This incident brings to mind something similar that happened many years ago. Back in the early seventies, a dear friend of mine (Gaylord) worked with me in law enforcement. At the time, he was assigned the job of tearing down and cleaning riot guns in the armory (said shotguns included Rem. 870s as well as some Win. 97 "left-overs"). While engaged in this task, at some point in time, Gaylord's fiance bought him his lunch to the armory, where they broke for lunch and ate together.
Years later (sometime in the early nineties), long after they were married, while Gaylord was working in his new capacity as Captain of the jail, a rookie was doing shotgun maintenance in the armory and discovered a note inside the butt plate of one of the 97's. The note read: " I love Gaylord". Although, initially, Gaylord was embarrassed over the revelation of this unique Valentine, apparently meant to be kept hidden for eternity (after all, who removes butt plates of guns during the cleaning process, especially on two separate occasions ?), I've always marveled at the extreme coincidence of happening and it became the source of much discourse in the years that followed.
Gaylord and I shared many a campfire in our time together but I lost my beloved hunting and fishing companion a couple of years ago after a long and valiant battle with kidney disease. As hard as it may be to believe, the story is a true one and , in the context of the current topic, I thought the members of THR might be interested in hearing it.
