One day a man saw an
old lady, stranded on the
side of the road, but
even in the dim light of
day, he could see she
needed help. So he
pulled up in front of her
Mercedes and got out.
His Pontiac was still
sputtering when he
approached her.
Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No
one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he
going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe; he looked poor
and hungry. He could see that she was frightened,
standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It
was those chills which only fear can put in you. He said,
“I’m here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t you wait in the
car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Bryan
Anderson.”
Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that
was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking
for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time
or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had
to get dirty and his hands hurt.
As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down
the window and began to talk to him. She told him that
she was from St. Louis and was only just passing
through. She couldn’t thank him enough for coming to
her aid.
Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady
asked how much she owed him. Any amount would
have been all right with her. She already imagined all
the awful things that could have happened had he not
stopped. Bryan never thought twice about being paid.
This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in
need, and God knows there were plenty, who had given
him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that
way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.
He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back,
the next time she saw someone who needed help, she
could give that person the assistance they needed, and
Bryan added, “And think of me.”
He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had
been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he
headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.
A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe.
She went in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off
before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a
dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas
pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The
waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe
her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even
being on her feet for the whole day couldn’t erase. The
lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months
pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change
her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who
had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she
remembered Bryan.
After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a
hundred dollar bill. The waitress quickly went to get
change for her hundred dollar bill, but the old lady had
slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the
waitress came back. The waitress wondered where the
lady could be. Then she noticed something written on
the napkin.
There were tears in her eyes when she read what the
lady wrote: “You don’t owe me anything. I have been
there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I’m
helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is
what you do, do not let this chain of love end with you.”
Under the napkin were four more $100 bills.
Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and
people to serve, but the waitress made it through
another day. That night when she got home from work
and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the
money and what the lady had written. How could the
lady have known how much she and her husband
needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going
to be hard… She knew how worried her husband was,
and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft
kiss and whispered soft and low, “Everything’s going to
be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson.”
There is an old saying “What goes around comes
around.”
