I...
I arrived at the address
and honked the horn.
After waiting a few minutes I walked to the door and knocked.
After waiting a few minutes I walked to the door and knocked.
'Just a minute',
answered a frail, elderly
voice.
I could hear something being dragged across the floor..
I could hear something being dragged across the floor..
After a long pause, the door opened.
A small woman in her
90's stood before me.
She was wearing a
print dress and a pillbox hat
with a veil pinned on
it, like somebody out of a
1940's movie.
By her side was a small
nylon suitcase. The
apartment looked as if
no one had lived in it for
years. All the furniture
was covered with sheets.
There were no clocks on
the walls, no knickknacks
or utensils on the
counters.
In the corner was a
cardboard box filled with
photos and glassware.
'Would you carry my bag
out to the car?' she
said. I took the suitcase to the
cab, then returned to
assist the woman.
She took my arm and we
walked slowly toward the
curb.
She kept thanking me for my kindness.
'It's nothing', I
told her.. 'I just try to treat
my passengers the way I
would want my mother to
be treated.'
'Oh, you're such a good
boy, she said. When we
got in the cab, she gave me an
address and then asked,
'Could you drive through
downtown?'
'It's not the shortest
way,' I answered quickly..
'Oh, I don't mind,' she
said. 'I'm in no hurry.
I'm on my way to a hospice.
I looked in the rear-view mirror.
Her eyes were
glistening. 'I don't have any
family left,' she
continued in a soft voice.. 'The
doctor says I don't have
very long.'
I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.
'What route would you
like me to take?' I asked.
For the next two hours,
we drove through the
city. She showed me the building
where she had once
worked as an elevator operator.
We drove through the
neighborhood where she and
her husband had lived when
they were newlyweds
She had me pull up in front of a
furniture warehouse
that had once been a ballroom
where she
had gone.
Sometimes she'd ask me
to slow in front of a
particular building or corner and
would sit staring into
the darkness, saying
nothing.
As the first hint of sun
was creasing the horizon,
she suddenly said,
'I'm tired. Let's go now'.
We drove in silence to
the address she had given
me.
It was a low building,
like a small convalescent
home, with a driveway that passed
under a portico.
Two orderlies
came out to the cab as soon as we
pulled up.
They were solicitous
and intent, watching her
every move.
They must have been expecting her.
I opened the trunk and
took the small suitcase to
the door.
The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.
'How much do I owe you?'
She asked, reaching into
her purse.
'Nothing,' I said
'You have to make a living,' she answered.
'There are other
passengers,' I responded.
'You gave an old woman a
little moment of joy,'
she said.
'Thank you.'
I said good-bye, and then
walked into the dim
morning light.. Behind me, a
door shut. It was the
sound of the closing of a
life...
I didn't pick up any
more passengers that shift.
I drove aimlessly
lost in thought.
For the rest of that day,
I could hardly talk.
What if that woman had gotten an
angry driver, or
one who was impatient to end his
shift?
What if I had refused
to take the run, or had
honked once, then driven away?
On a quick review, I
don't think that I have done
anything more
important in my life.
We're conditioned
to think that our lives
revolve around great
moments.
But great moments
often catch us
unaware-beautifully wrapped in
what others may consider a small
one.
PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER
EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR
WHAT YOU SAID ~BUT~THEY WILL
ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.
You won't get any big
surprise in 10 days if you
send this to ten people. But, you
might help make the
world a little kinder and
more compassionate
by sending it on and reminding us
that often it is the
random acts of kindness
that most benefit all of us.
"Many people walk in and
out of your life, but
only love will leave footprints
in your heart....."