Pay It Forward...

On a Tuesday might a couple of weeks ago my Trailblazer broke down on the way home from work. I only drove it to work because I had the oil changed that morning and didn't have time to take it home and get the little car. I worked late, didn't leave work until after 7pm and started the hour long drive home. Halfway into the drive the car bucked, then I lost the use of the power steering, I coasted it off the road and then for fear of being hit on the busier highway I coasted it off to a side road, took alot of muscle that steering wheel was locked. The side road I stopped on was Jesse Williams Road, in the middle of nowhere, very desolate, and just a bit scary at 7:40 pm, it had just started to get dark. After the car was stopped and I knew it was not going to go anywhere with out help- I instantly regretted my decision NOT to pee before I left work. I called my roadside assistance plan and for about 2 hours got nowhere, the woman on the phone had no idea what she was talking about, where I was, or how to get me help- so much for that plan. She wanted me to wait 8 1/2 hours for a tow truck to come down from the mountains- because they were in my plan- again so much for that plan. I called my friend Angela, she has lived in that area her entire life, without hesitation she came right over and parked her Honda ( with it's four way flashers on ) right behind me so I didn't get hit in the rear end. I was about 3/4 of the way still in the lane because this side road has no shoulder at all, just lane and ditch, deep ditch. Angela's sister works for a car dealership so she called a tow guy that they use, Victor, well Victor said he would be right there, Victor lied. Angela sat with me because she didn't think it was such a safe place to be sitting alone, and she didn't want me to ride with Victor. As we sat there a guy drives by, just a random stranger, he stops and asks if we are okay, we go into complete he may be a serial killer mode and both shout " someones coming ". Random guy drives away, only to drive back about an hour ( yes still no Victor ) later. He tries to show us his ID thru the half inch I have the window cracked, but we're not buying it. We again tell him " someones coming " this time we add " thanks anyway ". He said he wouldn't feel right about leaving 2 women out alone in the dark on that road, he said he drove home and told his wife and he has sisters he couldn't imagine them being in our place, so if we didn't mind he was just going to pull ahead of us and wait while we waited for Victor, and waited and waited for Victor. We called Victor several times and yep he would be right there, each time Victor lied. The last time we tried Victor at 11:30pm a woman answered his phone and said " Victor's busy ". At midnight Victor called and said " are you still walitng for a tow? " I said yes Victor we're waiting for you. He said ' I don't think I'm gonna make it better try somebody else ". Well there wasn't anybody else that we could get in touch with. By this time random guy ( yes he was still there ) had come up to the window numerous times, we had all his ID's saw pictures of his daughter and felt convinced that if in fact he was a serial killer he was very patient, so I thought if he really wanted my body parts for his freezer he had put in the time. His name is Corey and since I am here to write about that night he was not a serial killer, he was a nice guy. Angela's Honda had sat there for so long with the four ways on that her battery died, Corey gave her a jump start. He hooked a tow rope to the back of his brand new mini van and pulled my Trailblazer down to his house which was about a mile down that road, then he called his buddy, Jake, Jake is a mechanic and he has a flat bed and Jake said if I didn't mind leaving the car at Corey's over night he would bring it to my house the next day. At this point I felt like just lighting the damn thing on fire but Jake said that would be messy. So I left it at Corey's and Angela drove me home at about 1:30am. Corey sat there for about 3 hours, pulled my car ( with his brand new mini van ) to his house, then got out and pushed it ( by hand ) into his driveway so that Jake could get it in the morning, he jumped Angela's car, he offered us food, water a bathroom ( all of which we declined but still ) He called Jake and got the whole tow situation taken care of and he called me twice the next day to make sure we got home okay and to tell me Jake had picked up the car. I said Corey I can't thank you enough, saying thank you doesn't seem to be enough, I asked if I could pay him he shook his head and said it was nothing " no big deal " then as we were leaving he said " Pay it Forward ".
Jake did get my car, he did tow it to my house, parked it just like I would have in the RV parking spot out of the way. Sight unseen, he didn't know me at all, had no clue if I was going to pay him or not, I was at work when he dropped the car off. I called him when I got home, thanked him asked where I could bring the money, he said " nah you had a rough night and then worked all day I'll swing by your house and pick the money up" He came over only asked for $50 and we had a really nice conversation in the driveway, super nice guy.
Kicker to all of this is neither Corey or Jake are from down here, not one southern gentleman stopped. Corey is from Long Island originally came here with the military and stayed. Jake is from PA right on the NY border, same thing military then stayed.
When Jake was here I mentioned how great Corey was, he said " he's a great guy and he's got faith " I told Jake I wanted to do something for Corey he said " He doesn't want that just do what he always says- Pay It Forward".