Uncle Hank and the Great Vegetable Cover-up

The Mailman comes complete with his own cast of characters from the post office and his mail route. As a writer, this is good for me, especially since truth is stranger than fiction and most of them are better than anything I could ever make up.
Perhaps his dearest friend from work is Uncle Hank. Of course that's not his real name and he isn't even related to us, but whenever he sends cast off toys and treasures home to the kids, that's who we say they came from. A Toy Story book for the boys, outgrown Hello Kitty toys and clothes for Miss P, articles and recipes for The Mailman and me. Sometimes it is phone messages alerting us to great deals on Amazon or Woot!; Uncle Hank is the master of The Deal. It is this endearing aspect of his character that brings us to today's subject.
Two of the highlights of my day are when The Mailman calls me; once in the morning before he leaves "for the road" to deliver the mail, and once in the afternoon when he's done and on his way home. Since he gets home at different times depending on the day's mail volume, this ritual helps me plan my day. On Wednesday afternoon, amid the normal conversation he threw in "Oh, we have a juicer now." I didn't need to hear that it was from Uncle Hank, I knew that already. I knew that meant there was a story behind it and decided it was probably longer than I wanted to get on a cell phone and waited the hour till he got home to be enlightened.
Turns out, Uncle Hank spent his 4th of July holiday cleaning out the basement so he could get a new furnace. That is another story in itself, but it was during this that he ran across the juice machine and all the bad memories associated with it. It had been purchased at a yard sale, sealed and seemingly new. This is how it was sold by he and his wife on ebay, only to have the buyer discover it was not new and send it back. Our task is simply to make sure he never sees it again. We can handle that.
Well, the kids have loved it! Son #2, who never met a vegetable he didn't detest, will happily drink carrots and celery that have been turned into juice. Maybe he likes seeing the machine destroy them, I don't know. I don't care, either. I know drinking vegetables is not the same as eating them, and I will continue to do nightly battles with him to eat the tablespoon or two of veggies he is served with dinner. But still, I can't help feeling somewhat victorious when he asks me things like "Do you think we could put broccoli in there?" or "Can we get some beets to put in the juicer?". Even more than that, though, I feel grateful once again to have someone like Uncle Hank in our lives.