Oh my gosh.


I am driving back to work from the county jail where I was doing a nutrition presentation and I see a girl (she was probably between 16 and 21 years of age) pushing a big, old, tan Oldsmobile type car. She was crying.


I drove past her at first and then I thought, this isn't right. So, I turned around to go back to her. By now she was sitting in the driver's seat of her stalled car and still crying. I pulled up beside her, rolled down my window and asked her if she needed to use my phone to call someone. She was very appreciative and relieved. She had run out of gas, had an 11 month old baby boy in the back seat who had luckily just fallen asleep and she had no money or cel phone. They had just come from his doctor's appointment.


The first call she made was to mom. This is where the story gets kind of sad. She was on her way to pick up mom; but, mom's car is the one this girl was driving that ran out of gas. So, her mom's at home with out any way to come get her to help. Mom tells girl that she has no money for gas, either. Then, mom makes it clear to girl that she cannot leave the car on the side of the road. Poor girl. There's an "Uncle Bill," at mom's (or, in the picture) but apparently, his truck is too low on gas as well. Mom suggests girl call mom's boyfriend. Girl doesn't like mom's boyfriend but calls anyway. Right away, before she can even ask, he says he won't, or can't, help.


Now, poor girl is up crap creek with out a paddle. What am I to do? I can't just leave her there and be like, "Oh well, sorry about your luck, I hope it all works out and you find your way home." She's stranded for crying out loud...with a baby sleeping in the back seat of her car!

I called one of my co-workers and we went to a gas station and bought a gas can, filled it with 1 gallon of gas and got some cash for the girl so she could drive straight to the gas station to get enough gas to get home. Luckily, there was a kind, older gentleman who pumped the gas into the gas can for us...those things are fool proof and tricky!

We got the gas in her car, the car started after a few attempts and off she went. Appreciative and relieved.


The thing about all of this is, I feel so lucky. For one, I have a cel phone; so, Heaven forbid if I ever run out of gas, I can make phone calls for help. Second, and this is what makes me feel bad for her and extremely lucky for me, if I ran out of gas there are a ton, a ton, of people I could call that would come help me asap, in a new york minute.



I feel bad for this girl who doesn't have that.