Ultimate shoulder rides

As a young boy growing up on the northern coast of Maine, Ted always
aspired to someday own a fast sports car. The one he really wanted
was a Corvette, but he knew he might have to start by lowering his
aspirations and working his way up. After all, he was barely 12
years old and had already started saving up for the day he would get
his license and buy a car.

Just before Ted's 12th birthday, his mother asked him if he would go
over to his Aunt Julia's shop to help her clean out her storeroom.
Seeing dollar signs, Ted was quick to say yes and, the next day, he
walked the three blocks to his aunt's antique shop, which was down
on the waterfront. "Hi, Aunt Julia," he said with a smile when he
arrived, "My mom said you could use some help in your store."

Aunt Julia responded, "Well, Theodore, I could use some help moving
things from my storeroom and out to the front door for a sidewalk
sale that's coming up. Are you feeling very strong?"

Even though Ted was not quite five feet tall and weighed only 110
pounds, he had always felt like he was strong for his size. "Sure,
Aunt Julia," he beamed proudly, "I can probably lift anything you've
got!"

Aunt Julia was a widow, having lost her husband, an Air Force pilot,
in Operation Desert Storm back in 1991. In 1994, she had bought the
antique shop so that she would always have something to occupy her
mind and her time in a productive way. She stood nearly 5'11" tall
(the tallest of her sisters) and, in the years since her husband
passed away, had managed to put on a few pounds due in part to her
inactive life style. She had always liked Ted and had sort of
adopted him as her favorite nephew. Now, here he was, prepared to
go to work for her to earn a few dollars.

Aunt Julia gave Ted a quick tour of the storeroom and told him which
items needed to be moved from the shelves and out to the area she
had cleared near the front of the store. Ted began his assignment
and worked quickly for the first several minutes until he ran into a
problem with a few antiques located on an upper shelf. Sensing he
needed a ladder, he called out to Aunt Julia, who was with a
customer in the store. In a minute, Aunt Julia appeared at the
entrance to the storeroom with the customer, Mrs. Johnson, "This is
Mrs. Johnson, Ted. What seems to be the problem?" his aunt asked.

"Well, you see those boxes up here (pointing to the top shelf in the
corner of the storeroom)?" he said, "I'm not quite tall enough to
reach them and your step stool is only a foot high. I couldn't find
a ladder, so can you see if you can reach them and pass them down to
me?"

Aunt Julia obliged Ted's request, climbing onto the step stool and
stating that her ladder had recently broken and she hadn't had time
to go and buy a new one. "Well, I can't seem to reach the boxes
either, Ted," Aunt Julia exclaimed after a few tries.

Just then, Mrs. Johnson tapped Ted on his shoulder and suggested to
him very quietly that he give his aunt a bit of a boost, “Give the old girl a boost, young man…she’ll love it!” At first, Ted thought the older lady had lost it, but seeing his aunt struggling and becoming somewhat frustrated by her predicament, he shrugged his shoulders and quietly walked over behind his aunt. "Auntie, let's try this," he said confidently.

In one quick effort, he placed head between her legs grabbing around her with his hands, he hoisted her straight up until he was standing. Of course, Aunt Julia was incredulous, "Ted, what do you think you're doing? Put me down this instant before you hurt yourself or me or both of us!" she demanded.

Mrs. Johnson then interrupted, "Well, Julia, as long as the boy has
you up there, you might as well grab the darned boxes you need."

There was a moment of silence and no one moved. Ted’s aunt was
perched on his right shoulder as she thought what she should do
about this predicament. It was one of those times Ted thought to
himself, "Uh oh, I could be in big trouble now." Instinctively, he blurted out, "O.k., I'm sorry, I'll put you down," and he started to back away from the shelving unit. By now though, his aunt had other
plans.

"Wait a minute, Ted - stop right there and don't you dare put me
down yet! I can't believe you can lift this 145 pound body of mine
like your doing, but this does solve our problem of how to reach the
boxes. Let me just see if I can grab this one here...”  Aunt Julia
sounded as if she was struggling a bit to grab hold of the box and
slide it toward her. “There! I've got it." she said quite
proudly. Ted then backed away from the shelving unit a couple of
feet and lowered himself until Aunt Julia could slide off his
shoulder and back onto the floor."

"Am I in trouble, Aunt Julia? I hope I didn't do anything wrong."
Ted asked inquisitively.

"Well, I'm not sure, Theodore. I guess I should tell your mother
what you did, but (now looking at Mrs. Johnson) I guess we can keep
this our little secret," Aunt Julia smiled, "But only if you can
help me to get all of the other boxes I need, too!"

"Sure, Aunt Julia, you weren't too heavy at all. Let me know what
boxes you want and I'll help you to get them." Ted said with a new
sense of confidence.

After Mrs. Johnson left, Aunt Julia and Ted worked for the next hour
with him hoisting her up on one or both shoulders so she could reach
the boxes she needed. He must have lifted her up at least ten or
eleven times when Aunt Julia said, "Ted, you MUST be getting tired
by now. Why don't we stop for the day?"

"Want to get back to work now?" he asked, hoping that his aunt was still going to let him lift her onto his shoulders to remove more boxes from the top shelf. When she smiled and nodded affirmatively, Ted and his Aunt Julia went on to moving more boxes and joking around about how strong he was and how light she was. After this one day, Ted was asked to work in his aunt's store many more times with each day presenting new opportunities for him to help her reach greater heights.

And she never did have to buy a new ladder.