As I came up to the intersection at Airport and Duff by Lowe's, I saw two international students carrying a good sized dorm fridge across the intersection east. It must have been heavy since they kept putting it down and shaking their hands.
I was turning to go west, but I kept watching them. I kept thinking I should give them a hand, since I had a pick-up and all, but was heading the other direction, so I didn't. Well, as I drove away, I kept watching in the rear view mirror and decided to go back.
I pulled up and asked if they needed a hand, which they gratefully accepted. Since they were heading east, I figured they lived in the Billy Sunday Road apartments so I headed that way. Quickly, one of them remarked, "We live in Linden." pause. "Did you say Linden?" I asked in disbelief. The Linden dorm on campus. The Linden dorm 4 miles away. The Linden dorm no one in their right mind would walk to, let alone carry a refrigerator from Lowe's to.
I turned around and headed the other direction. We filled the 10 minutes or so with awkward conversation; they were from China, had been in Iowa a month, were majoring in Computer Science, liked it here, and were going to the football game tomorrow night.
After I had asked them about walking that far, they said they had tried calling 911 because someone told them thats who to call when they needed help. Apparently the dispatcher recommended they call a cab, but they decided instead to walk.
We arrived at Linden and they got out with much thanks. They grabbed the fridge, waved good-bye and were gone.
The selfish side of me at first didn't want to help them out, because I had things to do so I could get home, but I am glad I stopped and gave them a hand, even if it meant driving halfway across town.
And somewhere there are two guys right now sitting at home enjoying their new fridge, instead of still trying to walk it home.
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