Copyright 2011 by madengineer3
I was entering my least favorite time of the year; Thanksgiving and Christmas. In years past I loved those holidays, especially Thanksgiving. However, I lost my family a year ago. It wasn't disease that took them, it was a drunk driver.
The driver was a snotty nosed city kid driving the fast sports car his parents had given him. He was on his way home for Thanksgiving break and had enjoyed the frat party a bit too much. But, he was a liberal arts major and thought he had all the answers. He had a blood alcohol level of just over three times the legal limit. At the scene, he kept swearing about the "stupid bitch" in the other car. It was my wife he was speaking of. I had been driving my car ahead of her's. We needed to drop my car off at the dealer's shop to have new tires put on it. It was only the rapid response of the police and my shock that kept me from killing the kid right there. He had killed my wife, son, and daughter. My son, our oldest child, would have graduated from high school in another seven months.
By the time I got turned around and back to the scene, the emergency crew had shown up. They did their best but sometimes your best is not enough.
Anyway, a year had now passed and I was living alone. The kid's insurance company paid me a sum in the seven figure range. They would have probably lost more than that in court. The kid, because he had a rich, politically connected father, got off with a slap on the wrist. He spent six months in a minimum level detention center. (You couldn't call it a prison since there were no fences and you could have as many luxuries as you wanted and could afford.)
Being alone and depressed is a bad combination. I didn't have the will to do much of anything. I wasn't up to cooking and didn't want to eat a Thanksgiving meal alone, so I went over to the Quick Service Truck Stop. Their food is good and their prices are fair.
Anyway, I decided that having my meal around other people who were also alone for Thanksgiving would be a good idea. I was glad that I didn't have to drive far because the snow was really coming down and there were warnings out for a real blizzard. I figured I had time to get there, eat, and get home again before I was snowed in.
I parked my suv in the parking lot and started to go in to eat my meal. As I was about to enter the restaurant I saw what looked like a middle aged woman with a sign asking for money for food.
I have no idea why, but I stopped and asked her when she had eaten her last meal. Her response was that it had been about thirty-six hours. With her all bundled up I couldn't make out much about her looks.
Without even thinking about it I found myself saying "Come on in and join me for a meal. I will pay for whatever meal you want to order. I could use the company."
The woman looked startled, but was very obviously glad for the offer. We entered the restaurant and the truck stop's supervisor came over and started talking to her.
"Get out, if you aren't going to spend some money here ....." I interrupted; "she's with me and I'm a paying customer. Is there a problem with that?"
He indicated that it was fine.
We sat in one of the booths and I ordered us coffee to drink while we looked over the menu.
Mary introduced herself.
So, Mary, what do you want for Thanksgiving dinner?"
"I don't even know your name, but thank you for offering to get me some food. I'll take whatever you are ordering. The old saying "beggars can't be choosers" is very true.
"I should have introduced myself; my name is George. I think I'm going to go with the traditional turkey dinner. Don't consider yourself a beggar, pick a meal that you would like."
"Thank you George, the turkey sounds very good."
We waited for our food but didn't talk a lot. Once we were about half way through the meal I asked a question that had been bothering me.
"I don't really want to pry, but what has caused you to be without food for so long?"
Mary had a very sad look on her face. "I lost my job. The economy is tough right now and the lack of income meant that I couldn't afford the rent on my apartment. I didn't have any real friends in the part of the country where I had been living and decided to try to hitch a ride South. I've made it this far and seem to have run out of luck. Having a face as messed up as mine keeps people from wanting to get near me."
We were most of the way through our dinner when the manager of the truck stop got on the public address system. "We have been informed that the state police are going to shut down the interstate in the next half hour. The Sheriff's office is going to be shutting down the county roads as well. Please finish up eating and try to get to home or someplace to ride out the storm. We're going to shut down in twenty minutes to allow our workers to get home."
Suddenly Mary's face showed tears and serious panic.
"Oh Lord, what am I going to do. They don't want me in here and I have no place of shelter."
"Mary, you don't know me and have no reason to know that I am harmless. However, I will offer you a place to ride out the storm. There will be no strings attached."
"You'd do that?"
"Yes, let's finish up our meal and I'll take you to my place. It's only about fifteen miles from here. I must apologize ahead of time, my housekeeping is not very good."
***********************************
It was an hour later that we arrived at my place. As I drove into the yard the garage door opened and the lights went on in the garage and the kitchen.
"It looks like someone is expecting you, George."
"Oh, you mean because the lights came on. That's Gandolf, my computer, it monitors for a signal from the car and turns on the lights. The only living beings in the house are my two cats, Frodo and Sam."
We pulled into the garage, I shut the garage door and led Mary into the kitchen. Both of my brave cats hid until they became acquainted with this new stranger, Mary.
As I shut the kitchen door I got out of my jacket and helped her out of her coat.
"How long had you been standing in the cold, when I came along?"
"About six hours."
"O.K. then, let me make a suggestion. First I will show you the guest room. It has a small attached bathroom and there are good locks on the bathroom door as well as the guest room door. You look to be about the same size as my wife was so there should be a robe, night-gown, and slippers, that will fit you, in the guest room closet. Take a nice hot soak in the tub. If you just want to go to sleep afterwards just stay in your room for the night. If you want to come out and talk that's also fine. Either tonight, or in the morning, you can use my washer and drier for any clothes you want to clean."
I led her to the room, went to the closet and got out a flannel night-gown, terry robe, and fur lined slippers.
"George, why are you being so kind to me?"
"You need help and I have the means to help you. My belief system requires that I treat people like I would like to be treated. That's enough for me."
Mary had a strange look on her face and went into her room. I could hear the click of the lock and then the water running.
**************************
As it turned out, Mary took her bath and then went to bed. She woke up mid-morning on the next day. She put on the robe and slippers and walked toward the smell of fresh coffee.
