"Push Me - Pull Me"
by Allen Herman

Tale I

In the past I traveled to Clarksburg, West Virginia to visit a Dr. B. He was a great client and purchased huge orders of optical frames for his patients. I visited him a large number of times and he was one of my favorite accounts. In a sentence, he purchased every time I visited, paid promptly and both he and his wife were just plain fun to be with.

Except one time.

He and his wife were quite prominent. He was successful, had a very large multi-office practice, was active in the community and involved in many many charitable programs. The week before my visit he and his wife went out to dinner after working in a community sell off.

They dined in one of the area’s most expensive restaurants. After dessert, before leaving, Mrs. B. excused herself and visited the lady’s room. As she was "doing what you do" in a bathroom a hand appeared under the metal partition and grabbed her hand bag. Before the startled woman could react the culprit was gone.

Obviously the woman was upset … perhaps hysterical is a better word. The police were called, the restaurant personnel did everything possible to assist the woman and calmed her down. The police were also quite considerate. Finally the very upset woman and her husband went home.

At three in the morning, just after they had literally gone to sleep the phone rang. The woman who had stolen her bag was on the phone. She was crying and sobbing, and more upset than Mrs. B. She was totally out of control. It took her several minutes to ultimately say what she had wanted to say.

She had lost her husband in Vietnam. Uncle Sam had been of little assistance and many people in the area viewed the men who went to Vietnam as monsters. The woman had little sympathy nor support from many people and she was struggling to provide for herself and her four young children.

Earlier in the evening she had taken her children to the emergency room because they were ill and she had little money. The hospital staff was great and took wonderful care of her children. They had given her prescriptions for the kids to take to the nearby pharmacy. As she had no money … certainly not enough for the four medications she required … the "chain" pharmacy turned her down.

She had gone into the restaurant to compose herself and use the facilities. When she saw Mrs. B. enter the bathroom she had made the stupid decision to steal her bag. She knew that it was an upscale restaurant and that she was the wife of a rich and prominent doctor. Now that her kids had their medications she realized that she eventually would be caught and sent to jail. "Who would take care of her children?"she screamed.

At this point she cried uncontrollably and said that she was going to go back to the restaurant the following evening and return the bag … minus the twenty four
dollars and eleven cents she had used to fill the prescriptions. She promised to return this balance when she found employment.

She begged Mrs. B. to forgive her and not press charges. In fact, she was going to be there at eight o’clock to "face the music" because she couldn’t live the rest of her life in fear. Further, at some point, as a G-d fearing Christian, she would have to answer to the Lord.

The couple immediately called the police … and then they had one of the biggest fights … excuse me … disagreements of their thirty one year marriage. Dr. B. said it was a scam and the cops should grab her and throw the book at her. He was furious and would not listen. Mrs. B. had a totally different view.

She argued that they had become wealthy, living in a beautiful home, wearing the newest clothing, driving the fanciest cars and taking wonderful vacations. They had forgotten what it was like when he was just getting out of medical school and they were up to their kazoos in debt. She urged her husband to remember those times

She demanded not only that they forgive the woman, she insisted they help her through this terrible period. In fact, Mrs. B. went so far as to demand her husband find or even make a job for her in one of his four offices. She reasoned that he could certainly use another helper and that he could afford it. The Lord would bless him for doing a decent thing.

The argument continued in the morning and at lunch time. Just before noon the woman called again to confirm that she would be there at eight and begged them not to have her arrested. Round two began before the phone was cradled.

At eight sharp, the B's were at the restaurant still arguing, only to be met by two plain clothed officers who joined the debate. At eight fifteen the woman called the restaurant to say that she was running late and would be there in ten minutes. Finally, at nine thirty Dr. B. announced that he had had enough and against his wife’s wishes, they went home.

Their house had been stripped. Furniture… jewelry… personal possessions… appliances… everything but their "brave" guard dog was gone. The thieves had been so thorough that just the dust on the woodwork had not been taken! They had more than Mrs. B’s wallet, they had her address and her keys. Worst of all, they had destroyed the woman's charitable side.

The following day the B's … now wiser… contacted the credit card companies and just about everyone else they could think of. They were too late. Their cards had been clobbered and a new car had even been purchased using the Doctor's name. For months they were plagued with credit problems and bill collectors and involvement with the police. 

SO MUCH FOR GOOD INTENTIONS.

Tale II

One or two days after 9/11 a junior high school student was walking home from middle school when he noticed an elderly woman climbing on the roof of her home. He stopped in his tracks, concerned about the well-being of this aged person. Then he noticed that she was attempting to hang a flag atop the first level of her split level home.

After yelling up to her and learning of her motive he decided to climb the latter and help her. In quick order the flag waved in the air and the woman invited the youth into her home for a sandwich. They spoke for awhile, she thanked him for his assistance and he went home.

That evening he spoke to his Dad about the incident.  He mentioned that while he was on the roof assisting her he discovered that her flag was very old … and out of date. Her ancient flag had but forty-eight stars. At first he had wanted to say something but had kept silent, not wanting to hurt her feelings.

Ultimately he decided that it would not be nice to not correct her. He liked her and didn’t want her to embarrass herself. So he returned and politely informed her of her error.  What puzzled the boy was her reaction. She just smiled and continued on with their conversation. She never responded to his polite correction.

Days went by and he again went to his dad.  He had stopped to see their neighbor one more time. The woman had “sort of answered” his question. The flag she had hung from the roof was indeed old.  It was from World War II. Her husband, she claimed, had  been very brave and had been killed in action on an island called Guada-something.

As a result of his actions she had been invited to the Nation’s Capital to receive this special flag from a man in a wheelchair.  She had kept this flag in her night stand all of the years in the very box that it was presented in. After 9/11 she decided it was time to unfurl it. Patriotism, she claimed, was again in vogue. And once again, she believed her husband could help his beloved nation. And so the flag flew for one more campaign.

The father immediately realized that her husband was not one of the many causalities this nation had sustained during this huge battle. This man was a very special casualty, a posthumous recipient of  the Congressional Medal of Honor.  And the man in the wheelchair was none other than the President of the United States … Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The flag, and the man, were indeed special.

After that the boy became a frequent visitor.  After school he would stop. He always wanted to make sure than she had what she needed. If his parents were going to the market he would ask her if she had any items she might need. He made sure her driveway was cleared after snow storms and… for a lack of a better description… kept an eye out for her.

As time went on the connection grew stronger. He stopped in frequently on his way home from school and she always had an "extra" meal for him.  But more than that she began to discuss her life. It was fascinating. And the youth just couldn’t learn enough.

Her husband had been born in a small town near Dunbarton, West Virginia. The Great Depression had devastated his family. Times got so bad that his parents had sold him… you read that right… sold him to a steel factory near Pittsburgh. He had worked in almost slave-like conditions.

At some point he was trained as a tool and die maker.

A friend in the Mill had taught him how to read and when he saw an ad for a tool and tie maker in nearby Washington, PA, he was gone. After working in this paying position for about two years he met his wife and they married. Eight weeks after they said "I do" the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

He enlisted immediately. She never saw him again. He was the Love of Her Life and she never married again. As the widow of such a man, she never went wanting financially and she remained single.

From time to time she would venture out of her home and take short walks about the neighborhood. Often she met the boy's parents and went on and on about their special son. She couldn't say enough nice things about him. It appeared that she loved him as much as they did.

Then one day she paid them an official visit. After a grueling set of tests and a four day ordeal in the local hospital she had learned that she was very ill. In fact she was told that her days were numbered and that she had best get her affairs in order. She had told them this for just one reason, she wanted them to know that she had left a small “something” for their son.  They protested but her mind was made up.

After a lengthy battle she passed away.  The family had visited her frequently during the ordeal and attended the sparsely attended funeral. The youth took it very hard. He really had come to love this woman who was so different than anyone he had ever met. He had so many more questions he wanted to ask.

Six weeks later, almost to the day, the father received a phone call from a lawyer in a small town in Kentucky. Their neighbor had mentioned their son in her will. The father suggested the lawyer mail what ever she had left for his son. Most important, she had left him with memories and wonderful feelings. Nothing more was necessary.

The lawyer’s response stunned the man. He actually had to sit down. The man in Kentucky knew the woman well and knew how much more pleasant her final years were because of the family. But, there was no way he could mail eight homes and an apartment house to the boy.

"Perhaps," he suggested, "you should come to Kentucky and see what you can acquire by being nice."

Allen Herman
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