A Low Gas Meter

I pulled up to the gas station, with my wife in the passenger seat. We were just trying to get home after a long trip in our crowded van. As we pull up, I can't remember who said it, but one of us came upon the horrible realization that our funds were practically empty. We were about 2o miles away from home, and with our low funds, we probably wouldn't make it home.

I really didn't want to start asking, but we were desperate, in a small town and not getting paid for a few days, we started asking. Family and friends were unavailable or didn't have the funds to help us out.

That prompted me to ask other patrons for gas. We asked numerous people all to no avail. I think our van was off putting to some people, it wasn't a brand-new van nor was it the most beautiful looking, but it ran well and took care of us.

My wife then said to me. " Just ask for like 25 bucks, that should get us home, then we can just wait for our paychecks to come through and find a way to pay the person back."

I nodded. She was right, we didn't need much, just enough to get home. We could manage from there. Then I spotted a young couple coming out of a Suv near the store front instead of the pumps and I was going to try my new approach on them.

" Excuse me." I asked nervously towards the couple. At this the male of the couple turned towards me. " I was wondering if you had like 25 bucks on you? Me and my wife are just trying to get home, and we don't get paid for a few days."

The man turned towards his significant other, and I thought to myself. " He's going to say no. Crap." And he said. " I don't have cash on me." and my head dropped, not seeing her response, but could also hear a " No" about her having cash too. I should have guessed. People rarely carry cash, it's more convenient to carry credit or debit cards on their person.

But then the man said. " What pump are you at?" I looked up and pointed to my van, and the man said. " I can pay using my card. Mind if I walk over with you?"

My heart and my mood soared as he said those words. I thanked him profusely and lead him over to the pump. As he put his card in and got the pump starting, he asked where we were from. As I answered him where we lived, he nodded his head. " I live south of here but make my way up north quite frequently." looking towards the store as he said this.

I looked at the pump and saw it was getting close to 25 dollars. " That should get us home. Thank you-"

I didn't even get to finish my sentence as the man responded simply. " Fill up the van. Don't stop at 25 dollars, stop when the tank is full."

My mouth dropped to the ground. This man didn't just fill it up to 25 dollars but wanted to fill it up completely. I thanked him again several more times, but the man simply smiled and said it was no big deal.

When the pump finished filling, the man asked us " Do you guys want anything from inside?" We both politely said no, and wished him a good night. He wished us the same and made his way back to his Suv, meeting back up with his partner as we left the gas station, making our way back home.