I recently led a field trip with 57 Oxford Hills Middle School students. After finishing our fourth hike of the week (at Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary), we decided to treat the students to ice cream as a reward. It seemed wise to alert the business — Fielder’s Choice on Minot Avenue.

The young lady who answered the call said she was alone but, “come on over, we’ll take care of you!” Isn’t that amazing? One person serving 57 hungry middle schoolers?

When we arrived, the business evidently had been able to call in reinforcements, so four happy smiling people were taking orders for my group.

We intended to keep this cheap — chocolate/vanilla baby cones. That wasn’t happening. Our kids were getting big cones and whatever flavor they wanted. Then it was discovered that we needed cash to pay, yet we had none. The manager surprised us by saying to mail a check for the full amount later. I felt that we needed to pay right then, so I took some money from the ATM. When I asked for the bill, it was more than I had taken out. The bill was suddenly changed to the amount I had in my hand.

When all was said and done, 57 happy kids were on our bus.

I felt like I had gone back in time to when a smile and a promise were good business. Who does that anymore? Well, Fielder’s Choice on Minot Avenue did.

P.S. I had coffee Oreo in a dish. It was awesome.

Mike Lance, South Paris