Thursday, May 16, 2013

Somebody seeking a handout

I should have taken a picture to go with this story, but it happened yesterday.  If you read my last entry, you realize I wasn't in the best of moods yesterday.  
After we left the doctor's office, we went to Subway for a sandwich.  I had our drinks in a cooler, so I went in, ordered our sandwich (a foot-long cold cut combo on Italian-herbs-and-cheese bread with pepperjack cheese and all the veggies and stuff that Subway offers.  WITH mayo and honey-mustard.)  
We got our drinks from the cooler and sat in the car, eating.  We noticed two men and a woman with a dog on a leash walking across the road toward us.  The guys had enormous backpacks, and one of them was walking as though he could barely put one foot in front of the other.  They passed us by and went to the other end of the strip mall in which Subway is located.  We looked at one another and I said, "That's strange."  
Cliff agreed.  
A couple of minutes later, the lady of the group reappeared, sans dog, coming straight to our car.  
"We're going home to Georgia," she said.  "We're HUNG-ry.  We don't want money, we just want a sandwich.  We're HUNG-ry."
At first I thought she had some sort of foreign accent, but as she kept talking, I realized she was talking the way people who were born deaf talk.
We never give money to people seeking handouts.  
Cliff said, "Do you have any money?"  
"She doesn't want money, she just wants a sandwich," I said.  
"Well, the only sandwich I have is this one, and I don't want to give it up."  
I thought about my loaded "groceries" envelope.  I had just added this months money to it, and there was quite a bit left from last month.  Who needs groceries if you're living in a hospital?  
For some reason I decided to give her whatever small bills I had in that envelope, which consisted of a ten and four ones.  "I've got fourteen bucks," I told Cliff.  "I'll give her that."
He checked his billfold and found a one, added it to fourteen, and said to her, "Here you go, that's fifteen dollars."  
She put up her hands and said, "No!!!!  No!!!! That's too much!" 
What kind of beggar ever says that?  Not only that, but she repeated it more than once. 
Cliff told her to take it and she did, heading back toward the other end of the strip mall from whence she came, turning and blowing kisses at us a couple of times.  
"Well," I said, "I wonder what they'll really do with that money."  
About five minutes later she returned and walked into the subway, smiling and waving to us on the way.  Pretty soon she came out with a six-inch sub in a bag, held it up for us to see, said thank you, and blew us more kisses.      
Now, I'm glad she got her sandwich.  My only thought was that there is a McDonald's across the road, and they could have gotten a lot more bang for their buck over there.  
Maybe that was one of those angels unaware the Bible talks about.

Hebrews 13:2  Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

9 comments:

  1. You are an angel. At least to that person you were. I rarely give any money to any one, I'm afraid of anyone approaching my car that I don't know.

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  2. That was really sweet of you. My husband calls people who do that panhandling and he won't give them a dime. But when he's not looking I do.

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  3. Nice of you. John won't give them money but will go and buy them something to eat.

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  4. That's really an amazing story. There aren't many people who would have been as kind-hearted as you, and I think you were put there at that time for a special purpose. It seems like those people truly were hungry.

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  5. I like you wqonder why, if they were hungry, they did not go to McDonalds for the dollar menu...but then again, they may not eat meat..either way, you helped them and God will add a jewel to your crown one day Donna. Hope Cliff is feeling better. love you.

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  6. A few years ago when gas prices were first making their very dramatic rise, I was approached four times in as many months by people who had run out of gas and had no money on them. One of them was a woman with a baby in her car; one was a well-dressed man who probably worked in an office somewhere and was obviously very embarrassed to have to ask; one was a guy asking for a dollar for busfare; the last was a couple in a beat-up car in the parking lot of Wal-Mart. Each time I gave them what they needed to get them to a gas station or to work. It was never much. I asked Thomas after these four incidents: "Do I look gullible or something?" because each time there were others in the area that they could have approached, but they came to. He said, "No, you look approachable." I figure, if they were lying (and each time except maybe the last, there was evidence that they weren't), then I wasn't out too much and could spare it. And if they weren't lying, then perhaps they'd pay it forward to someone else someday. Now that both my kids are drivers, I have to hope that someone would help them out if they needed it. Glad you were able to help them out. I'm sure they won't forget that.

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  7. Kudos to you and Cliff.

    Nice to have it turn out at least pretty well, if not very well.

    And as for your notice--you're right, of course. When does someone panhandling ever say "That's too much!"

    Never.

    Mo Rage

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  8. Awwwww you and Cliff have good hearts, bless you both, Hugs Lisa

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  9. Bloglovin' isn't liking me to comment on your posts, but I found a way. I have to open your comment link in a new page--then it's OK. Weird because it used to work just fine. Sometimes I hate technology!

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