The Unthinkable. Lois A. Schaffer

have witnessed what happened, but no one was in sight. She rushed to the front of the car to see if anyone had left a note. Nothing.

      “Who the hell would do this and just walk away?” She quickly emptied the shopping cart onto the back seat, front seat, and floor and started for home. On the way, she was able to take a few deep breaths and think with a cooler head about what had happened. First, she reminded herself that cursing was pointless, as she always told her children. On the other hand, she rationalized that in this instance she was entitled to a few salty words. Second, what had happened violated her principle of personal responsibility. She considered it indefensibly irresponsible of the person who smashed her car not to have at least left a note.

      That night at dinner, she related the incident to Alvin, Sarah, and Daniel. “First, I got annoyed when I couldn’t find my car,” she said. “Then I began to worry that it might have been stolen. I was tired, hot, and pushing this heavy shopping cart.”

      “I can just imagine your frustration,” said Alvin in his usual thoughtful manner.

      “After I saw that the driver didn’t leave a note,” Susie said, “I had a few choice words for him—or her.”

      Alvin, Sarah, and Daniel smiled at each other, familiar with Susie’s outrage at injustice.

      “Yeah,” she continued, “I remember my mother telling me that resorting to gutter language was wasted energy. Better to use that energy to do whatever was needed to rectify the situation. But considering the circumstances, my mouth got the best of me. Tomorrow I’ll take the car into the service station.”

      “Bummer,” Daniel said. “Whoever backed into your car must have been driving a truck or a large van because your car isn’t a light one. That guy must have hit it pretty hard to dent it so badly.”

      Sarah laughed. “The dent makes it look like one of those steel drums you can play music on.”

      They all laughed at Sarah’s response. As a teenager, she sometimes had an odd way of looking at things.

      The car was repaired several days later. The service station attendants and mechanics had known Susie for many years and had always admired her for her kindness and energy. They also appreciated her sense of humor, teasing her about her muscles and knowing she would tease them right back.

      “Yeah,” she would say, winking and with her usual smile, “I got muscles, and you better behave yourself because if you don’t, you’ll feel my muscles in ways you don’t want to.”

      They gave her a discount for the repairs and a free loaner car. The repairmen treated Susie with respect, not unlike the responses she received from other merchants she dealt with: the local cleaners, restaurant workers, the wine merchant, the cheese store employees, and the supermarket employees. She always treated others with the friendly respect that was second nature to her, and people always responded in kind. Over the years, she had built strong, warm relationships with everyone she came into contact with. People would see her and rush over to give her a hug. It was obvious why she elicited these feelings. Susie was genuinely interested in their lives and families and listened keenly to them when they confided in her.