Heaven must have a soft spot for stupidity, or so it would
seem considering how things turned out Friday night. Our plan had been simple--go to Disney’s
Not-So-Scary Halloween party, just Scarlett and me, and celebrate her turning
nine! Our plan did not involve getting
stuck in mud on the side of the road, but somehow I found the time to work that
in. It happened so quickly. One second we were on our way to the happiest
place on earth, and the next our wheels were spinning, burying us deeper in the
spongy earth.
It was all my fault, completely my fault. Ignoring a well-painted double yellow line, I
attempted to turn around on a stretch of road not wide enough for such a
maneuver, particularly in my diesel Excursion. Fresh tire marks were telling me
I was in good company. Others had gotten
lost and turned around at that point, and so though Jiminy Cricket was on my
shoulder suggesting I find a better--not to mention legally permitted--place to
turn around, I brushed him off and did so anyway. Pumped on birthday adrenaline, I told myself
I was justified. We were cutting it
close. The park would only be open for a
measly five hours and we wanted to have plenty of time to ride all the rides,
except for It’s A Small World (Scarlett
is opposed to world peace, if it has to involve the same song over and
over.) Besides, I always obeyed the
rules of a standardized road system, so surely it’d be okay if just this once I
fudged. It was such a small oversight,
practically like deciding not to floss before going to bed. You know you’ll always do it, but just this
once you’re going to make an exception.
The trouble about exceptions is that when your car starts to fish tail
and not gain the ground you need it to toward a paved road, though your first
impulse is to pray, you wonder if Heaven is rolling their eyes.
Nothing scares a soldier more than evidence of fear in its
leaders. My little soldier in the backseat had plenty of reason to be
afraid. Her leader was freaking
out. Oh no! Oh no! I cried, followed by a plea for
Heavenly help—help that I was certain wouldn’t come, not for a rule breaker
like myself. I had crossed the double
yellow line. I had done something dumb,
and was therefore undeserving. Crushing
guilt pressed in on me as I considered what this would mean for Scarlett’s
birthday celebration. Certainly
everything was ruined. We would traipse
into the Magic Kingdom, if we traipsed in at all, near closing time, having
spent the bulk of our night dealing with trying to get a tow truck. Our prospects seemed grim, and then we saw
Joey.
Before I could get out my car and assess the situation, Joey
was there. Having witnessed my stroke of
genius, he pulled over to help us. He
could have said to himself that I deserved to be stuck after such a move and kept
on going, but he didn’t. As I called AAA
and Rich to deal with my mess, Joey drove us to Magic Kingdom, and thanks to
his speedy assistance we were only twenty minutes behind schedule. I didn’t get
Joey’s last name, I was so rattled it took a few tries before I could remember
his first, but I will never forget his kindness that he freely bestowed on one
so undeserving as myself. Joey, the nice
guy who works in a bike shop in Orlando, he doesn’t wear tights and a cape
(thank heavens), but he was our hero.
The night, however, of the Orlando Good Guys was just
getting started. Shortly after Rich
arrived to wait for the tow truck, a Disney employee named Hector came to our
rescue, not only pulling us out of the mud, but arranging for Rich to park the
Excursion in the Contemporary Resort parking lot which meant that we didn’t
have to wait in line for a bus or the monorail after exiting the park. After a fun-filled night riding nearly every
ride we wanted to, ours was a speedy getaway.
And as Scarlett, snuggled happily against her new stuffed animal, Sven,
and fell asleep, I couldn’t help but say a prayer of thanks, for people whose
motivation to help is simply that they want to.
My thanks to Joey and Hector. Not
only did you save Scarlett’s birthday night, you taught me how to serve others,
even the dumb dumbs.
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