting to get quite long, so what happened the next day is a story for another time.
It was an amazing experience overall. One thing I can say is this...never hesitate when it comes to picking up tools in the road. I almost waited to pick that lone pair of vise grips. I was originally thinking of grabbing it off the road a couple minutes later, while returning back home after my quick errand was finished. I'm glad I didn't wait, because you never know. The locking pliers might have been gone, and I would have missed out on everything that came after.
It has been several days now, and I'm still in shock when I look and see all the free tools sitting in my shop. If I ever get around to taking a few pics and uploading them, I am definitely going to be the winner of the "Who has the most screwdrivers on Garage Journal?" thread. Probably the winner of a few other threads as well.
