Laying by the side of the Road

It is not what you would expect to see in an upper middle class neighborhood of large homes with well manicured lawns. As I was driving home the other day, I saw a woman laying on the side of the road on top of a black bag, unconscious. She was on the edge of a large sloping grass field between two houses. It was a two lane road with nowhere to easily turn around, and the car behind me kept coming. After stopping at the next stop sign, I was able to turn around in a driveway. As I headed back toward the woman, I was expecting that someone would have stopped behind me to help. There was no one. I pulled over just beyond where she laying. As I approached her, I started to worry that maybe she just wasn’t unconscious, but dead. I bent down and said, “Hello?” She woke up a little startled.

I asked if she okay, and how long she had been there. She said, “Only a few minutes. I have insomnia, and I haven’t slept in three days.” She was barefoot, and the black bag was a large backpack. She said she lived nearby, and couldn’t walk up the hill to the Route 55 bus that she wanted to take into Philadelphia. It was actually more like a mile walk to get to the nearest bus stop. She said she had a fight with her boyfriend, and he took $600 dollars from her. Now I started to think, is she telling me the truth? Is she mentally ill? What should I do? Should I call the police to help her? She then asked me if I would drive her to the bus stop. Then I started to think, do I  believe her, and should I let a stranger into my car? I must admit, if she was a man, I would have called the police to help him. But I also thought, a woman with a weapon can be just as dangerous. I decided to take a chance, and give her a ride. She picked up her backpack. Fortunately, her shoes and jacket were under the backpack. She put her stuff in the back seat, and asked if I wanted her to sit in the back. I said no, sit in the front.

She asked my name, and I asked her’s. It sounded like she said “Tereen”. But I wasn’t sure. She said she wanted to go into the city to sell a watch so she could buy a gift for her daughter’s 18th birthday. She then asked me, “Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving?” I said yes, and she started to talk about how her father used to make the turkey, the stuffing, and the gravy. She said her favorite part was the stuffing, and I agreed. I started to think about what had happened in her life that lead her to falling asleep on the side of the road. She seemed happy at the memory of her father. No father would want their daughter to be found as I found her, and asking a stranger for a ride. She was a lost soul. I wondered what happened to that father. Was he in some way responsible for her state in life?

As we got closer to the bus stop, she said she had no money, and asked for bus fare. I thought about how much to give her. Should I give her more than that? What was she really going to spend it on? I felt a little ashamed about being skeptical. As we pulled up to the bus stop, she thanked me. As she got her stuff out of the backseat, I gave her enough for bus fare, and wished her good luck. I pulled around the corner, and left her in the bright sunshine waiting for the next step in a journey too many fellow citizens face. Lost, alone, abused, and mentally ill.

I have never done anything like that before. I’m not sure I did enough. We will be giving thanks this week at a time when many of us are looking at each other with suspicion and mistrust. Maybe we should be thinking about how we can see the common good in each other, and not leave anyone laying on the side of the road.