Roadside Assisstance:

It was a bright day in the city. There was barely a cloud in sight. The young man and his wife were driving to his wife’s family’s house for a party. There new born was in the back seat. There was a bit of traffic developing along the two-lane street on which they were traveling. There were many other streets that entered the suburbs but the man and his wife had adopted this particular route because few others knew about it. There was rarely traffic along this particular country road. The man switched on the radio but lowered it to a gentle volume so as not to wake their child. Then, he switched the station to the traffic station and sat back and listened. “We are going to be late,” the woman whispered. “They will understand,” the man responded. Slowly, they inched their way along with the traffic. Hearing something that caught his attention, he raised the volume a little. As the baby in the back seat heard the cackle of voices on the radio, he began to wail. The woman turned about in her seat and began rubbing the child’s leg, gently making cooing sounds. The man listened intently to the radio. Hearing that there were a succession of trains traveling through the city and that they were passing through every fifteen minutes, he allowed himself to relax a little. He switched off the radio and quietly repeated what he had heard to his wife. “It’s going to be a while.” His wife nodded. An hour passed. The child was sleeping again tenderly in the back seat. Finally, they were approaching the first set of train tracks. And as their car rolled up the slightly elevated side of the train track, they started to hear a rattling in the engine of their car. The man, not worried, pressed down on the gas harder. As he did so, the engine started to smoke, first a light color. Slowly, the smoke grew darker. The man struggled to breathe steadily as the wife began to shout. Their car had stalled right on the tracks. There was a train visible, churning towards them in the distance. The man, forced himself to relax and think calmly. He undid his safety belt and the safety belt of his wife. Then, they both exited the car. He closed the door to the driver seat but then realized he had forgotten his keys inside, tried to open the door. It was locked. “Don’t close your door,” he was beginning to say just as she released the door and it snapped into place. He rushed around the side of the car and tried to open it. It was locked as well. Trying the back door, it also was locked. With panic, his wife shrieking behind him, he ran behind the car and started to push with all of his strength. The car wouldn’t budge. The train’s horn was blaring in the short distance. Looking to the side, he saw with terror that the train was nearing quickly. All of a sudden, as he was still struggling to push the car, he noticed first one set of hands appear next to him, then another, followed by another. He turned aside and saw the group of people gathering behind them. And with one final burst of strength, they all succeeded to push the car off the tracks. And as the train moved past, the car gently rolled over the other side. When the train passed, they were pleased to see a group who had gathered on the other side, who had cushioned the car’s descent from other side of the tracks. Looking about, they started to thank the other drivers. Then, they ran to their car. Looking in the back seat window, their newborn was wailing. The second the child made eye contact with his mother, he stopped crying. The man asked to use another driver’s phone but while he was doing so, another of the drivers started waving his hand, indicating that he was already calling roadside assistance. - From my Book Fables of Good Will.