King-Size Kindness

We were driving somewhere in the Midwest and had gone through a few tolls, scraping together quarters. At one point, we even had to get a receipt so we could pay later. We were about to run out of gas and still needed money for the tolls, so I said, “Let’s stop,” and picked a gas station off the map.

Turns out, it took us 11 miles off course.

We finally got there, and I filled up the tank. Then I said, “Let me run in and see if I can get some cash.” Inside, there were two guys standing around and another guy sitting at a computer screen. I asked if I could get some cash and they said the only way to do that was through the ATM.

I sighed, “Oh man. I just got gas here and need cash for the tolls that were to come.?” “Sorry,” they said, “our manager won’t let us do that.” “What if I bought $20 worth of food or something and returned it to get the cash?” Again, they said, “We can’t do that either.”

Then one of them added again, “Our manager won’t let us.”

Suddenly, the man at the computer screen spoke up: “We can let this go just this time.” I lit up. “Awesome!”

I turned around like I was on my own personal Price Is Right, trying to figure out what I could grab to hit $20. One of the guys said, “You should get some of that beef jerky—it’s real expensive.” “Okay,” I said, grabbing the most expensive one. I still had money to go, so I grabbed a couple other things.

Then the manager said, “You might wanna get one of those king-size candy bars. That should put you right about at $20.” Both guys laughed. I giggled and said, “Cool!”

I got to the register with my items, and it came out to about $18 and some change. So I returned them and got the cash back.

I said, “Thank you so much!” Both guys were smiling, and the manager said, “No problem. Thank you.”

I ran out to the car and said, “Mom, I got us the cash—we can pay the tolls!”