Allen Bishop was at the checkout lane at Family Thrift Center in Baken Park, chatting with the woman behind him in line.

After the clerk scanned his groceries, he realized he was short of money, so he left a few items at the checkout and stopped at another counter to pick up his stamps.

After a few moments, the woman approached Bishop with a bag of groceries and said, "These are yours, sir."

And she handed him the items he had left behind.

"Nobody's ever done that for me. Right there in the store, I just started crying," he said, vowing to repay the favor with a kindness to someone else. "The goodwill is catching on here."

He may be right.

Across the street at Safeway a few weeks earlier, I was in line, vaguely thinking about supper and other errands I had to run, not really paying attention to anyone around me.

The man in line in front of me turned to ask if I liked pink.

"Sure," I said.

With a smile, he handed me a pink carnation, then moved quickly out of sight.

That's the second time that's happened to me in six months (from the same flower benefactor), and it made an impression: Weeks later, I'm still thinking about it. That the kindness was done anonymously makes it even more special.

Brian Dreyer, a South Dakota National Guardsman, called to tell us about another outbreak of kindness. It seems a well-dressed, older gentleman frequents area restaurants, and when he sees anyone in uniform, he pays for their meals.

"He's just the nicest guy," Dreyer said. "He's there in random places, random times."

He's been at the westside Pizza Hut, the Millstone, area truck stops and Ellsworth Air Force Base. He will sit with those in uniform and tell them to send their friends over to the restaurant, but he won't accept a meal himself.

"He always pats his stomach and says he's watching his waistline," Dreyer said. "You almost feel guilty; you just know that he won't let you pay for it. When he goes out, he must buy 30 meals."

The man told them that some people might like to buy an RV and travel, but this was what he wanted to do with his retirement.

Dreyer, who just resigned as a District 32 representative in the South Dakota Legislature because he will be deploying to Afghanistan, acknowledges that it's nice to be thanked for his service to the country.

In fact, he got another thank you last weekend, when he stopped at a Sioux Falls restaurant while dressed in uniform. When he went to pay his bill, he was told that the manager had taken care of it.

We all have our tales of the driver who cut us off or the cranky sales clerk. But how encouraging to hear the stories of random, anonymous kindness in our community.

Surely there are more.

Have you been the "victim" of one? Tell us about it; contact Deanna Darr at 394-8416 or deanna.darr@rapidcityjournal.com