I went to pick my daughter up from work the other night and got there too early so to kill some time I did a lil light shopping for easter while the store was kinda light on the crowd level. I went to put my haul in the car and  while returning the basket to the building, a young lady in a van pulled along side me kinda slow and asked if she could ask me something... I thought 'she needs my basket  or needed help getting the car seat attached to the basketso it wouldn't fall off'  wouldn't be the first time. So like I was raised to do , I went to help the young lady. She pulled into a parking space and  got out and walked up to me , she looked extremely nervous , understandable as I am not the most inviting looking guy in the world. Some people will deliberately cross to the other side of a large aisle to avoid me sometimes.  I knew there was something wrong from the git go but tryed helping anyways. As she told me why she'd asked to talk to me  I couldn't help but pay attention to her mannerisms and start looking over her vehicle. She'd said she came from a city about 80 miles away and had to make an emergency trip to her mom in a medical center not that far away, when she rolled into the parking space her 'need gas light' was on  and the car seat was a signal she might be on the up & up. 

  Knowing the way most men in this situation would react ,I did what I could  to do what was right.  She said she had only a couple bucks in change , not even enough for 1 gallon these days. As she continued she got more and more nervous and hinted at alternate ways of repaying kindness. I know other people that have had similar situations where they were desparate to get home and do almost anything  to do it. I also know of horror storys that have happened to good people because of circumstances beyond their control.  I  asked her to give me her hand. I don't know what she thought I was going to do but her eyes closed and she tensed up for a moment , I moved her hand closer and appearantly she thought I was going to put it on my crotch cuz thats the direction it headed in, but I pulled it up to my face and held it gently close to my mustache covered face and waited for her to open her eyes , as I said " Relax. I am unlike anyone you'll meet like this. I've been in a similar situation not that long ago and know how hard it is to get anyones sympathy these days without personal compromise. It is very dangerous to walk up toi strange men and ask for help like that as most guys would offer 'that very trade'  and they might not be that nice about it if not the worst case sceneario '  I kissed the back of her hand handed her enough to fill her tank most of the way up... at least enough gas to make it home and back to see her mom (if that was true) another time.. I begged her to be safe on the way home  that night a few times and she kept asking for my addy to mail it back ata later time... but I knew i t woulnd never show

 I still wonder if I did the right thing ... or was I taken as a chump ... or was there something else goin on I didn't notice ... but my grand parents raised me to have pretty good intuition about people ... I think God was testing me yet again ... that or her sent this young lady to me to keep her safe , almost like TransSiberia Orchestra's song Old City Bar ... and I was the barkeeper ... but I do hope she got home safe and one day would like to see her again just so I know I did good (and wasn't a chump)