This has been a crummy day. It's cold. It's raining. The walls are closing in on me. I decided to go to the store and get some soda since I was out of it. Every nut-case driver in Salem - and there are many - was on the road. My mind was wandering all over the place when I had a flash of memory from well over 20 years ago.
I was driving home from work on the freeway in Beaverton. At the time we had two cars, a Mercury Zephyr and a big Chevy van. This particular time I was driving the van. Traffic was horrible. I saw ahead a car stopped along the road. There were 6 small children all about the same age and a frazzled looking mother standing outside the car. I decided to stop. It turned out that the son of the woman was having his fifth birthday and these were his friends. They were on their way to a popular birthday place when her car died. I must have looked honest, or else she was beyond frazzled because she bundled all the children into my van. She had a relative who lived nearby and I took them there and then went on my way home.
The next day I was driving the Mercury home and I noticed what appeared to be the same car, in the same spot. This time there was a man in it and the car was clearly idling. I remember thinking "what are the odds..." but I continued on home. I drove the Mercury for several more days. Towards the end of the week I decided to take the van again. As I climbed up into the driver's seat, something on the floor in the back caught my attention. I was thinking "what in the world?" when I remembered my rescue mission a few days before. The woman, in her frazzled state had left her purse in my van! I quickly picked it up and began to search for some I.D. so I could call her and tell her I found it. When I opened the purse I saw an open eve lope filled with some cash and a large pile of checks. All the checks were made out to the same place of business so I realized this was the days receipts for them and she must have been planning to make a (large) deposit. Yikes!
I found a phone number and called her. When I identified myself she told me "Oh, I just KNEW you'd call! Anyone who would pick up six kids HAD to be a good person! I was never worried a bit..." It turned out the car I saw idling along the road the day after the rescue was her husband, hoping to spot the red and silver van. She said he was sure the money was gone forever. I returned her purse to the relatives house where I had left the children a few days before. I also left my name and address on a card in it. I wanted to assure her husband I was on the up-and-up, also if anything turned up 'missing' they would have a name to go along with my face and van.
A few days later I received a huge floral arrangement as a thank you. It was unnecessary, but a very nice gesture anyway.
As I thought about this old memory, I felt good about the way it all turned out. I never saw the people again, but I knew I had done all I could in that situation. As I drove along the present-day road in Salem, I smiled. Then some jerk zipped around me and cut me off. I offered a gesture for his inspection. That was all I could do today, too.
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