In the dark, deserted morning

It's 5am as the character of our story pulls into the WinCo parking lot on 82nd Ave. It's dark and of course at that hour the parking lot is virtually deserted. As she pulls into park the car she suddenly becomes aware that the car nearest to her is clearly in need of a jump.

There is a third car nearby and it seems as though there is a possibility the third car is on its way to help, but as she turns off the car and reaches for her grocery bags she realizes the car is driving away. As she opens the door she throws up a plea, "God, please don't let them ask me for help."

She doesn't even know who sits inside that car. Is it a young woman with children, an elderly man, a group of punk teenagers, a lonely person on the edge. It doesn't seem to matter. She doesn't want to help in the dark deserted parking lot in the wee hours of the day.

No sooner does she crack the door than she hears a polite young woman's voice, "Excuse me, do you happen to have any jumper cables?"

"Thanks God", she thinks as she smiles and turns her attention to the woman. "Let me check, I think I have some cables."

As the next few minutes unfold our character is greeted warmly by the passengers of the car. Two young women and two young men, all in their early twenties. Kind, thankful, appreciative, joyful, and exceptionally chatty so early in the morning.

They were in the midst of trying to pull together $15 to pay a man who was inside buying groceries who had offered to jump them when he came out, for $15. She joked about only charging $10 as she hooked her car up to theirs and everyone laughed, just as the man came out of the store and walked by shaking his head. Clearly disappointed that his deal had not come to fruition.

Within moments the car was up and running, cheers were thrown up, and there were hugs all around for their hero of the day. As they pulled away honking and waving the parking lot suddenly seemed a bit less dark, a bit less deserted. And a small prayer again went up, "Thank you God, for letting them be unafraid to ask for help."