Story #30: Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover

Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover

            Rodney and Bridgette Atkins have been going through the hardest few months of their life. They just needed to get out of the house and go somewhere else to relieve their stress. Bridgette was diagnosed pregnant two months ago and has been having a rough time with it. Rodney lost his job three months ago and also has been grieving with the loss of his father. In order to escape reality they chose to take a vacation to New York City.

            "Rodney," Bridgette proclaimed, "we're almost out of fuel." They were so close to New York City but were now stuck in a suburb near by. Rodney answered, "We'll be ok, we'll make it," knowing that there was not enough gas to make it there. In just a couple of minutes the car started to stop moving. They were stopped in the middle of street. Rod hopped out of the car and with all the power he could muster started to push the car of the road. The entire car was almost off the road then Crack. Something in his back had broken, Bridgette dashed out of the car towards him. "Are you alright," she wavered. "Yes I'm fine," he replied. He stood up trying to mask his pain but released a loud grunt and fell back to the ground. They couldn't worry about that right now though they had to find gas or a tow truck driver. Luckily their was a phone booth nearby. The entire booth was graffitied with gang slang and other things that they did not understand at all. Bridgette got in and looked through the phone book which was missing hundreds of pages. She decided to call the operator thankfully the operator  answered. She asked the operator to contact the nearest tow truck. Once Bridgette was in hold with the tow truck she asked them to come get their car and the man replied that it would take around 20 minutes. Bridgette was so thankful. Her and Rod could finally get out of this place. They both got back into the car and sat there waiting, and waiting, and waiting. It had been almost an hour and no one had come yet, but this was their only chance of getting out of there so they waited even longer. They sat there listening to the sounds of gun shots and sirens scared out of their minds. They almost gave up but then someone one pulled up behind them.

            An older man pulled up in an old beat up tow truck. Rust covered every inch of it and it didn't even look like it could tow a smart car. The man stepped out of the truck we was one of the creepiest guys they had ever seen. He was around 250 pounds but only 5'6 tall. He was African American, missing several teeth, and had a lazy eye. He came over to the car and knocked on the window. "Hello there, I'm here to tow your car. My name is Christopher," he said with a lisp. Then he leaned in the car and said, " I only have room for one person to come with me so please decide." Rod looked over to Bridgette and quietly said, "I think it's safer to stay in the car, I'll go." He jumped out of the car while Bridgette was worrying so badly. Christopher hooked up the car while Rod jumped into the tow truck. Once they were done they drove away. Bridgette ran into the middle of the street and yelled, "Hurry back," as her husband drove down the street with the weird man. She had no idea when he would return, hopefully just twenty minutes, she didn't think she could wait any longer without the car.

            It had already been an hour and Bridgette sat there on the freezing ground waiting for her husband to return. She kept putting thoughts into her head like how something might have happened to Rodney or maybe the old piece of junk tow truck broke down. She started to drive herself crazy on how long it was taking them to get back. When she had finally lost hoped the tow truck finally came back with the car and Rodney. As soon as Rodney got out she ran to him asking him, "Are you hurt. Did everything go ok. Did he hurt you." Rodney just smiled and said, "Yes I'm alright. It turns out Christopher is a very nice man. He fixed our car free of charge. It even turns out that he is a minister at the church he works at." Bridgette was so surprised she thought the man was a thief or something. She wanted to go thank Christopher but he was already on his way.

            Rodney and Bridgette finally got to go on their trip to New York and it was the greatest time of their lives. When they got home they decided that they were going to volunteer at their church for anything that they needed. Christopher had done such a simple task to help the Atkins but they took it to heart and it changed their lives forever.