I copied this
Thursday, March 24th, 2011Welcome back!
I copied this from a comment line in the ‘Patriot Update’ newsletter - http://patriotupdate.com/4498/attacking-gop-for-budget-cuts-veep-invokes-rape .
“Raymond says:
March 21, 2011 at 4:47 pm
The old man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve. He hadn’t been anywhere in years since his wife had passed away. It was just another day to him. He didn’t hate Christmas, just
couldn’t find a reason to celebrate. He was sitting there looking at the snow
that had been falling for the last hour and wondering what it was all about when
the door opened and a homeless man stepped through. Instead of throwing
the man out, Old George as he was known by his customers, told the man to come
and sit by the heater and warm up. “Thank you, but I don’t mean to intrude,”
said the stranger. “I see you’re busy, I’ll just go.””Not without something hot in your belly.” George said. He turned and opened a wide mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger. “It ain’t much, but it’s hot and tasty stew … made it myself. When you’re done, there’s coffee and it’s fresh.”Just at that moment he heard
the “ding” of the driveway bell. “Excuse me, be right back,” George said. There
in the driveway was an old ’53 Chevy. Steam was rolling out of the front. The
driver was panicked. “Mister can you help me!” said the driver, with a deep
Spanish accent. “My wife is with child and my car is broken.” George opened the
hood. It was bad. The block looked cracked from the cold, the car was dead.
“You ain’t going in this thing,” George said as he turned away.
“But Mister, please help …” The door of the office closed behind George, as he went inside. He went to the office wall & got the keys to his old truck, and went back outside. He walked around the building, opened the garage, started the truck and drove it around to where the couple was waiting. “Here, take my truck,” he said. “She ain’t the best thing you ever looked at, but she runs real good.” George helped put the woman in the truck and, watched as it sped off into the night. He turned and walked back inside the office. “Glad I gave ‘em the truck, their tires were shot too.
That ‘ol truck has brand new .” George thought he was talking to the stranger,
but the man had gone. The Thermos was on the desk, empty, with a used coffee cup
beside it. “Well, at least he got something in his belly,” George thought.
George went back outside to see if the old Chevy would start. It
cranked slowly, but it started. He pulled it into the garage where the truck had
been. He thought he would tinker with it for something to do. Christmas Eve
meant no customers. He discovered the the block hadn’t cracked, it was just the
bottom hose on the radiator. “Well, shoot, I can fix this,” he said to
himself. So he put a new one on.”Those tires ain’t gonna get ‘em
through the winter either.” He took the snow treads off of his wife’s old
Lincoln. They were like new and he wasn’t going to drive the car
anyway. As he was working, he heard shots being fired. He ran outside and
beside a police car an officer lay on the cold ground. Bleeding from the left
shoulder, the officer moaned, “Please help me.”George helped the officer
inside as he remembered the training he had received in the Army as a medic. He
knew the wound needed attention. “Pressure to stop the bleeding,” he thought.
The uniform company had been there that morning and had left clean shop towels.
He used those and duct tape to bind the wound. “Hey, they say duct tape can fix
anythin’,” he said, trying to make the policeman feel at ease. “Something
for pain,” George thought. All he had was the pills he used for his back. “These
ought to work.” He put some water in a cup and gave the policeman the pills.
“You hang in there, I’m going to get you an ambulance.” The phone was
dead. “Maybe I can get one of your buddies on that there talk box out in your
car.” He went out only to find that a bullet had gone into the dashboard
destroying the two way radio.He went back in to find the policeman
sitting up. “Thanks,” said the officer. “You could have left me there. The guy
that shot me is still in the area.” George sat down beside him, “I would
never leave an injured man in the Army and I ain’t gonna leave you.” George
pulled back the bandage to check for bleeding. “Looks worse than what it is.
Bullet passed right through ‘ya. Good thing it missed the important stuff
though. I think with time your gonna be right as rain.”George got up and
poured a cup of coffee. “How do you take it?” he asked.”None for me,” said the officer.
“Oh, yer gonna drink this. Best in the city. Too bad I ain’t got no donuts.” The officer laughed and winced at the same time.
The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man with a
gun. “Give me all your cash! Do it now!” the young man yelled. His hand was
shaking and George could tell that he had never done anything like this
before. “That’s the guy that shot me!” exclaimed the officer.
“Son, why are you doing this?” asked George, “You need to put
the cannon away. Somebody else might get hurt.”The young man was
confused. “Shut up old man, or I’ll shoot you, too. Now give me the
cash!” The cop was reaching for his gun. “Put that thing away,” George
said to the cop, “we got one too many in here now.” He turned his
attention to the young man. “Son, it’s Christmas Eve. If you need money, well
then, here. It ain’t much but it’s all I got. Now put that pea shooter
away.” George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the young
man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time. The young man released
his grip on the gun, fell to his knees and began to cry. “I’m not very good at
this am I? All I wanted was to buy something for my wife and son,” he went on.
“I’ve lost my job, my rent is due, my car got repossessed last week.”
George handed the gun to the cop. “Son, we all get in a bit of
squeeze now and then. The road gets hard sometimes, but we make it through the
best we can.”He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a
chair across from the cop. “Sometimes we do stupid things.” George handed the
young man a cup of coffee. “Bein’ stupid is one of the things that makes us
human. Comin’ in here with a gun ain’t the answer. Now sit there and get warm
and we’ll sort this thing out.” The young man had stopped crying. He
looked over to the cop. “Sorry I shot you. It just went off. I’m sorry officer.”
“Shut up and drink your coffee ” the cop said. George could hear the sounds of sirens
outside. A police car and an ambulance skidded to a halt. Two cops came through
the door, guns drawn. “Chuck! You ok?” one of the cops asked the wounded
officer. “Not bad for a guy who took a bullet. How did you find me?”
“GPS locator in the car. Best thing since sliced bread. Who did
this?” the other cop asked as he approached the young man.
Chuck answered him, “I don’t know. The guy ran off into the dark. Just dropped his gun and ran.”
George and the young man both looked puzzled at each
other. “That guy work here?” the wounded cop continued.
“Yep,” George said, “just hired him this morning.
Boy lost his job.” The paramedics came in and loaded Chuck onto the
stretcher. The young man leaned over the wounded cop and whispered,
“Why?” Chuck just said, “Merry Christmas boy … and you too, George, and
thanks for everything.” “Well, looks like you got one doozy of a break
there. That ought to solve some of your problems.” George went into the
back room and came out with a box. He pulled out a ring box. “Here you go,
something for the little woman. I don’t think Martha would mind. She said it
would come in handy some day.” The young man looked inside to see the
biggest diamond ring he ever saw. “I can’t take this,” said the young man. “It
means something to you.” “And now it means something to you,” replied
George. “I got my memories. That’s all I need.” George reached into the
box again. An airplane, a car and a truck appeared next. They were toys that the
oil company had left for him to sell. “Here’s something for that little man of
yours.” The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150 that
the old man had handed him earlier. “And what are you supposed to buy
Christmas dinner with? You keep that too,” George said. “Now git home to your
family.” The young man turned with tears streaming down his face. “I’ll
be here in the morning for work, if that job offer is still good.” “Nope.
I’m closed Christmas day,” George said. “See ya the day after.”
George turned around to find that the stranger had returned. “Where’d you come from? I
thought you left?” “I have been here. I have always been here,” said the
stranger. “You say you don’t celebrate Christmas. Why?”
“Well, after my wife passed away, I just couldn’t see what all the bother was. Puttin’ up a tree
and all seemed a waste of a good pine tree. Bakin’ cookies like I used to with
Martha just wasn’t the same by myself and besides I was gettin’ a little
chubby.” The stranger put his hand on George’s shoulder. “But you do
celebrate the holiday, George. You gave me food and drink and warmed me when I
was cold and hungry. The woman with child will bear a son and he will become a
great doctor. The policeman you helped will go on to save 19 people from
being killed by terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a
rich man and not take any for himself. “That is the spirit of the season and you
keep it as good as any man.” George was taken aback by all this stranger
had said. “And how do you know all this?” asked the old man.
“Trust me, George. I have the inside track on this sort of thing. And when your days are
done you will be with Martha again.” The stranger moved toward the door.
“If you will excuse me, George, I have to go now. I have to go home where there
is a big celebration planned.” George watched as the old leather jacket
and the torn pants that the stranger was wearing turned into a bright white robe. A
golden light began to fill the room.”You see, George … it’s My birthday. Merry Christmas.”
George fell to his knees and replied, “Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus”
Beautiful.
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