My column two weeks ago on synchronicity sparked some curiosity about the subject. A fair number of readers e-mailed me, or engaged me in conversation on the street. It seems their appetite was whetted about the subject, so today I thought you may enjoy hearing of these examples which came to my notice through books I have read down through the years (a blatant co-opting of Rusty D'Arconte's "If I Couldn't Read").

The appearance of a particular person at a propitious time forms the basis for some extraordinary examples of synchronicity. Back in the 1930s, a captain in the El Paso, Texas, County Highway Patrol by the name of Allen Falby was involved in an accident with his cruiser. He found himself alone in a remote area with a ruptured artery in his leg, which would result in his death within minutes if left untreated.

By mere chance a motorist named Fred Smith soon came along, and Smith quickly appraised the situation and applied a tourniquet to Capt. Falby's leg. Due to Smith's actions, Falby recovered and resumed his duties a few months later.

Five years later, Falby received a radio call to respond to a serious accident, in which a driver had hit a tree and was pinned in the wreckage. Falby was first to respond. Working with the light of his flashlight, he hastily applied a tourniquet to the ruptured artery in the victim's leg, and then initiated efforts to extricate the driver. Upon freeing him, Falby looked into his face for the first time to see it was Fred Smith.

Early in the '70s, the actor Anthony Hopkins contracted to appear in the film version of the book "The Girl From Petrovka," by George Feifer. To prepare for the role, Hopkins searched the bookshops of London for a copy of Feifer's book, but failed to find one. While seated on a bench in a train station, Hopkins noticed a book left beside him without a soul about to claim ownership. It was "The Girl From Petrovka." The movie was finally being filmed two years later in Vienna, and one day George Feifer visited the set. Talking with Hopkins about the story, Feifer sheepishly related that he no longer had a copy of his own book. The copy Feifer owned had been loaned to a friend and subsequently lost. Hopkins removed the book he had found from his pocket and asked, "Is it this one with the notes scribbled in the margins?" Feifer's book had found its way home.

Finally, one of my personal favorites concerns the author Richard Bach, who wrote "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," among other works. Bach is an avid aviator and among his possessions is a 1929 Detroit-Parks P-2A speedster, extremely rare since only eight were ever built.

While piloting it across America, Bach allowed a fellow pilot to "take it for a spin" over Palmyra, a small Wisconsin town, and the plane was subsequently damaged in a poor landing.The two pushed the plane a short way to a spot beside an old hangar, where Bach made an inspection. He found everything fixable except for a wing strut, which unfortunately was absolutely crucial to the plane's operation. Since only seven other wing struts were produced back in 1929, Bach's dilemma seemed hopeless.

Then a fellow in coveralls walked out of the hangar and asked Bach's problem. When Bach told the story, the man just pointed to a pile of parts behind the hangar and told him to help himself if he could use anything. Right on top of the pile was the wing strut.

In Bach's own words: "The odds against breaking the biplane in a small town which just happened to be home to the one man with the 40-year old part needed to fix it; the odds that the man would be there and approach me at the time of the event; the odds of pushing the plane right up to the hangar within ten feet of the needed wing strut-well, the odds were so high, that coincidence was just a foolish answer."

So there you have three examples of synchronicity. I suppose that skilled mathematicians can explain such things with a lengthy equation, but that's just too cold and devoid of mystery for me...

An angel passes

Expressions of sympathy go out to a couple of my old classmates, Norman "Scotty" Morse and Donna (Aviero) Morse Clements, upon the loss of their daughter Kathy, one of our Lord's special angels. May she know eternal peace.

Please be good to one another out there, and try to do a neighbor a kindness daily.

THOMAS McAVOY of Attleboro is a community columnist. His commentary is scheduled to appear every other Tuesday, but was inadvertently delayed this week.