In Our Words Canadians Reading Together


Road Side Assistance

SUSAN HAMBLIN

It was a typical summer morning drive to work. The sky was a vivid blue and I could hear the birds chirping and singing, as my windows were rolled down in my car. Everyone always seemed to be in a rush, darting in and out of traffic, passing, then cutting back and forth in front of others.

Suddenly the traffic slowed down tremendously and I had to brake quite quickly. As I slowed down to a crawl, I discovered what the problem was. There were two cars pulled over to the side of the road, a minor fender bender had occurred. I realized I knew the man involved, so I pulled over and got out of my car. I noticed the woman was in tears and obviously upset about the situation. Ralph was totally out of line and losing his cool moment by moment. I observed that nobody was apparently hurt.

I thought to myself as I got closer, “ Ralph, Ralph, you’re always making mountains out of molehills!” I spoke up and said, “What seems to be the problem Ralph?” Ralph lashed at me, screaming, “What’s the problem? You ask, what the problem is?” “Can’t you see, this woman is not competent enough to be behind the wheel of a vehicle!” “Now, now”, I said. “Try to calm down for a moment, I’m sure we can work this out in a reasonable manner.”

Ralph responded angrily, “I’m already late enough for work, and now this!” I reassured the woman that everything would be just fine, then tried to console her and make her comfortable.

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