A few months ago, while driving home from work, I stopped at a gas station to gas up my car before heading home. When I went in to pre-pay for my gas, I saw a man with his son ahead of me in the line. They were a little dirty from working & painting at a local job site and the man asked the clerk to help them patiently. The clerk behind the counter seemed annoyed and not interested in talking to them.     From their conversation, I knew that the man had lost his wallet, was almost out of gas and still had 1.5 hours drive to get himself and his son home. He couldn't write the clerk a check. Because he knew the money in his account wasn't available yet.     The clerk asked them to move aside and let me up to the register. I gave the clerk two 20 dollar bills and told him to put $20 on my pump   and to pre-pay $20 on their pump also. When I went back out to fill my gas tank, the teenage son came towards me to express his appreciation. His father was too excited, so he stayed inside the store until I was gone.     They asked if I would accept a check from them for the money, but I refused. I told the teenager to "pay it forward" and help  _ The man's problem was that   _  .
he had to drive for another 1.5 hours he couldn't reach his job site in time he had lost his checkbook by mistake he had no money to pay for the gas he needed