Sally Goodin pulled into the Wal Mart parking lot like she had done a zillion times before. She always parked as far away from the front door and as close to the nearest empty cart corral as possible. She did this for the exercise. She felt like every step made was one made in a good direction for her health. But, this day, Sally did something unusual, she parked closer to the entrance and even managed to find a spot next to a cart corral.
Some vague thought floated through her mind as she even questioned herself on why she chose to park there. When she turned the car key to the off position, something caught her eye. At the opposite end of the cart corral sat a young woman. A young woman with two small children. Sally reckoned the children where around 3 and 5 years old. They must be waiting for someone to come pick them up, Sally thought. Sally hopped out of her car and walked to the entrance of the store.
She did not have many items to find, which was a good thing, as she had a day full of activities to attend to. In no time at all, she was checked out and walked out the exit door, bags in hand. Then she noticed there was another young woman talking to the young mother, still sitting by the corral. Sally watched as the two talked and then the other woman walked to her vehicle and left. As Sally reached her car and opened the door, she asked the young mother if she needed a ride. The mother answered, very politely, "no ma'am".
Sally started to get into her car, stopped and asked one more question, "Are you OK?"
The young mother with the two small children looked at Sally and said, "I'm just trying to sell this TV so I can buy some groceries for my kids." Sally had not noticed the TV. It was a small flat screen variety and it was sitting in a stroller. There were several places in the city where panhandling was the norm, but Sally had never seen anyone in this area before. Besides, the woman did not ask her for anything, she was simply sitting in the middle of a parking lot, with her two small children, trying to sell a TV. Sally sat down in her car, opened her billfold and looked at the two one dollar bills that were in there. She took them out, got back out of the car and gave them to the young mother, telling her it was not much, but it was all the cash she had.
Sally drove off. The image of the young mother and her two children still vivid in her mind. Sally pulled over and stopped the car. She did have more cash in her wallet. It was stashed in a secret pocket. It was for a pair of boots she had been saving for.
She pulled the money out of its secret place, put the car into gear and drove back to the parking lot. She rolled her window down, pulled up along side of the stroller and told the young woman, "I don't want the TV, but you have a nice day.", and handed her boot money to the young mother. The young mother thanked her graciously and as Sally drove off, she heard the little boy say "Did you get some money Mama?"
Sally watched them in the rear view mirror as she drove off. She wondered if she had just been played, taken for a fool. It did not matter. It was the spirit of which it was given because Sally knew all too well that, "There, but for the grace of God, go I."
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