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."
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