Last night as I was driving home to Beverly at 1:30 am in a light rain, coming across the Salem-Beverly Bridge I see a big portly man lying in the middle of the road. I immediately pull over. I ask him if hes alright. He is mumbling that his father is a millionaire but wont give any money. He tells me hes homeless and needs dental surgery. I tell him, Im happy to hear your story as soon as we get you out of the middle of the road. I am pulling on his hand but hes not budging. Right then a woman in a pick up truck stops in the middle of that road and comes right over to us. A second later a man and a woman pull right up behind us. That woman says shes a nurse. The first woman, as shes helping the street man up, tells him, Please put your cigarette down. I dont want you to catch our hair on fire. The man had been laying on his back in the rain in the middle of the road just smoking a cig. It took all four of us to get him standing. We got his arms around our shoulders and pulled him up and to the side of the road. The nurse asked him if he was alright. He told her, Ive had three brain surgeries and my leg is broken. She pointed its pretty difficult to stand on a broken leg and he was now standing fine. He wanted us just to leave. We had a quick discussion. We were worried if we left hed end up in the middle of the road again, or worse, make it to the top of the bridge fall off. So the Nurse called 911. Within 40 seconds a Beverly policeman arrived. He calmly asked the man his name. The four of us slid away. At the light at the bottom of the bridge, the truck lady rolled down her window and said, Youre a good man. Before I could say, Youre a good woman. the light turned green and she drove away. Four strangers who stopped in the middle of the night. Strangers helping a stranger. And the homeless man lives to see the sunrise.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 17:45:10 +0000