[Rhodes22-list] Good Samaritan

[brad haslett]

Just when I had all but given up on humanity, some one
comes along and performs a good deed!

We just got home from a six-hour drive from Southern
Illinois to attend my favorite niece's weeding.  The
groom's family was from Chicago, and while well
travelled, they had never been that far downstate in
Illinois.  Three brothers and a sister had sampled a
few local watering holes the night before and wanted
to visit an authentic honky-tonk.  It would be
impossible to pick better tour guides than my brother,
best-friend Ken, and myself.  We took them to the
Redwood Inn, a sleazy dive even by our not-so-picky
standards.  I told the guests on the front-end that
may be brave souls in Chicago, but this was a place
where you could really get hurt.  Even growing up
there I don't remember ever seeing such a motley
collection of misfits.  I'm not quite sure what most
of these people did for gainful employment unless you
consider drug-dealing a legitimate career field. 
Anyway, it only re-affirmed I made the right choice by
leaving the area thirty years ago.

On the trip home today we stopped in Charleston, MO
(in the bootheel) for fuel.  Fan was driving my car
and I was driving our van, which my best friend had
been using for the last few weeks.  Fan put Cora in
the backseat, put the keys on the center console, then
walked around to the drivers side door, only to find
it LOCKED!  We're not quite sure how that happened but
every year in Memphis the local day-care centers
manage to cook about three kids.  The outside temp was
95 so it didn't take an MD degree to see where this
would go.  Not being familiar with the area, I figured
it would be quicker to call 911 than deal with the
counter people so I called.  I asked the lady to get
me a locksmith or better, a body shop with the tools
to unlock the door.  I made the decision to give them
five to ten minutes to show and then I'd break a
window out.  About three minutes later a body shop
truck pulled up, a young guy got out, opened the door
in about ten seconds and got back in his truck.  I had
to silence the alarm, re-set the engine disable mode,
and get the air-con running, while Fan calmed Cora
down.  I turned around to settle up with the body-shop
guy and discovered he was gone.  He just got in his
truck without saying a word and drove off.  I asked
the fuel counter for the name of the company and if
they knew the driver.  They only knew his first name. 
Tonight I found their address on the net and tomorrow
I'm sending this kid a check.

There are still some honorable people left in the
world.  We stumbled across one today.

Brad




		
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