Incredible Rescue

I had a near death experience last Sunday and a marvelous man helped my husband and me. As I was driving south from Pa to Florida in our Honda Civic, a deluge suddenly fogged up my windshield and totally blinded me. I could not see one inch in any direction. Before I could put on the defroster, my car hydroplaned and made a 180 degree turn. I knew my husband was following me in our Honda Odyssey and I was sure I would hit him in a head on collision and he and I and our 2 dogs would die.  

     Somehow, my car swerved and backed into the steel guard rail which separates the north and southbound lanes on I 95 and my husband drove safely by me. A few seconds later the rain stopped as quickly as it began, and I saw that he was able to drive to the shoulder on the right lane which fortunately was in front of an exit ramp. Although the rear fender and trunk of my car were badly damaged, to my surprise the engine and transmission worked perfectly. I was able to drive across the highway to join my husband, but both he and I could hear that my fender was scraping against the right rear tire and would quickly tear it to shreds.

      A man in a white pick up truck saw us looking at the wrecked car and he stopped on the side of the exit ramp and asked if he could help. My husband asked him if he knew where we could get a crowbar to lift the fender off the tire so I could drive another 200 miles. I had to be in college the next day, and all my insurance company would do is pick up the car with a tow truck and no mechanic would look at it on a Sunday. The man said he had a crowbar and would be back in 20 minutes. He did come back, but his crowbar was too small. He told us he would return with a larger one, and twenty minutes later  he brought a larger crowbar which enabled him, my husband, and 2 policemen to pry the fender away from the tire. I tried to give him money and thank him, but his attention was focused on a pamphlet which he could see through my rear window entitled "The Beauty of John Keats' Hyperion" by Sandy Didner.
"Who is Sandy Didner?" he asked.
"I am," I replied as I still tried to pay him for the tremendous favor he had done for us.
"I don't want any money," he said.
I could see that he appreciated the poetry of John Keats who is one of my favorite poets and wanted to read my article, but both rear cars were so badly damaged I could not open them.

  He then asked my husband, "What kind of accent do you have?
"Polish, Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Pennsylvanian," my husband replied. "If you won't take any money, will you take a copy of my wife's book which is about an Egyptian spy who fell in love with my sister in Israel during the 1956 Suez War?"
He assented, but I could not open the rear doors and give him one.
"Just tell me the name of your book, and I"ll buy a copy from Amazon," he offered.
I wrote down the name of my book, and then I apologized for taking up so much of his time.
"Where were you going when you stopped to help us?" I asked.
"To church," he replied.
"You don't need to go to church; you are an angel already," I replied.
He told us his name was Jason, but I don't remember his last name; all I recall is that it started with the letters "Ph."
The next day Goodreads notified me that someone had bought a copy of my book. I am sure Jason who lives near Exit 358B on I 95 in Florida bought it. What a wonderful person! My only regret is that I cannot give him the reward he truly desires. The media is always full of the evil that people do; I would love to publish the good that this stranger did for us. Not only did he help people he did not know, he appreciates John Keats, is tolerant of faiths different from his own, and instead of taking money from me, bought a copy of my book.
Oh brave new world, that has such people in it!