Member-only story
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
- Charles Dickens (1812–1870), British writer and social critic
Darkness had fallen by the time I left the place where I routinely fill my car with petrol and headed home after a long work week in another county of the state.
At a stoplight where I made a righthand turn, just as I made the turn, I noticed a middle-aged woman in baggy clothes entering the crosswalk from the other side of the street. She was carrying shopping bags in each hand as she climbed the incline.
As I accelerated, I thought perhaps I should have waited, but the crosswalk was long and the road wide. There was virtually no risk of hitting her. This I would have explained to the law enforcement officer had there been one to stop me.
She receded into the distance, this facilitated by nightfall.
I mulled, then decided to turn around.
Better to offer her a ride than not.
It was not so easy to do. I had to drive some distance and, after entering a left turn lane, I made a quick U-turn.
I made another U-turn at the intersection where I had first seen her.
By this time she had crossed the 2-way street, was on the sidewalk and making her way slowly up the incline. I’ve driven that incline countless times. It’s steeper than it appears. I imagined she walked with effort.
