Richard the Third and Emily Dickinson

At 7AM I heard the metal klink of a tire iron on asphalt and went out onto the porch to investigate. A young man was on the street below wrestling with a flat tire. He was parked directly opposite my house which is a main artery and often a very busy street. I went down and saw he was in the line of traffic jumping on the tire iron to loosen the lug nuts. I told my husband, "If he got hurt I would never forgive myself. I have an orange traffic cone in the back yard. I am going to go get it." I brought out the cone and said "I didn't want you to get hurt, this is a busy street with distracted drivers." I asked him if he needed some WD40. "Yes please, and thank you," he said. I ran inside to my husband's workshop and got it. I heard my neighbor call work. "I'm going to be a little late," he said. How low key, I thought.

I gave him the can of WD40 and went back inside to drink my iced coffee. After about 10 minutes I came out to check on him. He had been able to get the lug nuts off but the tire wouldn't budge. "Can I borrow that WD40 again?" I ran back inside and got it. The tire was not coming off. Then I remembered that I could get help for anyone using my triple A card. I asked him, "Would you like me to call triple A? I can get help for you on my card." "Thank you," he said. I phoned triple A and a woman named Philomena answered. "Hi Philomena I am here on the street in front of my house helping a neighbor with a flat tire."
"Do you have a triple A card with you?"
"Oops, I am going to go inside and get it out of my wallet but I will keep you on the line. Okay I'm up the stairs, now stepping over dog toys."
"Take your time," she laughed.
"Okay I have my wallet, now I need to step into the light. Okay, here it is. Oops it says expired 2021. I believe we are up to date though.
"It will still work," she said. "Okay, does the vehicle have a spare?
"Yes, a donut, and it's round," I said, laughing. "Not a Flintstone tire." She laughed too. "Okay thank you, Philomena, have a wonderful day and thanks for laughing at my joke."

The flatbed arrived pretty quickly. The friendly driver had a thick Boston accent. He got the tire off, put on the spare, finished up and drove off. I asked my neighbor, "What's your name?"
"Richard."
"I am Emily but I am terrible with names.
"Me too," he said.
"I was named after Emily Dickinson.
"I am Richard the third!" We laughed. "Now I will definitely remember," I said.