George's hearwarming story

[Squishy0405]

The old man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve.
He hadn't been anywhere in years since his wife had passed away.
It was just another day to him. He didn't hate Christmas, just
couldn't find a reason to celebrate. He was sitting there
looking at the snow that had been falling for the last hour and
wondering what it was all about when the door opened and a
homeless man stepped through.

Instead of throwing the man out, Old George as he was known
by his customers, told the man to come and sit by the heater and
warm up. "Thank you, but I don't mean to intrude," said the
stranger. "I see you're busy, I'll just go." "Not without
something hot in your belly." George said. He turned and opened
a wide mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger. "It ain't
much, but it's hot and tasty, "Stew ... made it myself. When
you're done, there's coffee and it's fresh."

Just at that moment he heard the "ding" of the driveway
bell. "Excuse me, be right back," George said. There in the
driveway was an old '53 Chevy. Steam was rolling out of the
front. The driver was panicked. "Mister can you help me!" said
the driver, with a deep Spanish accent. "My wife is with child
and my car is broken."

George opened the hood. It was bad. The block looked cracked
from the cold, the car was dead. "You ain't going in this
thing," George said as he turned away.

"But Mister, please help ..." The door of the office closed
behind George as he went inside. He went to the office wall and
got the keys to his old truck, and went back outside. He walked
around the building, opened the garage, started the truck and
drove it around to where the couple was waiting. "Here, take my
truck," he said. "She ain't the best thing you ever looked at,
but she runs real good."

George helped put the woman in the truck and watched as it
sped off into the night. He turned and walked back inside the
office. "Glad I gave 'em the truck, their tires were shot too.
That 'ol truck has brand new ........" George thought he was
talking to the stranger, but the man had gone. The Thermos was
on the desk, empty, with a used coffee cup beside it. "Well, at
least he got something in his belly," George thought.

George went back outside to see if the old Chevy would
start. It cranked slowly, but it started. He pulled it into the
garage where the truck had been. He thought he would tinker with
it for something to do. Christmas Eve meant no customers. He
discovered the block hadn't cracked, it was just the bottom
hose on the radiator. "Well, shoot, I can fix this," he said to
himself. So he put a new one on. Those tires ain't gonna get
'em through the winter either." He took the snow treads off of
his wife's old Lincoln. They were like new and he wasn't going
to drive the car anyway.

As he was working, he heard shots being fired. He ran
outside and beside a police car an officer lay on the cold
ground. Bleeding from the left shoulder, the officer moaned,
"Please help me." George helped the officer inside as he
remembered the training he had received in the Army as a medic.
He knew the wound needed attention. "Pressure to stop the
bleeding," he thought. The uniform company had been there that
morning and had left clean shop towels. He used those and duct
tape to bind the wound. "Hey, they say duct tape can fix
anythin'," he said, trying to make the policeman feel at ease.

"Something for pain," George thought. All he had was the
pills he used for his back. "These ought to work." He put some
water in a cup and gave the policeman the pills. "You hang in
there, I'm going to get you an ambulance." The phone was dead.
"Maybe I can get one of your buddies on that there talk box out
in your car." He went out only to find that a bullet had gone
into the dashboard destroying the two way radio.

He went back in to find the policeman sitting up. "Thanks,"
said the officer. "You could have left me there. The guy that
shot me is still in the area." George sat down beside him, "I
would never leave an injured man in the Army and I ain't gonna
leave you." George pulled back the bandage to check for
bleeding. "Looks worse than what it is. Bullet passed right
through 'ya. Good thing it missed the important stuff though. I
think with time your gonna be right as rain."

George got up and poured a cup of coffee. "How do you take
it?" he asked. "None for me," said the officer. "Oh, yer gonna
drink this. Best in the city. Too bad I ain't got no donuts."
The officer laughed and winced at the same time.

The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man
with a gun. "Give me all your cash! Do it now!" the young man
yelled. His hand was shaking and George could tell that he had
never done anything like this before.

"That's the guy that shot me!" exclaimed the officer.

"Son, why are you doing this?" asked George, "You need to
put the cannon away. Somebody else might get hurt." The young
man was confused. "Shut up old man, or I'll shoot you, too. Now
give me the cash!"

The cop was reaching for his gun. "Put that thing away,"
George said to the cop, "we got one too many in here now." He
turned his attention to the young man. "Son, it's Christmas Eve.
If you need money, well then, here. It ain't much but it's all I
got. Now put that pee shooter away."

George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the
young man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time.
The young man released his grip on the gun, fell to his knees
and began to cry. "I'm not very good at this am I? All I wanted
was to buy something for my wife and son," he went on. "I've
lost my job, my rent is due, my car got repossessed last week
..."

George handed the gun to the cop. Son, we all get in a bit
of squeeze now and then. The road gets hard sometimes, but we
make it through the best we can."

He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a
chair across from the cop. "Sometimes we do stupid things."
George handed the young man a cup of coffee. "Bein' stupid is
one of the things that makes us human. Comin' in here with a gun
ain't the answer. Now sit there and get warm and we'll sort this
thing out."

The young man had stopped crying. He looked over to the cop.
"Sorry I shot you. It just went off. I'm sorry officer." "Shut
up and drink your coffee." the cop said.

George could hear the sounds of sirens outside. A police car
and an ambulance skidded to a halt. Two cops came through the
door, guns drawn. "Chuck! You ok?" one of the cops asked the
wounded officer.

"Not bad for a guy who took a bullet. How did you find me?"
"GPS locator in the car. Best thing since sliced bread. Who did
this?" the other cop asked as he approached the young man.
Chuck answered him, "I don't know. The guy ran off into the
dark. Just dropped his gun and ran."

George and the young man both looked puzzled at each other.
"That guy work here?," the wounded cop continued. "Yep," George
said, "just hired him this morning. Boy lost his job."

The paramedics came in and loaded Chuck onto the stretcher.
The young man leaned over the wounded cop and whispered, "Why?"
Chuck just said, "Merry Christmas boy ... and you too, George,
and thanks for everything." "Well, looks like you got one doozy
of a break there. That ought to solve some of your problems."

George went into the back room and came out with a box. He
pulled out a ring box. "Here you go, something for the little
woman. I don't think Martha would mind. She said it would come
in handy some day."

The young man looked inside to see the biggest diamond ring
he ever saw. "I can't take this," said the young man. "It means
something to you." "And now it means something to you," replied
George. "I got my memories. That's all I need."

George reached into the box again. An airplane, a car and a
truck appeared next. They were toys that the oil company had
left for him to sell. "Here's something for that little man of
yours."

The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150
that the old man had handed him earlier. "And what are you
supposed to buy Christmas dinner with? You keep that too,"
George said, "Now git home to your family."

The young man turned with tears streaming down his face.
"I'll be here in the morning for work, if that job offer is
still good." "Nope. I'm closed Christmas day," George said.
"See ya the day after."

George turned around to find that the stranger had returned.
"Where'd you come from? I thought you left?" "I have been here.
I have always been here," said the stranger. "You say you don't
celebrate Christmas. Why?"

"Well, after my wife passed away, I just couldn't see what
all the bother was. Puttin' up a tree and all seemed a waste of
a good pine tree. Bakin' cookies like I used to with Martha just
wasn't the same by myself and besides I was gettin' a little
chubby."

The stranger put his hand on George's shoulder. "But you do
celebrate the holiday, George. You gave me food and drink and
warmed me when I was cold and hungry. The woman with child will
bear a son and he will become a great doctor. The policeman you
helped will go on to save 19 people from being killed by
terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a
rich man and not take any for himself. "That is the spirit of
the season and you keep it as good as any man."

George was taken aback by all this stranger had said. "And
how do you know all this?" asked the old man. "Trust me, George.
I have the inside track on this sort of thing. And when your
days are done you will be with Martha again."

The stranger moved toward the door. "If you will excuse me,
George, I have to go now. I have to go home where there is a big
celebration planned."

George watched as the old leather jacket and the torn pants
that the stranger was wearing turned into a white robe. A golden
light began to fill the room. "You see, George ... it's My
birthday. Merry Christmas."

George fell to his knees and replied, "Happy Birthday,
Lord."

[inkrose115]

Wait... I thought no one knew the actual date of Jesus' birth. Doesn't that make it his unbirthday?

[We'veBeenHad]

I think Tolstoy did this a lot better.

Now put that pee shooter away.

Nice mental image there.

The moral of this story, then is that if you get into financial trouble, go out and commit armed robbery and shoot cops...you won't go to jail but you'll be rewarded with diamond rings and jobs. Nice, real nice.

Now put that pee shooter away.

The kid didn't have a gun; he had a Super-Soaker.

I'll get it:

[inkrose115]

Originally Posted by Zamboni_Rodeo

The kid didn't have a gun; he had a Super-Soaker.

Great, now I got a horrible mental image stuck in my head. Reminds me of the time I had to inform someone who lived in a warm, snowless climate what huskies had to do with 'yellow snow'. I think he thought it was like a lemon flavored snowcone. Baaaaaad mental image.

[Spamamander]

Originally Posted by Zamboni_Rodeo

The kid didn't have a gun; he had a Super-Soaker.

I'll get it:

There's always a friend's prank of going into an adult theater and shooting off super-soakers of warmed hand lotion...

[inkrose115]

Originally Posted by Spamamander

There's always a friend's prank of going into an adult theater and shooting off super-soakers of warmed hand lotion...

Oh noes. Don't give a college student any ideas.

[SatansHobbit]

George-a-chow on ye olde board.

[ARubberChickenWithAPulley]

"I'm not very good at this am I? All I wanted
was to buy something for my wife and son," he went on. "I've
lost my job, my rent is due, my car got repossessed last week

I think he ripped this off from a country song.

[High Eight]

"I'm not very good at this am I? All I wanted
was to buy something for my wife and son," he went on. "I've
lost my job, my rent is due, my car got repossessed last week

Originally Posted by ARubberChickenWithAPulley

I think he ripped this off from a country song.

No, if it was a country song, there'd be a dead dog in there somewhere.....

[Fantine]

Originally Posted by Squishy0405

The woman with child will
bear a son and he will become a great doctor. The policeman you
helped will go on to save 19 people from being killed by
terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a
rich man and not take any for himself.

So the stranger was.... Sam Becket?

[Brad from Georgia]

Originally Posted by High Eight

"I'm not very good at this am I? All I wanted
was to buy something for my wife and son," he went on. "I've
lost my job, my rent is due, my car got repossessed last week



No, if it was a country song, there'd be a dead dog in there somewhere.....

"I'm not very good at this am I? All I wanted
was to buy a dead dog for my wife and son," he went on.

Happy now?

[carter108]

It is so heartworming!

[Ramblin' Dave]

Whew. When I saw the title, I envisioned something about George W.M.D. Bush outgrowing his humble beginnings to save the world from Saddam.

[Beastly Despot]

Wait.

What was Jesus doing there in the first place? Checking up on George to make sure he celebrates Christmas? Just passing through? Helping (did he actually help in any way?)?

This is just weird.

Originally Posted by Beastly Despot

Wait.

What was Jesus doing there in the first place? Checking up on George to make sure he celebrates Christmas? Just passing through? Helping (did he actually help in any way?)?

This is just weird.

No, Jesus was out shooting cops. Duh.

[Rebochan]

I remember this from the old boards! And how did I remember such an old post? Because it STILL makes a reference to a "pee shooter". Juvenile spelling jokes FTW!

Haha. George and Martha. I had no idea the founders of our country lived on in such nonsense. See? Americans + Jesus = Perfection!!