......."A Winter Story To
Warm Your Heart"
...Once again, thanks to my friend Pat Curry
for this wonderful story.
Be sure and read the amazing
ending!
He was driving home one evening, on a
two-lane country road.
Work in this small Midwestern 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. He was
born here and he knew the country.He could
go down this road blind,
and tell you what was on either side, and
with his lights not working, this
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 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 Brian."
Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for
an old lady, that was
bad enough. Brian 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. Brian
just smiled as he closed her trunk.
She asked him how much she owed him. Any
amount would have been
all right with her. She had already
imagined all the awful things
that could have happened had he not
stopped. Brian 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
Brian 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
for 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 Brian.
After the lady finished her meal, and the
waitress went to get change for
her 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 the napkin
under which was 4 $100 bills.
There were tears in her eyes when
she read what the lady wrote. It
said: "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."
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 gonna be all right...I
love you, Brian."
We are never prepared for what we
expect.
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