"An Angel Passing By"
Winchester, Virginia
May 4, 1983
Dear Folks,
As I have read so often in the written accounts of other wanderers, it is the poor and the elderly who generally are the most eager to assist the passing stranger. Perhaps they see in my lonely and haggard figure some reflection of their own struggles. Or maybe they are more likely to take a closer look at those around them, and like Estaline Mantz did early this morning, perhaps wonder if it could be more than just a mere human passing by.
It was while walking down a secluded foggy road in the Shenandoah Valley that I heard Estaline's distant shouts. I looked up to the side of a broad grassy hill, to the front porch of a lone white cottage, and saw a very old and tiny woman with shining hair and the bluest eyes I have ever gazed into. "Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo!" she was yelling, with an excited wave. "Young man, have you had any breakfast?"
I responded that I hadn't eaten since noon the day before and had spent the night sleeping in an abandoned farm house.
"Well, you get up here and eat breakfast!" she demanded. Both the firmness in her voice and the way she stamped her foot on the porch's floor boards made me feel like a naughty child. I went to her directly, lest she call the sheriff on me for refusing to eat any breakfast!
She lived all alone and yet did not hesitate to invite me into her simple home, where she sat me down to a huge breakfast. It seemed she could not feed me enough food to satisfy herself, and more than once I thought I caught her looking at me as if I reminded her of someone she loved dearly. Later, as I stood on the porch with my tall pack on my back, I asked her why she had invited me in, why she so readily trusted a complete stranger.
She was actually quite shy--she lowered her eyes and looked over the still misty vally as if both embarrassed and trying to collect her thoughts. After a few minutes she looked back at me and said ever so softly, "When I was a little girl, my mother used to read to me from the Bible. Her favorite passage was the one that said God sometimes sends angels to us disguised as men to test our charitableness. Well--" a slight red came to her face, "--I'm eighty-eight years old and my eyesight is not so good anymore.
"And when I looked out the screen door into the forest and saw this tall figure coming therough the fog, I could feel my heart suddenly beating faster. No one ever walks down that road so early in the morning. I watched you coming closer, and when I saw that there was something very big and long on your back, I thought surely this must be one of the angels coming to test me."
Her right hand shot up to her face, as if she might giggle. Instead, she nervously gripped her chin and continued with both frustration and relief in her voice, "I thought I was seeing wings on your shoulders. And there was no way I was going to let you go by without feeding you. For I've been so good all these many years, and--darn it!--I'm just too old now to be blowing my chance of getting into heaven.
"Why, I might never have another chance to feed an angel!"
Even though she was being very serious and sincere, there was no way to keep from having a good chuckle at her expense. After all, it wasn't every day that I got to be an angel.
When I stepped off her porch to continue my journey across Virginia's wonderfully bright green pastures, I felt extremely warm inside. Not only did I have a full stomach, but a bigger heart, too. Perhaps my chances of stepping though those pearly gates in the sky weren't all the greatest at the moment, but her's certainly were. And, how nice it was to realize I'd been one of the angels she'd stopped to help her on her path to find those gates.
Steven
Comments
I really enjoyed this heart warming story! Dave Voegle told us about your site last night. I am glad I checked it out. What a life experience you had during your travels. Thank you for sharing.
Posted by: Melissa Erhart | May 4, 2005 6:48 AM
i thought that was a funny story. thanks for coming to Mason intermediate school and telling your adventures. your movie was really enspiring. i am so glad u achieved your goal. i going to achieve my goal to by coming a cartoonist. you are a very cool guy. thanks again
p.s. sorry about your father. it must of been a sad moment!!!
if u get the chance to e-mail back please do!!!
Posted by: Taylor Bizzarro | May 13, 2005 9:33 PM