THE RAINY TUESDAY!!

It was one of those Tuesdays where everything just went wrong. You know the kind of day I mean? I slept right through my alarm clock. I spilled warm coffee all over my only clean work shirt. When I left my apartment, I was already feeling very angry and tired. By the time I was finally driving home from a long day at work,my bad mood got even worse because of the weather. It started to rain so hard. The rain was hitting the front window of my car so fast that my old wipers could not clear the water away. I could barely see the road in front of me.

And then, right in the middle of a very busy street corner, my old car just stopped. It made a funny noise, shook a little bit, and then the engine died completely. I remember holding the steering wheel so tight that my hands hurt. I just sat there looking at the traffic lights as they changed from green to yellow to red. Other cars were driving around me, and people were honking their horns loudly. A really bad feeling of fear started growing in my chest.

I did not have much money at the time. I was in my twenties, and I barely had enough money in the bank to buy food for the week. I definitely could not pay for a tow truck. I turned on my flashing hazard lights, pulled my jacket tight around my chest, and got ready to run out into the cold rain to push the car to the side of the road by myself.

Before I could even open my door, an old silver van stopped right behind my car. An older man jumped out. He looked like he was about sixty-five years old, and he was wearing a bright yellow raincoat that was way too big for him. He did not wait for me to explain what happened. He just ran over to my window, knocked hard on the glass, and shouted over the loud rain, "Put the car in neutral! I will push, you steer the wheel!"

I did not have the time or the energy to say no. I put the gear in neutral, and almost right away, I felt my heavy car start to move. I looked up into my rearview mirror, and I saw that he was not pushing by himself. An older woman, who I guessed was his wife, had gotten out of the other side of the van.She was pushing the car right next to him. Her umbrella with flowers on it was left on the wet ground, rolling away in the wind. Together, they pushed my dead car safely out of the busy street and into the empty parking lot of a small food diner nearby.

I got out of the car, completely wet from the rain. I was tripping over my words, trying so hard to say thank you to them. I reached into my pocket for my wallet, really wanting to give them the twenty dollars I had left for the week. But the man just laughed and shook his head no.

"Keep your money," he smiled warmly, wiping rain from his face. "Thirty years ago, my wife was about to have our first baby, and our truck broke down on this exact same road. A total stranger stopped his car and drove us to the hospital. We just think we owe the world a few good favors."

They did not stay to talk more or wait for me to praise them. They just got back into their warm van and drove away into the rainy afternoon. I ended up having to wait three cold hours in that diner for a friend to come help me, but I was not even angry anymore. That sad, heavy feeling I had all day was completely gone. Sometimes, it takes a broken-down car in a bad storm to remind you that people are, mostly, very good. It has been five years now, and I still think about that bright yellow raincoat every time it rains.

And now, I always keep a big yellow raincoat in the back of my own car—just in case it is my turn to push.