Hit and Run! (And Good Karma Pays Back)


Bad news: last night my car was hit by a hit-and-run driver. Good news... read on

The bad news is that some time last night someone hit my car, which was parked on the street, and drove off.

The good news is that someone else, some sweet angel, got the license plate number, talked to a downstairs neighbor to find out whom the car belonged to, and left a note in my mailbox with the plate number and her phone number. I don't know who she is yet -- dialed the number and left a message.

I can't help but think that the good news part of this story is the result of good karma I earned back in the late 1980s. I was living in Iowa City then, going to graduate school at the University of Iowa. I had gone grocery shopping one Saturday and was returning to my car when I saw someone slam into another vehicle (a brand new stationwagon) in the parking lot, causing serious damage. The driver then backed up and drove off.

I was incensed. My first thought was of how awful it would be to have something like that happen to me. So I hopped into my own car and followed that driver, memorizing the license plate number as I drove in case I lost track of the car before I was able to stop and write it down. I followed it all the way to the driver's residence, then wrote down the license plate and the address where it was parked. I then returned to the store parking lot and was writing down the information, along with my name and phone number, when the owners of the stationwagon came out.

Of course at first they thought I was the one who had hit their car. But then I explained what had happened and gave them the information I had obtained. When the police called me later, I provided my witness statement. They told me that the woman who was driving the car was elderly, and she insisted she did not know she had hit anyone, that she didn't hear the impact.

I laughed sarcastically and said, "Right. She must be deaf then, because it was very loud." Besides, how could she not know? Even if she didn't hear the impact, she must have felt it. They decided not to press charges against her, however. I guess being elderly gets you out of a lot of hot water. (Something for me to look forward to, I suppose!)

Some weeks later I received a thank-you card in the mail from the owners of the stationwagon. Inside was a gift certificate for $20 to the Baskin Robbins Ice Cream store. Since I was on a diet at the time, I didn't use it for myself, but my then-teenage daughter treated several of her friends. The stationwagon owner said the police had told her how unusual it was for someone to do what I had done.

Pay it forward, and it comes back to you eventually.

I wonder if my angel likes ice cream.

Posted: Sat - February 28, 2004 at 09:24 AM          

©