What goes around comes around

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 wa
s 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