I was driving to Target and had just a short window of time to do my errands.
About two blocks from the store, I swerved to prevent a collision with a red Toyota.
As I swerved, my Chrysler Crossfire rammed into the concrete curb. I looked
forward to see if the red car was still moving, and then began blaring my horn to
get the car to stop. The driver did not seem to recognize what had just occured,
and I wanted to stop him in case there was damage to my car. My blaring horn
eventually got him to stop and we both pulled into the closest parking lot. I got
out of my Crossfire and walked around to the front right side to view the damage.
The tire and wheel was damaged with a piece of rubber dangling from the tire. The
hubcap was dented in and scratched. The young man kept quietly saying "I am so
sorry. I did not see you. I had lost my contact lens." I asked for his car
insurance, and that we needed to exchange information. He said "I am on my way to
Fort Benning, GA. I am reporting back to duty. My commander is going to kill me."
Would you please not call the police? I will take care of it myself. My name is
Brent" I asked for his phone number and which he gave me. Then, I walked to the
back of his vehicle and wrote down his license plate number and the make of his car.
He said "this is not my car. I had just borrowed it." Things were not adding up
in my mind, and I said "I am going to call my husband & chat with him for a
second." which I did.
My husband said I needed to get his insurance information and then drive
directly to the Chrylser dealer to see if my wheel needed to be replaced. " You've
got to make sure your car is safe to drive to Dallas tomorrow." I whispered things
were not adding up. The driver said he had Geico insurance, but I had not seen the
card. That I was beginning to doubt whether he would help me at all with whatever
the expense turned out to be. My husband's comments were very brief and sounded in
a big hurry, so the call quickly ended.
As he followed me down I2O, I kept expecting him to exit at the earliest exit,
and I'd never see him again. I kept thinking, what kind of young man would do this?
Follow a woman to the car dealer when it would be hard to prove he had done the
dameage to my car. It was really his word against my word, and most people would
just drive away, rather than own up to their responsibility in this type of minor
collision. But the longer he followed me, the more assured I was that this was a
most unusual honest kid. And yet, as each mile passed, I was more and more
astonished he continued to follow me.
At the dealer, he got out of his car, and followed me into the overhang to hear
the mechanic's estimation. The mechanic said it would cost $300 to repair and
approx $500.00 to replace the tire/wheel. He explained the hubcap was not a hubcap,
but part of the wheel and was difficult to find. It would all have to be repaired
or replaced together and would require 3 days of work.
Brent said "I'll go get you the money." I said "you know, I still have not
seen your driver's license. Can I see it now?" and we began walking over to his
car. He leaned inside the car and reached behind the seat, and brought out a
billfold I had not previously seen. Brent replied, I'm sorry Ma'am. I lied to you.
My name isn't Brent. Here's my license. My name is Jacob Lowrance, and my real
phone number is........ You see, I've made some mistakes in the past and I'm trying
to do better. That's why I joined the Army. I'm going to make better choices. I am
going to do better with my life." Since this whole scenario had been odd, I was not
too suprised to find out "Brent" wasn't his real name nor that he had given me a
false number. I looked at his license and realized he was only 19 years old. Only 3
years older than my daughter. I thought, this young man must have gone thru a lot.
He really seems sincere about wanting to do better. And I can't believe he is
continuing to offer to help me.
He asked me to follow him to a cash check early place. I did not know where one
was located. He said he knew of one on South Hulen. approx 10 miles from here.
So this time, I assured him I'm follow him, back on I20 and off we go. Now, my mind
is really amazed by how this is transpiring and I am wondering if this will be a
wild goose chase that turns up a fat zero, or if there will really be cash at the
end of this ride. Secondly, I thought, even if I end up with nothing, I am
expressing trust to this young man, who needs someone to believe in him. I felt
that in my gutI had to continue to trust him. I waaited in my car as he went
inside the Cash Your Check Early business. He returned saying they refered him to
his bank, so we drove there next. Again, I waited in my car and allowed him to go
into the bank alone. I still felt like I could trust him to do the right thing. He
was instide the bank approximately 15 minutes. I kept arguing with myself to wait.
He finally came out of the bank & walks up to my car, offering me his Military ID as
"collateral that I will bring you the money tomorrow." I accepted his ID and he
asked for my phone number so he could phone me when he had the money. I gave him my
cell number and we both drove off. Am I crazy or what? A couple of days passed, during which I shared this story with my friends and
family. Most of them expressed doubt that I would ever receive one cent, and that I
had been foolsih to follow him around the city from business to business. "That was
dangerous! What if he ...... (fill in the blank). I said I was following my
intuition on this one, even if it sounded crazy. During a business meeting several
days later, I received a strange number on my cell phone. I started not to answer
it as my family knew I would be unavailable all day. I put the phone on silent
mode, and decided I would handle the call during a break. I dialed the strange
number and guess who answered? Jacob. He said "I have the money for you. Where do
you want to meet?"
We met at the end of the day, in a parking lot. My husband went with me, and
got out of the car to meet the young man I had told him about. Jacob started
counting out the twenty dollar bills into my hands. I stopped him at $200.00,
saying "that's enough. You keep the rest. You are a good guy. You have done the
right thing. I wish you well. I will be praying for your safety in Iraq." Then my
husband shook his hand and shared a few positive words. He smiled, turned and
walked away. I thought what a neat experience this had been. I'm glad I followed
my intuition.
