Helping on an icy night

It was about midnight, and I got my car very thoroughly stuck in mud and ice water.

I was just trying to go home and had taken a wrong turn. My car sank into the muck and water nearly to the top of the front tires. When I tried to drive forward or reverse, dirty ice water would spray up and cover the windows, freezing instantly, but the car would not budge.

My cellphone battery died while I was talking to a person at CAA who said it would take more than two hours to get to me — and that was only IF they could find me.

I was stuck on a side street that didn’t have any street lights or signs. So there I was, cold and stranded in the middle of nowhere at midnight. When I got out of my car, my feet sank into the ice muck and I nearly lost a shoe. It was awful.

About a half hour later, a maroon-coloured truck slowed down beside me, and the passenger yelled out the window, "Hey! You need some help?"

The first (and only) people to stop and offer help were none other than a Garden City Collegiate student and his friend. They were just getting off work and saw my car’s blinking hazard lights.

We recognized each other (because I often substitute teach at Garden City Collegiate) and with a lot of laughter, the guys, kneeling in mud and holding their cellphones out for light, tied ropes to the back of their truck and under my car to haul my car out.

Once the car was out, they both helped scrape ice off my windows. It was a freezing and grubby job, and we even broke an ice scraper.

So for their awesome Random Act of Kindness I would like to say thanks. They didn’t have to stop to help, but they did. They saved me from waiting alone in the winter at midnight and from a possible $90 tow-truck fee.

— Cheryl Bain