Fighting with Cancer...Even a dollar is a great help !

Driving down on Monterey, finally Friday is over. Long weekend ahead, and mind automatically tends to go in relaxation mode on the advent of these. Though there is just one extra day of vacation, you feel this is the time to take a break and relax a little.

Nearing home, I tend to stop in a complex housing Walmart, Blockbuster among others to do some essential purchasing. Probably I need some good movies, and hmmm...lets take few cans of Heineken too. Phew, my Marlboro pack is ending also. Starbucks in way, so lets get some Cappuccino.

Its a hot day today, and it has been like this for the last couple of weeks. Temperature in late 80`s maybe.....and we need some rain. As I stop at the left turn signal to go into the complex, I see an old lady sitting on the road divider, with a sign which says 'Fighting With Cancer...Even a dollar is a great help' .

I have seen people utilizing this signal often, and most of them giving varied reasons why they need money. Some of them are bankrupt, some are homeless...all kind of ploys people use. I am not getting fooled by them, I always tell myself. I have been seeing this lady for the last couple of weeks...but there is something about this lady, something so full of pathos......

Thinning Grey hair, wrinkled face, tattered clothes, body so fragile, and eyes so full of sadness. Its hot, and blazing sun rays are directly falling on her. And she is sitting, looking at us within the cars with expectation....probably someone will roll down the window and offer her a dollar or so. But no one is interested. Maybe we all are now accustomed to people like this on this particular signal. Its my brothers birthday today, so let me give her something, I thought. My hands began reaching for my wallet, and suddenly the signal turned Green. Leave it.....and I drove ahead. Anyways these people are mostly fakes, so be it. Why should I waste my dollar?

Back home after my purchase, I was sipping my Cappuccino, sitting in my air conditioned apartment. A friend called, and reception was weak inside, so I went outside the apartment to talk to him. Lit up my cigarette, and suddenly I realized that its really hot. Phew, threw down the whole cigarette, came inside, and trashed the coffee down the drain. Its hot,and I cant have either.

Call over, suddenly the image of the old woman flashed in my mind. There was something different about her today. Her hands were shaking, and shaking vigorously. Why I didn't realize it ? I haven't noticed that before. Its really hot, and if she is sitting there under the penetrating sun rays, asking for help, she would have a genuine reason. Probably she is really sick. Probably she really needs help for her cancer. And I just threw my cigarette and Cappuccino worth $4 down the drain. And she just wanted a dollar.... And the way she looked at me, there was so much expectation, and so much ...... Filled with guilt,I hopped back in the car, and started driving towards that signal. I will give her 10 bucks , ask her to get dinner, and request her to leave for the day. She looked typically like anyone`s grand mom, and probably life hasn't been fair to her.

Reached the signal, but she was nowhere to be found. Rolled down the window, and asked another person sitting there, who is asking help for his bankruptcy. 'Where is the old lady who was here an hour ago ?' I asked. 'Bro, she suffered a Heat Stroke probably half an hour ago, and then the cops came and took her somewhere, probably to some hospital'.

I was zapped.....such a coincidence....I have been an agnostic, but is this Gods way of telling me that I am there, and you need to believe in me?......How can such a coincidence happen....probably her hands were shaking vigorously because of that only, and if I had stopped and helped, may be she would have left the place, and been fine...

Suddenly the signal turned Green again.....and I drove ahead...