The store closed just minutes before I arrived, and I needed a bolt.

After a day in the cutthroat trenches of the die world, I found that the little things matter. Funny how things turn out.

See, we just moved to a new community in a small town in Michigan that I call home. My son met a friend, and that friend broke the hand brake on her bicycle earlier that evening.

While I am no longer in the comfortable financial position I was at the start of the century, I wanted to help this kid out. So, I drove to two bike shops to burn $40 on a new hand brake and a kickstand.

Like most dies, you go to fix one thing and see a few more things in need of repair. I get the new hand brake on and discover the gooseneck is so loose that the handbars are about to pull right out of the frame.

Fixed that.

Then, I notice the tires are seriously low on air.

Fixed that.

I go to put the kickstand on and discover the carriage bolt that came with it is about 10 mm short. So, I run to the local hardware store. A real hardware store.

As I pull into the parking lot, I see the lights are out. Two men are chatting in the parking lot. “You probably just closed, right?” I ask.

“Yeah. You look like you are in a bind. What do you need?”

I hold up the carriage bolt and say, “This one is about 3/8 too short. I can come back tomorow. No big deal.”

To me, it was a big deal because tomorrow to the little girl meant tomorrow night.

“C’mon,” Mr. Martin says as he waves to follow him back into the store.

“Really?” I am in disbelief.

He opens the store, goes in the back, and gets the new carriage bolt. I am now holding the bolt in one hand and cash in the other.

“Next time you come in, give 29 cents to the cashier,” he tells me.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

Now, I know we are talking about 29 cents here. But it is the principle. No way in hell Home Depot or Lowe’s will let you do that. Their respective return policies kick ass, but they don’t have a forward policy that I am aware of.

“I will be in tomorrow, Sir.”

“No. The next time you are in, just leave 29 cents. No problem. I am glad I could help you out of a bind.”

Are you serious?

Guess where my first choice for hardware products is now? It is the little things that matter.

As for my son’s friend, she is estatic that her bike is fixed.

I have all of my money invested in a business that seems to go nowhere.

My family has a food budget of $3 per person per day. It is that tight.

For two days in a row, I saw a woman at a highway offramp with a sign that read:

Traveling. Trying to get home. Anything helps.

I had a $20 in my pocket. My last twenty bucks.

I rolled the window down and asked what the story was. She was short on bus fare to travel 250 miles or so to the next state to get home.

I gave her the $20. Her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and said, “Thank you so much! I was short $20 for bus fare. This gets me home!”

I figured it was good karma to do something nice for someone. I know the money was going toward bus fare and not booze.

Pay it forward.