A Good Samaritan Named Pete
The 36th Hole
ROOM AT THE TABLE: When Christmas rolls around, I’m reminded of a generous man named Pete. He raised a family on the modest income of a house painter, but always had an open heart and wallet, and a full dinner plate for the down-and-out.
Pete was likely to show up with a guy he’d run into, someone down on his luck and hungry. One day Pete’s wife, Vivian, came home to find a stranger at the table. “Who’s that?” she asked. Replied Pete, “He just came to the door and said he was hungry.”
Pete would scout around to find a guy a job, or hand him the money he wanted to take a bus so he could try his luck back home. Pete was a tough little first-generation Italian. If, lo and behold, he spotted the same guy on the street the day after he’d slipped him the bucks to get home, he’d never get another handout.
