Seven dollars talks21
At the four-mile mark I saw a middle-aged, innocent looking lady in trouble. She was having problems with her Volkswagen and had opened the hood. She said, “Can you give me a hand?”O God, I know nothing about cars. I said, “I know nothing about mechanics, but please wait. In ten minutes I will be able to send you my chauffeur.” She didn’t understand my English, so I said, “My driver, my driver.”
Then I began running quite fast to look for a telephone booth to call the disciple who drives me around. After 200 metres, I saw an ambulance driver asleep in his ambulance. As soon as I passed him he woke up and said, “Hey, such a beautiful, cool morning. Don’t you know how to enjoy sleep? You woke me up.”
I said, “Friend, can you do me a favour? A girl is having trouble with her car.”
He said, “Pretty girl?”
I said, “Middle-aged lady.” This man was a real joker. I never carry money when I run, but this time I happened to have seven dollars with me. I gave him the money, and the seven dollars talked. He immediately turned on the motor and made a wrong turn down a one-way street heading towards the lady. When I saw him finally talking to the lady, I said, “Now I have done my part. He is a joker, but he will fix her car.” So I continued running.
RB 85. 29 September 1979↩
