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 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. 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."