What Language Does Your Heart Speak

She pulled up to the gas station in her shiny black, very expensive two seater. She saw him before she got out of her car. Hand out, some person putting change into it. She watched for a moment. She wondered what was wrong with the man in the wheelchair. How did he come to be in that chair. She waved the thought away, slid smoothly across her blue-gray leather seat and out of the door. The closing of her car door made a rich, but semi-mute thud.

The wind practically blew her chenille scarf from around her neck. She reached for it with expensively clad leather gloved hands and wrapped the scarf around her neck twice. She went inside, paid the attendant, started on her way out and decided to get a bottled vitamin water. Then she paid for it and proceeded to pump the gas into her tank, after setting the bottled water inside the car in its holder.

She was on her way to the the editors meeting. The lay-out for the final pages of the magazine had to be turned in by tomorrow at five o'clock p.m. She knew this meeting could go one of two ways. One, everyone did their research and outlines and the meeting would be over in one hour or less. Or, everyone had drawn a blank and they could be at the meeeting for hours. She quickly came out of her thoughts. Stopped pumping the gas, replaced the nozzle, recapped the top and slid back into the drivers seat. She loved to hear the bell sound, ding, ding, when she opened the drivers side door. She closed and locked the door, put the key in the ignition, started the car and watched the gas gauge go up to the full position. Before she pulled off, she noticed the man in the wheelchair was still there. Sitting, waiting and watching. Watching all around him. She noticed one moment he would manage a smile. The next was a look of great perplexity. She pulled up a few inches and stopped at the back of the station. She was surprised that he was not watching her. Rather, he watched as all of the traffic sped down the main street. Everyone had a destination. A place to be, a time to be there, work to be done. She wondered did he have a certain place to be, other than here. A certain time to be there, other than now. Then she found herself wondering if he would be alright. It was a cold, chilly morning.

The sound of a dog barking snapped her back to reality. A stocky uniformed man got out of his white pick-up truck; shut the door and quite loudly, told his black and tan shepherd to "Quiet!" She gasped as she checked her watch and realized she really had no time to spare. She gave a look to the wheelchair man and proceeded on her journey.

After arriving to the suite, surprisingly on time, the meeting went well. They were all surprised at how quickly everything went. Not even forty-five minutes, all was resolved. The meeting was a success!

On her way home, without giving it any thought really, she stopped at that same station, picked up another vitamin water and an organic bag of of twice baked potato chips. She also bought a small cup of coffee with cream and sugar on the side. Inside the car now, she placed her purchases in their proper storage units. She shut the door and pulled to the back of the station again. She got out, opened the trunk and retrieved two of the velour blankets she kept there in case of an emergeny.This, she felt, was one such of those emergencies. She placed the neatly folded blankets, one a deep hunter green, the other a deep burgundy across her arm. She opened the door and reached for the coffee. It was warming to her hand. Her leather gloves placed on the passenger seat at this time. She took the goods over to the wheelchair man. She found she had no reason to be afraid. He thanked her. She reached into her pocket and gave him the envelope from yesterdays bank exchange. She said, "Please, take it," and asked if she could help in any other way. He said he would be alright, smiled and thanked her again. They wished each other a good day and she got back into her car.

Suddenly she felt so grateful to be alive. She didn't give it a second thought. That envelope contained a lot of money. She'd hoped that amount of money would allow him to stay in from the cold for a few days. He'd mentioned he had family.

She had been there. So broke she had neither lights or gas on and the threat of eviction hanging over her head. She knew what it felt like to be cold and hungry. No, not in a wheelchair, but she knew the feeling nonetheless. Now that her ship had come in, she felt she had no right to turn her nose up to one of God's children in need.

Before pulling off, she checked her rearview mirror as the wheelchair man was checking out the envelope. He looked up; eyes wide and the presence of a smile, he waved farewell. She waved back and started on her way home.

(S. Turner)