Dodie Gadient, a schoolteacher for thirteen years, decided
to travel across America and see the sights she had taught about. Traveling
alone in a truck with camper in tow, she launched out. One afternoon rounding a
curve on I-5 near Sacramento in rush-hour traffic, a water pump blew on her
truck. She was tired, exasperated, scared, and alone. In spite of the traffic
jam she caused, no one seemed interested in helping.
Leaning up against the trailer, she prayed, "Please
God, send me an angel... preferably one with mechanical experience."
Within four minutes, a huge Harley drove up, ridden by an enormous man sporting
long black hair, a beard, and tattooed arms. With an incredible air of
confidence, he jumped off and, without even glancing at Dodie, went to work on
the truck. Within another few minutes, he flagged down a larger truck, attached
a tow chain to the frame of the disabled Chevy, and whisked the whole 56-foot
rig off the freeway onto a side street, where he calmly continued to work on
the water pump.
The intimidated schoolteacher was too dumbfounded to talk.
Especially when she read the paralyzing words on the back of his leather
jacket: "Hell's Angels - California." As he finished the task, she
finally got up the courage to say, "Thanks so much," and carry on a
brief conversation. Noticing her surprise at the whole ordeal, he looked her
straight in the eye and mumbled, "Don't judge a book by its cover. You may
not know who you're talking to." With that, he smiled, closed the hood of
the truck, and straddled his Harley. With a wave, he was gone as fast as he had
appeared.
Given half a chance, people often crawl out of the boxes
into which we've relegated them.
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