Have You Ever Had A Profound Experience With A Stranger? What Was It?

Absolutely I have. I was young and early into my Army career and driving from Columbus, Ohio back to Atlanta, Georgia and I saw a woman with a young baby standing beside her car crying and I pulled over rapidly and backed up to her car parked on the side of I-71 south a major highway between Columbus, Ohio and Cicinnati, Ohio. This was 1988 way before cell phones or even pagers. I got out of my brand-new Ford Ranger pickup to offer her help and she looked terrified now and crying harder holding her baby tightly to herself. It took about 30 minutes to get her to talk with me and when she did, I knew why she was so terrified on me. It was my Sicilian features and dark hair from my grandmother's heritage on my mother's side of the family. You see this young woman was a new Mafia Wife of a "Made" man and had rapidly just packed up and fled him with their new baby. It took another 20 minutes to reassure her I was not in the mob or one of her husband's young goons out looking for her and the baby. Her car was completely unrepairable too. So, I offered her and her baby a ride to a pull off ramp anywhere she said to pull off at so she could call her people to come and get her. She agreed but only after I handed her my wallet with my Army Identification in it and my driver's license in it (I had no credit cards back then) and she scanned both identifications very discerningly to make sure I was not Italian named. Having a German Immigrant father and last name seemed to calm her fears of me being a goon. I put her limited luggage in the bed of my truck with my Army duffle bags, that made her feel better and I gave her my orders to hold assigning me to Fort Mcpherson, GA. to help ease her fears. when she walked to the passenger door side of my truck, she freaked out seeing a hunting knife and my hunting rifle cases in the cab of my truck and began to back away from my truck. I told her I those were mine for hunting Animals only. And immediately placed them all in the bed of my truck to make her feel safe. I gave her a ride for an hour or so and she did not speak other than looking at my orders and IDs asking me questions to make sure I was really and Army Guy. then she asked me to pull off to a nice suburban area to a service station where she could call her folks/people. I knew she knew the area or at least the service station from her face and actions. Once pulled into the station she took her baby and went to the pay phone to call her folks/people with my orders and ID's. I filled up with fuel as she did so and when she came back to my truck keeping out of hands reach, she asked me to place her things just inside the service station door. I did so and she handed me all my ID's and orders back and nervously thanked me. I asked if she would at least write me to let me know she was safe and she vehemently declined and said it was better for me if she did not for her and the baby's safety as well as my own. I understood and left her and the baby.


I went out and rearranged things in my pickup to where they were before I met the young lady (She was my age roughly 21 years of age) and left without saying another word. I will never know what happened with her or her baby, but it was truly the first time in my life I ever saw a woman so deafly afraid and scared. That is when I realized what fear was and how truly evil the Mafia is that we saw in films and how truly evil it is in real life.

God Bless this woman and her baby. She refused to tell me even a first name.