I worked late and didn't go home until 3:30 a.m.
About a half a mile from my office, a lady raised her hand like someone would be raising a hand for a taxi in Bangkok.
I would not have stopped if she was only waiving for a ride. But she actually walked right into the road, blocking my way.
I stopped and realized it was cold, so I let her into my truck.
"I can drop you off if you are going the same way but I'm not going too far--just about five miles out," I said. "Where are you going?"
She was in total silence.
"Please," she said.
"Yes?"
"Please help me. I will give you money tomorrow," she said on.
"I don't want money for this," I said.
I turned on the heater higher.
"We are archangels," she said. "We are here to give people messages."
"Who?"
"Me and my daughter," she said.
Asked where her daughter was, she lightly tapped her stomach three times.
"In your womb?" I asked.
"Yes."
"What messages are you bringing?" I asked.
"Positive messages."
"Sure. But what kind of messages? Like what are you to tell us?"
"Very positive messages."
I realized she wasn't going to get off. So, I said I was going to take her to the nearby hospital.
"They just came from there," she said.
Now, I felt she was a runaway patient.
I suggested the police station next; it was just half a mile beyond the hospital.
She didn't say anything. So, I made a U-turn and went the opposite direction towards the police station.
Some archangel must have told me something, since I sensed that this was a mentally deranged person who may need healthcare services. As we were about to pass the hospital, I said, "Do you prefer the hospital or the police station?"
Silence still.
"Let's go to the Emergency Room. They can help you there," I said.
"They just kicked me out of there," she said.
I didn't believe that somehow.
I drove right to the entrance. "Now, go in there. You can sit around the lobby and they will help you," I said.
She wasn't budging.
My front seat partner was silent all these times. But suddenly, he said, "I need to go to the bathroom. I'll be back."
The main entrance slided to the sides as my partner approached it.
"It's open. Please go in now," I told the lady in the rear right seat.
No word came out of her.
A male nurse came out.
"Hi, Sandy," the nurse called out to the lady. "How are you doing? Please come in."
She wouldn't go in.
The nurse went back inside and soon a police officer in uniform came out.
"What's going on?" he asked as I was lowering the windows on the passenger's side.
"She said she came out of this hospital, so we thought she might be a patient," I said. "Could you take her in?"
"She was here. They said they were going to get a doctor to talk to her and she ran away," the officer said.
"Please go in," I told the lady.
My partner just got back on the truck.
Then the cop opened the back passenger door and the lady grabbed her backpack from the seat and went out.
"Thank you, officer," I said.
He thanked us, too.
"Why did you pick her up? I was afraid she might pull out a gun and hijack our car," my partner said.
"It's cold," I said.
We are not going to do that again.
Topic: I picked up a hitchhiker this morning (Read 3426 times)