BLESSED KARMA

About two years after I helped the old lady in the cold, I drove to a friend's house on the east side of town. I never really drove much to that side of the city. I spent that Friday night at my friend's house, talking and watching TV. I left around 1:30 A.M. that cold, snowy night. I was tired and just wanted to get home and go to sleep in my warm bed.

As I drove on the freeway with the heater on and listening to music on the radio, about halfway back home, I noticed that I was getting a flat tire. I pulled over to the shoulder of the freeway that was next to Lake Erie. It was now snowing mixed with rain and very cold. I knew that I needed to get the jack and spare tire out of the trunk, loosen the five lug nuts, jack up the car, remove the flat and replace it with the spare tire and be on my way home. It should be pretty easy, but I knew I would freeze since I only wore a thin jacket.

I had the heater in the car on full blast until I got out to change the tire, then I turned the car off. Everything went smooth. Jack and tire out of the vehicle started loosening lug nuts. One through four went quickly. One more to go and changing the tire would be easy after that. Luck was not on my side on the fifth lug nut, and it would not budge, I tried with all my strength, and nothing, it would not loosen.

My first thought was, how will I get out of this mess, by this time I was so cold I was shivering. I couldn't call anybody, and I was far from a gas station. Maybe I could hitchhike to one. It was now snowing, and cold the wind made it even feel colder. I stood at the edge of the freeway with my thumb out, but no one would stop, after fifteen minutes, I remember saying, "Oh God, please help me get home."

Within five minutes a car pulled over, I was scared not knowing who was inside that car. There were two people in the car, a man and a woman, and the man said, "Do you need a ride." I said, "Yes, I do." I could feel the warm air coming from the car. The man said, "Get in." and the lady just smiled. I locked my car and got in the back seat of their car. They said they were coming back from a concert, and asked where I lived, I explained what happened and told them where I lived. The lady said, "We can drive you home." I was shocked by their kindness.

Finally, we arrived at my home. I told them to wait for me, and I will give them some gas money for their troubles. I ran into the house and went into my room, grabbed a crisp twenty-dollar bill. I then ran back outside, but I stopped dead in my tracks, the snow was coming down fast now. I could see the snow falling against the light of the streetlight, but they were gone, those kind people were gone. The snow covered their tire tracks and made it look like they were never there. I felt a peacefulness and so grateful to be home.

The old lady I helped in the cold two years earlier, this, I believe, was my reward for helping her from the cold. I always felt that the old lady was an angel sent by god to test my heart to see if I would help her, a total stranger, from the cold weather, and it made me think that she was the old lady now appearing as a younger lady that sat in the front seat of the car with a fellow angel driving me home.