Clark: Auction has makings of holiday tale

Have you ever noticed how all of our happiest holiday tales contain a dump load of despair?

Take Ralphie’s quest for a Red Ryder rifle in “A Christmas Story.”

Would we really care so much about him getting the fool thing if he hadn’t traversed the emotional dark side of doom during the journey? (Historical footnote: One of my childhood friends really did shoot his eye out with a BB gun.)

Ditto George Bailey’s transformation in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Come on. Dude was going to jump off a bridge, for crying out loud.

And how about my effort to auction bicycles on behalf of The Spokesman-Review’s Christmas Fund?

I’m telling ya. There were a couple of days last week when I felt like pulling out my hair. Only the lack of something to grab onto stopped me.

No bids had come in. Any way you slice that fruitcake, no bidding makes for one lousy auction.

It was especially worrisome considering that we kicked off the auction last Sunday in a big way: a column accompanied by a beautiful Dan Pelle photo.

If you didn’t catch it, the good-hearted owners of Spokane’s Two Wheel Transit donated two 21-speed Trek youth bikes for our Christmas Fund. They did the same thing last year, raising $2,002 for the fund.

But this bike bid redux smelled like a bust.

Then, like a classic Christmas yarn, something magical happened.

A few bids started slowly rolling in. A hundred bucks at first, then $200 … $500 … $650 … $800 …

On Friday afternoon – about an hour or so away from the auction’s 5 p.m. cutoff – I received an e-mailed bid that put the star atop the tree.

$2,010 for 2010.

Adam and Michele Jessup, the winners of last year’s auction, have struck again.

“It’s just kind of a thing now to do,” said Adam, trying to downplay their generosity during a phone call Friday night.

What a class thing to do. In this poor economy, the Christmas Fund – which distributes toys, food vouchers and books to the needy – is more important than ever.

Adam, 36, farms about 2,600 acres of wheat in the area. Michele, 37, is a dentist with a Spokane Valley practice.

They have two little boys, and a baby (a girl) is due in February.

Why’d they do it?

Simple. Both he and Michele, Adam told me, had been brought up to give.

“We both feel really blessed,” he said.

So does Geoff Forshag, who runs Two Wheel Transit, 1405 W. First Ave., with Bruce Abbotts.

“It’s very cool,” said Forshag (pronounced for-shay). “We are just awed by the generosity of the Spokane community.”

Adam said he plans to arrange a time next week so that Michele can come with him to deliver the check and receive the bikes.

Hearing about the auction, Forshag said that officials at Trek donated two small child bikes that will be given to the Jessups, too.

So it’s a happy ending.

Thanks to everybody who participated. Every now and then it really can be a wonderful life.