The sun was just coming up when I headed out to work last May at 6 a.m. Not quite dark but dark enough to need my headlights. I turned onto one of the lonely rural country roads. Maybe it was because I was listening to the radio, maybe it was because I was already thinking about some projects at work, that I didn't spot the dark object on the road until I was too late. I ran over it and felt the back left tire pull, and then sink. I stopped and got out of the car. No mystery here---- my back left tyre was cut like a loaf of bread. Back 50 yards was a piece of sharp iron I had run over. I had never changed a tyre. I looked up the road. Not a car in either direction. The nearest service station was miles away. I threw up my hands. Then I remembered---- my cell phone! I powered it up before realizing, I didn't know who to call. Wouldn't you know it, I spotted a car coming from the opposite direction. The driver slowed as he approached. I guessed he could see I was in trouble. He stopped his car, got out and immediately saw the trouble. "Madam, would you like me to change that tyre for you?" he asked. The man couldn't have been more friendly. I was frightened out there and he put me completely at ease. "There," he said, after putting on the spare, "you are all set to go." "Good thing for me that you were driving this way," I told him, as I climbed back into my car. "Funny you should say that," he said. "Just like you, I was heading to work, but my job is in the opposite direction. I made a wrong turn at some point. I don't know what I was thinking." What did the man do when he saw the writer?
He stopped and laughed at her. He walked over to frighten her. He helped her without hesitation. He drove away in the opposite direction.