Steven loved John Deere tractors. He had since he was a boy. So, when he bought a little tractor lawn sprinkler, it was only natural for him to paint it like the tractors he loved. He even went as far as to modify its mechanics so it rolled along like a real tractor. That took quite a bit of work and innovation. When he finished, he was pleased with his creation.
He showed his wife, Martha, and she praised his work. “It definitely looks and runs like a John Deere tractor.”
After all his work and modifications, John was finally ready to display it watering his lawn. He connected the hose and turned it on. The little sprinkler did a beautiful job and looked good.
For a few days, the sprinkler took its place prominently on the front lawn for all to see. But it wasn’t long before the unthinkable happened. When Steven and Martha came home from a shopping trip, the little tractor was gone.
Steven wondered if it might have gotten its wheels off the hose that held it in its path and then traveled away. But there was no such luck. When Steven checked on it, he not only found the sprinkler missing, but the hose had been cut through. Apparently, the person who had taken it had been in such a hurry they couldn’t even take the time to disconnect it from the hose.
Steven was disappointed to think that someone would have done such a thing. They lived in a small community where everyone knew each other, and that kind of thing didn’t happen. As hard as it was losing his sprinkler, the fact it was stolen was worse. He consoled himself by thinking it was probably someone from outside their community who had taken it. Still, he looked at every sprinkler on every lawn he passed to see if it might show up somewhere.
Even though Martha encouraged him to make another one, Steven never did. He had put a lot of work into it, and it was hard to imagine doing it all over. And what if that one was stolen as well?
Some years passed, and Steven decided to go out to some garage sales one Saturday morning. He especially loved to find something and see how much he could upcycle it. When he came home, Martha was surprised to see him carrying his John Deere sprinkler, still looking new.
He held it up and excitedly said, “Guess what I found?”
“Where did you get it?” she asked in surprise.
“I stopped in at Temerson’s garage sale, and it was on a table there,” he replied.
“Did you confront them about stealing it?” Martha asked.
Steven shook his head. “When I walked up to pay for it, I said, ‘This looks just like a sprinkler I had a few years ago that got stolen.’ I then talked about how I had repainted it to look like a John Deere tractor, just like this. I finished by saying, ‘The funny thing is, this one even has the mechanical alterations I made on mine.’ You never saw someone quiver so much.”
“Don’t you think you should talk to the police about it?” Martha asked.
Again, Steven shook his head. “First, we don’t know for sure he took it. He might have gotten it from someone else. Secondly, I think that whether or not he was the one who took it, the guilt he felt having it was sufficient.”
“Why do you think he felt guilty?” Martha asked.
“You should see my pickup,” Steven answered.
“What about your pickup?”
Steven grinned. “It is piled high with tons of great stuff Mr. Temerson gave me, and it was all free. You might call it the ultimate upcycle.”
“Upcycle?” Martha asked.
Steven nodded. “A sprinkler traded for tools, mowers, and other stuff, and then getting the sprinkler back to boot. That’s upcycle in the extreme.”
