Muffins and Ham

Alice knows all about friendship.

"We are going to be the best of friends," she had read. "I hope you
like raisin muffins."

Alice first read those words seventy years ago when she was a girl of
ten.

"Meet me tomorrow afternoon at three," the note continued. "We shall
have some tea on my back porch." The note was signed, "Your new
neighbor, Maggie."

When Alice and Maggie sat down to that first tea, Alice knew she had a
friend for life.

"You certainly are pretty," Maggie said. "I wasn't so fortunate. God
chose to ignore my looks. Father tells me that on the day I was born,
God was heard to say, 'Today I will concentrate on charm and
substance.' And here I am. Are you charmed?"

Not only was Alice charmed, she was also to have a constant companion
for that memorable summer of 1927. It was a friendship that would last
a lifetime.

Now, at the age of eighty, Alice takes her daily walk to the post
office in Grandville. The walk is a mile long, and it takes two hours
to reach her destination.

Alice has no telephone, and hasn't watched television since that
fateful day in 1955, when, in a fit of rage (and after the Brooklyn
Dodgers beat the New York Yankees -- four games to three -- in the
World Series), her husband put his foot through the screen. The
commotion that came out of that television set scared her half to
death. There would be no more television sets for Alice.

Alice has also refused to install a mailbox outside her home. She likes
the freedom and dignity of her daily walk to the post office. It gives
her purpose, and a chance to be neighborly.

Today is Alice's birthday, and she knows there will be a package from
Maggie.

"She never forgets," Alice said, taking the package from the postal
clerk. "She is such a darling."

When Alice arrived home, she sat in her rocker and opened her
package.

"A tin of raisin muffins," Alice said. "I should have known."

Maggie has sent Alice a tin of raisin muffins every year since that
first meeting in 1927. There was a note taped to the tin that read,
"Dear Alice, I know these are your favorites. Eat them in good health,
and always remember that I love you. Your loving friend, Maggie."

"I love you, too, darling," Alice said to herself.

Alice has only eaten one of Maggie's raisin muffins. That was back in
1927. She didn't like the looks of them then, and she doesn't like the
looks of them now.

However, the pigs seem to enjoy them. And the tin makes a wonderful
container for sending out country hams to Maggie.

Friendship: A little give. A little take.