Two weeks ago, Rick Mitchell broke his leg across the street from the South Street Market.
He did it again on Valentines Day, but in the classical showbiz sense: Mitchell, along with members of his barbershop quartet group D’Accord, a subgroup within the Concord Coachman Chorus, scootered into the convenience store to sing their praises for store co-owner Robyn Bashois.
Mitchell, 64, has lived across the street from the market for six years, said he loves the place because of its closeness and the friendliness of owners Robyn and Jim Bashois.
It was to them Mitchell turned when he slipped on ice on Thorndike Street around noon two Fridays ago, fracturing his leg in two places. “Right away, I knew it was broken,” he said.
He crawled across the street and pushed the door open.
Robyn Bashois said she knew something was up when she saw Mitchell outside near the corner, where he sometimes waits for rides, but didn’t see him come in or get picked up.
She didn’t see him when he first pushed open the door. “I thought it was a little kid,” she said, before she looked down and saw Mitchell on his hands and knees.
Bashois and a nearby Budweiser deliveryman sprang into action, helping Mitchell onto a stool so he could call 9-1-1. Customers went across the street and left a note for Mitchell’s wife, Andrea, to let her know he had gone to the emergency room.
“Anyone would have done what I did,” Bashois said. “It was a real community effort.”
Most Valentine’s Day serenades focus around love and devotion, and D’Accord was no different; they led with “Heart of My Heart,” an excerpt of a longer song, “Story of The Rose,” followed by “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”
Bashois said she had never been serenaded before.
The visit was a special one for D’Accord, who had a busy day Thursday delivering singing Valentine grams.
D’Accord member Walt Griffin said Mitchell, the baritone, was being a trooper, getting in and out of vans and into buildings to sing without complaint.
The group is made up of Mitchell, Griffin, Paul Parnass and Joe Hayden. They’ve been singing together for more than two decades.