Faith in humanity and changing a tire

This is my new friend, Joyce. I met her this evening. As I was pulling out of the Greenbelt Library parking lot, I saw Joyce pulling out. More importantly, I heard Joyce pulling out. Her tire was making the telltale “wub wub wub” sound of being completely flat.

“Ma’am,” I called out. “I think your tire is flat.”

This started us on an odyssey of getting her tire fixed. First, we tried to inflate it with my portable electric tire pump. When we both felt the air gushing out of the hole, we stopped. 

Next, a wonderful man named Ted came by with his son, Jumani, and offered to look for a plug kit he might have in his car. While he was looking, Joyce and I confabbed about what to do. Finally, I decided to head over to Greenbelt auto and truck repair and see if they had a plug kit or were able to help in some other way.I walked in and they took one look at my wet and forlorn appearance for and took pity on me. Oh, did I mention it was raining and thundering? 

“I’ll meet you there,” the second savior said. I returned to Joyce and her car to find that Ted had already begun to remove the tire. He undid the lug nuts, which we had been unable to do, and was in the process of replacing the tire. The savior from Greenbelt auto and truck repair showed up with an electric lug nut wrench. Together, the two of them had the tire changed in a jiffy. 

I wanted to thank these gents for taking the time and trouble and first I offered the guy from the truck repair place a little something for his trouble. He declined and said, “why don’t you to take care of the other guy?” What a doll!

And then I offered Ted a little something for his trouble. He also declined and said, “why don’t you give it to my son?”

So, I did.

And then Ted said something that made me cry. “It was good for us to do something good today, “he said. “It was good for my son to do something good today.” How fabulous is that!

“Would you like to come with me to an ATM so I can pay you back?” Joyce asked me.

“No,” I said. “This one’s on me.” If those two gentlemen could take time out of their day to help this lady, the least I could do was shell out $20.

Faith in humanity restored.