“Hold on a minute I’m naked,” said the lady peaking out of her front door.
That’s the end of a pretty random turn of events I found myself part of late yesterday afternoon. Let me rewind and start from the beginning.
I was driving home down MLK in Greensboro, NC. As I approached a stoplight I noticed a guy in a wheelchair in the middle of the road. He was totally out of place and in a good amount of danger.
While pulling up to the stoplight I slowly drove past the guy (to get a better look at the situation), but immediately noticed that he was disabled and having a hard time getting out of the street, or moving at all. I put the car in reverse, rolled down my window and said, “Do you need help?” He shook his head yes and I pulled my car behind him, stopped, put on the emergency lights and got out.
He could barely talk, but when I asked him again if he needed help he mumbled yes. I then asked him if I could push him up onto the sidewalk; he again shook his head yes, so I did. He couldn’t really talk, but when I asked him where he was trying to go he simply pointed straight down MLK.
As I was standing there someone yelled out of a car, “Mike what are you doing in the middle of the road man.” The person in the car evidently knew the guy, and perceived the situation as being remotely humorous, but eventually told me he was probably trying to get to a house several blocks away.
So there I am, standing on a street corner in a not so great part of town with a guy that couldn’t talk, couldn’t walk and had significant physical diformities that prohibited him from clearly pointing me in the right direction.
What to do? Of course I couldn’t just leave him I started pushing him in the direction he was originally going.
After we traveled about a block I saw a guy sitting on the front porch and said, “Do you have any clue where he might be trying to go?” He responded by saying, “I think to a house down by the church.”
Off we went. Me and Mike strolling down MLK probably looking as crazy as could be. I eventually turned down a side street he motioned towards that instantly made me think, “Yeah, this probably isn’t the safest place for me to be walking.” During my city council campaign I frequently visited this area and was routinely yelled at with statements such as “Get the F*&^ out of here cracker.”
I continued to push Mike, making several turns along the way, and we eventually came to a house that he made clear was his destination. I parked him next to the curb, and started walking up the 15 or so steps to the front door. Upon stepping on the porch I thought to myself, “Whoever is home is going to think I’m the police.” (This happened frequently during my campaign while in certain neighborhoods.)
I eventually knocked on the door and after about 25 seconds went by there was no answer. So then I knocked again. A lady eventually said, “Who is it.” I then said, “My name is Ryan and I have Mike – he was in the middle of the road.” She then said, “Hold on one minute I’m naked.”
The front door eventually cracked open a few inches and she peaked her head out (obviously still naked). I explained the situation and she thanked me for helping him and then I started making my way down the steps.
I said buy to Mike, but before I left he managed to pull out a sheet of paper that had letters on it. He then pointed to to the letters D-O-U-M. I then said, “Do I have money?” He shook his head yes and I said, “Sorry Mike, I don’t have any on me.”
As I walked back up the side street towards MLK I thought to myself (while laughing), “I couldn’t make this stuff up.”
