The Broken Promise
She was returning from teaching out in a small community. It was only 9:30 in the evening but in November it gets dark early and it was definitely a black and moonless night. The car heater was on and she was grateful to be driving a dependable car. A blizzard was blowing in and this would not be the time to have car trouble, not on these roads! A teacher for the nearest city College, she'd been traveling the same route for over a year and there was seldom traffic on the little secondary highway.
She remembered back to when she had first started teaching out in the small communities. In those days she was constantly picking up hitchhikers. She smiled as she remembered the one young 16-year-old fellow she picked up one day. He kept saying, "Haven't we met somewhere?" They laughed long and hard when they remembered that she had given him a ride a month previously on the same road. She thought back to the day when she was on the northern route and had given a ride to a man. He was seated before she realized he was drunk and a talker. He talked and talked and made little sense. Finally with great relief she saw another hiker and picked up that one to keep the first company.
Her family became greatly concerned about her welfare over the hitchhikers but she continued the practice until the day her sister talked to her. Her sister's friend had been shot in the head by a hitchhiker, all because the girl stopped out of mercy to help a man in a storm.
The storm that night brought the memories. They'd gone to school with this girl. She was gentle and thoughtful. To die because of an act of goodness did not make sense. That was when the family heard the promise. 'No more hitchhikers, I promise!'
Well, I won't see a hitchhiker on this road she thought. It is unlikely I'll see a car!
She came out of a slight curve and slowed because a car was parked on the road ahead. These little highways just don't have any shoulders, she thought. Then she saw the man waving. He was in trouble and she slowed more. He looked like he was in trouble but what if he wasn't? A screwdriver on the floor was the only protection she had.
In a flash she remembered the promise. She remembered the old school friend, dead because of a hitchhiker. She knew this road well though and the chances of another car coming along to help were stacked well against this lone motorist.
She pulled over and rolled down the window. She had pulled ahead of the stranded car. Now as he ran toward the car in the dark she shook with fear and yet knew if he was truly in need she could not leave him here in this storm.
The stranger explained that his car was dead. She knew she had to break the promise and hoped she would live to see her children that night. She told him to get in. They drove for an hour into the next city and she took him to a telephone booth. She waited until he had made a call. When he reported back to her that a family member would soon be there for him, she wished him well and left.
Tears fell on her cheeks as she drove away. It felt as though she had been holding her breath for an hour. "I hope they'll understand why I had to break my promise. I think I've been watched over this night!"
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