Here is an angel story that I want to share. After Hurricane Irma departed, a disaster assistance website opened. Last Tuesday, a friend sent me the information and I applied. I was told to appear in person at an address in North Cocoa.
Having never been in that area of Cocoa, I listened to my phone as it gave me directions. Traffic was awful. Cars were parked on both sides of the road and in the median. Then I saw a lighted road sign that read, “EBA right lane”. I thought I was in the right lane only now there was an additional lane next to me so I moved into it. It was the entrance to Sam’s Club. They’re giving away food stamps at Sam’s Club? No. That can’t be right.
I drove around the parking lot while my phone told me to turn left on some road. Make a U-turn. Turn right. There was a young black man who watched me as I cruised around Sam’s Club. I stopped and asked him for directions, which he gave me, and then told me he was walking over there himself. As the directions he had given and I had repeated, were now gone again from my mind, I asked him if he wanted a ride. Never have I offered a stranger a ride, but something in my head kept telling me to do so.
The young man got in the car and we introduced ourselves. His name was Alvin and he told me he was the assistant tennis coach at Eastern Florida State College. Now I had sprained my ankle six months ago and was still wearing a boot. He noticed the boot as it shared the passenger side floor space with his feet. Immediately, he said, “You can’t walk in this. You aren’t supposed to be walking long distances wearing this.” I agreed.
He gave me directions to the place we were headed. Then Alvin told me to pull up next to the policeman standing on the road. Alvin rolled down the window and told him about my boot and not being able to walk long distances in it. The policeman directed us to a different entrance. We entered and were shown a place to park. Alvin tried to get me a golf cart to ride in but none were available.
We walked over to the grass outside of building and he told me to wait for him there. I could see the line waiting for entrance. It was as long as a football field and it doubled back on itself as I stood there. So, being me, I walked, oh so slowly to the end of it. Every minute, two or three people lined up behind me. The sun was hot. I didn’t have a hat or a bottle of water. My foot was throbbing already. Would I be able to make it?
Then I heard. “There you are.” It was Alvin. And he had a wheelchair for me. He made me sit in it and pushed me up the hill, down a sidewalk filled with applicants. and up to one of the women in charge. “This is the woman I was telling you about,” he said.
The woman waved us into an air-conditioned building, with fans blowing, and more lines. Alvin negotiated and soon I was next in line to be interviewed. It was then he realized he did not have his driver’s license with him. He went to speak to someone and some other nice man pushed me up to the interview table. I was interviewed and approved. Just then a man came and announced the lines outside were now closed as they were four hours behind. Oh, my goodness!
Alvin returned and pushed me outside, where he flagged down a golf cart to take me to my car while he returned the wheelchair. He met me at the car and I drove him back to Sam’s where he could pick up his car and driver’s license.
After I dropped him off, I pulled into a spot to call a friend. I never saw Alvin’s car leave the parking lot, yet it was gone when I looked for it.
If anyone knows Alvin, please thank him again for his kindness. You never know when you will meet an angel, or who it will turn out to be.
