He was driving home one evening, on a two-lane country road.
Work,
in
this
small mid-western community, was almost as slow as his beat-up
Pontiac.
But
he never quit looking.
Ever since the factory closed, he'd been
unemployed,
and with winter raging on, the chill had finally hit home.
It was a lonely road.
Not very many people had a reason to be on
it,
unless
they were leaving.
Most of his friends had already left.
They
had
families
to feed and dreams to fulfill.
But he stayed on.
After all,
this was
where
he buried his mother and father.
He was born here and knew the
country.
He could go down this road blind, and tell you what was on either
side, and with his headlights not working, that came in handy.
It was starting to get dark and light snow flurries were coming
down.
He'd better get a move on.
You know, he almost didn't see the 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
that
chill that 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 Joe."
Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad
enough.
Joe 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 her 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.
Joe just smiled as he closed her
trunk.
She asked him how much she owed him.
Any amount would have been
alright
with her.
She had already imagined all the awful things that could
have
happened had he not stopped.
Joe never thought twice about the
money.
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 that they needed, and Joe 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 cash register was like the telephone of an out of work actor-it
didn't ring much.
Her 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 that 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 Joe.
After the lady finished her meal, and the waitress went to get her
change
from a hundred dollar bill, the lady slipped right out the door.
She
was
gone by the time the waitress came back.
She wondered where the
lady
could
be, then she noticed something written on a napkin.
There were
tears
in
her
eyes, when she read what the lady wrote.
It said, "You don't owe me a thing, I've been there too.
Someone
once
helped me out, the way I'm helping you.
If you really want to pay
me
back,
here's what you do.
Don't let the chain of love end with you."
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 she 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
gonna be
alright; I love you, Joe."