He was on his way home in the late afternoon, driving slowly through a raging storm.
He was listening to severe weather reports on his radio. Rain was lashing his windscreen and his wipers were on the fastest setting. From time to time heavy winds were buffeting the side of his car. Up ahead he could see people cowering for shelter at a bus stop. He had heard on the radio that many bus services were not running owing to breakdowns and bad weather. As he drew closer he could make out two men and a woman. He recognised his neighbour, who he knows doesn’t own a mobile phone, but who had recently stopped, coming to his rescue, when his own car broke down. He didn’t recognise the other two.
He pulled up to them as close as possible and wound his window down partway. They could all see that his sports car had only one passenger seat. Shouting back and forth, it was established that the other man was the owner of the coffee house in town who had come out without his wallet or his phone. The woman was elderly and was looking poorly. They explained that she had been taken sick while waiting for the bus and was in urgent need of an ambulance. Knowing that he could only take one, he knew he was in a moral dilemma and his choice was clear. First take the old lady to hospital and return for his neighbour, who he would take home, then he could return for the stranger and take him to wherever he needed to get to.
Despite the urgency of the situation, he paused for a few beats to think again. His recent reading of Edward de Bono’s book on lateral thinking came to mind. He yelled out his plan to have his neighbour drive the woman to hospital and then return his car home, while he would call and wait for a taxi with the other man. They all nodded.
As they watched the car pull away, speaking loudly against the noisy conditions, the stranger explained that he hadn’t wanted to drive in the bad weather. He said he’d been on his way to visit his daughter, who was expecting her first baby in a week or two. He explained where that was and asked if that was OK.
The other smiled and nodded.
The stranger called out, “Drop me there and I’ll serve you a free coffee whenever you visit my café.”
“Do you do cappuccinos?”
“I do.”
He took out his phone to call for a taxi and shouted, “You’re on!”