I just remembered an ol' gal
She musta been pushing a 100
Miss McBroom
It wasn't Christmas time, but it involved the spirit of giving
First saw her with wunna those two wheel carts folks use when walking to and from the store.
On it was a sign
Ride Needed
She had on a huge old coat, baseball cap, and tennis shoes
Trudging slowly
Couldn't help but stop
We were rather poverty stricken at the time, and our old Rambler's back seat was a bit dysfunctional,
so we put her cart back there, and my lady found a place to seat herself beside it
Took a bit to get the ol' gal in the front seat (dead weight is heavy)
Anyway, we got her to where she wanted let off...at the end of a road
Did this a couple times
The third time I asked her if we could actually take her all the way home
The place was horrific
Piled to the ceiling
She told us she never took a ride all the way home because someone might have her put in
'wunna those human vegetable places'
But thought we weren't like that, so here we are
We managed to find a place to sit
The ol' gal had many stories about her place in the Appalachians where she grew up
Never married
She mentioned her favorite song
It's a Christmas song, I've been told
I Wonder as I Wander
It didn't mean so much to me at the time
But, took what little extra money we had, and bought a cassette tape of it
Took it over to her
We sat outside her little one room shack, and I played the song for her
She immediately became touched
She was quiet for bit
Then
Looked up
Tears streaming down her craggy old face, she thanked us with all of what was left of her heart
When we got ready to leave, I thought, well how in hell is she gonna play the cassette?
So, we left her the player
We did take her to our place for Thanksgiving that year
Then
Shortly after
lost track of her
Somebody told us she'd been put in a rest home
I hope she gave them hell
Here's the song