Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Angel Story 2

At one point when I was working for the Colorado State Department of Personnel my boss, trying to find a way to keep me interested in my work, sent me around to other state agencies to teach their personnel employees how to use the new computerized records system. One day when I was driving down I-25 on my way to Trinidad I noticed smoke seeping out from under the hood of my car. I pulled over, popped the hood release, got out of the car, and walked to the front of it to take a look. When I lifted the hood I was relieved to find out what I thought was smoke was really steam escaping from a crack in the radiator hose.

As I stood there wondering what I was going to do about it a man appeared beside me smiling and holding a section of duct tape between his hands. He gave it to me saying, "This should fix it."
I thanked him and he turned and started walking back to his car. I leaned over the engine and quickly wrapped the tape around the radiator hose. I stood there for a couple seconds admiring my work and then slammed the hood shut. As I did I looked over the top of my car so I could wave at him as he drove away. He was gone. No car and no him. I drove on to Colorado Springs and stopped at a gas station to have the radiator hose replaced and then continued on my way. It wasn't until I was past Pueblo that I started thinking about him and what had happened.


First, everything happened way to fast. I figured I was only stopped for about a minute and I have never had any "pull off the road" car problem resolved that quickly before or since. Second, where did he come from and where did he go to? I did not see him drive up, he just appeared at my side. When I saw him standing there I just assumed he had stopped his car to help me. When he left there was no way he could have walked back to his car and driven off without me seeing him. In fact, if he was parked behind me he would not have been able to leave until I pulled away. When I left I had to drive in the breakdown lane for a bit to pick up speed before I could get back into the line of traffic. Third, how did he know I needed duct tape and why did he have the exact amount I needed? And it was just the right length-not to short not to long. Fourth, I didn't even question the fact that he was there with the duct tape in the first place. At the time it seemed perfectly normal that some guy would walk up to me, hand me just what I needed and then disappear. Finally, there was the man himself. He glowed like a brand-new penny, all clean and shiny. I can't explain it any better and no, he wasn't gay.

I think he was an angel sent to get me on my way as fast as possible. There was a good reason why I wasn't allowed to sit there too long. Something that my leaving so quickly stopped from happening. Whatever it was it must have been bad if an angel showed up to prevent it.
*

No comments: