It is said that: What goes around comes around. May
this short story open your eyes to one of the deep
reasons we are here on earth!!!

He almost didn’t see the 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 that chill 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.” 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 was 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. She asked
him 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 cash register was like the
telephone of an out-of-work actor — it didn’t ring
much.

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 and the waitress
went to get change for her hundred dollar bill, the
lady 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
under which were four $100 bills.

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.”

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 about 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.”
There is an old saying “What goes around comes
around.”

“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you
do not know what it will bring back: a new life, a
new friend, a new love, a new country.”