1480 Guy

I was about to pull my van into the interstate after making my final delivery of the day. There was a raging thunderstorm going on, the kind that instantly floods the roads and highways. They happen frequently in the Spring in this part of Kentucky. My eyes fell upon a forlorn figure beside the dimly lit road in a raggedy raincoat and little else. No hat or umbrella. Just a raincoat, a small knapsack, and his hand up with his thumb pointed out. I don’t usually stop hitchhikers, and I had a million reasons not to this time, foremost were that it was late, and I was tired and hungry. But something about that sad figure in a driving rainstorm made me stop. “Where are you going mister?” I yelled out of my partly rolled down window. “Shelbyville,” he shouted back. “Shelbyville?” I replied. “That’s got to be at least 100 miles away.” “I know,” the man replied. “I would be grateful if you can get me a little closer. Maybe I can get out of this storm. It looks like it’s clearing ahead.” “You’re in luck,” I shouted back. “I’m passing the exit for Shelbyville on my way home. I can take you all the way. Hop on in back.” The man slid open the door and crawled on to the back seat. “I got a thermos full of hot coffee and some cups on the back seat. You are welcome to have some. It’s a chilly rain out there,” I said as the man nodded. “Thank you so much for your kindness. I’ve been out there for hours and was losing hope that anyone would stop.” “My name is Connor. What’s yours?” I asked. “My name is Garfield,” he said. “But everyone calls me Lefty.” Now that we were on the more brightly lit highway, I got a better look at his face in the rear-view mirror. He looked like a relatively young man, probably somewhere in his 30’s like me, but he had a weather-beaten face of an older man. Someone who spent a lot of time outdoors, probably hitchhiking or living in the streets. “So, Lefty”, I continued, “where are you from?” A slight smile curled his lips as he replied. “I live everywhere and nowhere,” he replied. “I think I’ve lived everywhere in the US and even spent a bit of time in Canada where I have some family. Everything seemed to fall apart when my wife and kids left me, and I had some problems with drinking. I’ve been sober for years now, but I’ve only been able to get occasional work here and there. I just move around getting whatever work I can. Everything I own is in this knapsack. That’s all I’ve got. I’m going to Shelbyville because I heard they are opening a big factory and a distribution center. I figure my chances of landing a job is better there than where I was.” “OK, that makes sense,” I replied. I didn’t know they built a new factory there. I’ve never been to that town. I just see the sign on the exit on my way home. “I’ve never been there either,” he said. “I just figure it’s better than where I was.” The time seemed to go fast and most of the time was quiet as Lefty dozed on and off in the back. When I finally pulled over to the side of the highway at the exit to Shelbyville, Lefty had just woken up. The rain was over, but he was still wet as he ambled out of the back. “Do you know anyone you can stay with here?” I asked. He shook his head. “No,” he said. “I’ll try to find some fleabag motel, or I’ll sleep on a bench.” “But how are you going to prepare for a job interview without a place to stay?” I asked. “Why don’t you stay at my place for the night? You can dry off, get some clean clothes, something to eat, and then I can drop you off back here early in the morning on my way to work?” Lefty vigorously shook his head. “No, no,” he said. “You’ve been more than kind enough. I don’t want to disturb your family.” “But I live alone,” I countered. “You would not be disturbing anyone. I have a spare room.” Lefty kept shaking his head. “I won’t burden you anymore. You were kind enough to drive me all the way. Thank you very much. God bless you.” He then picked up his knapsack, hoisted it on his shoulder, and turned to walk away. “Hey!” I shouted after he took a few steps. “Here’s my card,” I said as I pulled my business card out of my pocket. “Give me a call if I can do anything else for you or maybe if you just want to talk. You seem like a nice guy. Who knows? Maybe one day I’d like to talk, and you could help me through something. Life is hard and it’s nice to just talk sometimes. Maybe fate brought us together somehow.” I extended my arm as Lefty approached me. He took the card and said, “Thanks again. It was a pleasure to meet you.” As he turned away, I said, “I know you won’t call, but I thought it was worth a try.” He briefly turned his head around and smiled. “You never know. Maybe I will.”

I overslept the next morning as the alarm clock failed to wake me. I was startled awake when my dog, Squiggy, started barking by the back door. It was the time I usually let him out before getting ready for work. I guess he had a better sense of time than I did. I got up and put a collar on him when there was a loud knock on the front door. “Who’s knocking on my door at this time in the morning?” I thought as I peered through the peephole. It was my girlfriend, Barbara, and she did not seem happy judging by the scowl on her face. I opened the door with trepidation as she stepped inside. “What are doing here?” I asked. “You know this is the time I leave for work. I got up late and I’m way behind. I’m supposed to leave in ten minutes, and I haven’t even had a chance to walk the dog.” “I tried to call you, but you never answered,” she replied. “Yeah, I know," I said. “I was out like a light. Even the alarm couldn’t wake me. What’s up?” She took out her cell phone and looked at it, before looking up at me. “Who is Ann Salazar and why are you flirting with her?” she asked in an accusing tone. “I don’t know her,” I replied. “She’s just one of my Facebook friends and I probably complimented her or something.” “It sounds a lot more than just a compliment,” she yelled back while pushing her phone in front of my face. “Ann happens to be a friend of my friend, and so I know everything you said and none of it sounds innocent.” “Barabra, you’re making too big a deal of this,” I said defensively. “I never even met her. Look, I have to leave for work now. I can’t afford to be late. Can we talk about this later? I’m sorry that I upset you” “It’s too late for apologies now,” she said. “I’m just here to get my stuff and leave. I’ve had enough. It’s something that’s been building for a long time now. I can’t trust you anymore. Plus, you seem to have no ambition. When I met you five years ago, you said being a delivery driver was just a temporary thing until you got a professional job. But you never went back to college, you stayed at the same company working for peanuts, and nothing ever changes. I'm going to make something of my life. I went back and got my degree and I need someone who has an ounce of ambition. You’re never going to change, so I have to move on. She was opening drawers and going through the closets and throwing things in a bag as we were talking. “I have to go to work now,” I said with a sigh. “Take what you want and let yourself out. Goodbye.”

Several months went by after Barabara left. It was a lonely, depressing time and I wondered a lot about whether I really did lack ambition. I was getting too old to just let things slide and hope they get better. I wasn’t that far from middle age, after all. It was at this time that I got a surprise call from Lefty. He asked me to meet him at a public park near me on a Sunday. I had no idea why. He sounded happier than the last time we met and would only say he wanted to ask me something in person, not on the phone. When I arrived at the appointed time, I scanned the park and quickly spotted him sitting by himself on a bench, looking much neater than the last time. He wore a white T-shirt with a black blazer over it and a white baseball cap worn backwards. I sidled up next to him as his face brightened and a smile broadened his face. “I know you didn’t think I would call,” he said as I nodded in agreement. “You look a lot better off than the last time we met,” I said. “What going on with you?” “Things are a lot better now,” he replied. “I got lucky and got a job at the factory. It’s a union job and I make decent money. The only problem is that I can’t rent an apartment because I have bad credit. I wouldn’t mind that. I’m used to being a vagabond and roughing it. But I need proof that I have a permanent home and I wanted to show you why.” With that, he pulled a photo out of his pocket and put it on my lap. I picked it up and almost gasped. It was a picture of two of the most adorable girls I ever saw. They both had corn silk blond hair, one with a ponytail, and the other with bangs, wearing pinafore dresses. “Are they yours?” I asked. He nodded. “Those are my two precious girls. The one on the left is Lisa and the one on the right is Michelle. They were 5 and 7 when the picture was taken. That was two years ago, and I haven’t seen them since. I’ve been fighting for visitation rights, but the court won’t give them to me until I show I have a permanent place to live. That’s where you come in. Can you give me receipts that show I’ve been renting a place from you? It’s possible they will call you to verify my story, so I need you to back me up.” “Why didn’t you just ask me on the phone?” I asked. “Because I wanted to show you this,” he said pointing at the picture. I felt wistful and more than a little jealous while looking at the picture. I aways thought Barabara and I would get married and have children by now. It’s funny how I felt sorry for Lefty the first time we met and now I felt jealous of him. Lefty sensed my discomfort. “You don’t seem happy,” he said. “What happened since I saw you last?” “My girlfriend of 5 years left me. I’m stuck in a dead-end job that feels so meaningless and monotonous, and 40 is staring me right in the face,” I said. “Well, what do you want to do with your life?” he inquired. “At one time I actually wanted to be an engineer,” I said. I started college and left intending to go back one day, but I never did.” “Why not?’, he asked. “Is it the money?” I thought the question over in my head. I knew I had saved enough. “I guess I don’t think I’m really good enough to graduate and pass the license test. “How do you know if you don’t try?” he replied. I just shrugged and told him I would get him the signed receipts and give the right answers if the court ever called me. There was a long silence while I was lost in thought. He finally turned towards me and said, “Did you ever hear about the guy who got the wrong SAT score?” I shook my head and he continued. “There was a guy, probably very much like you, who struggled in high school and didn’t think he was smart enough to go to college. At his mother’s urging, he took the SAT test and was told he scored 1480 out of 1600. He realized he’s smart and decided to attend classes. His teachers and classmates noticed the difference in his behavior and attitude, and they started to treat him differently. His grades improved and he went on to an Ivy League college and eventually became a successful entrepreneur. Twelve years after receiving his SAT score, he received a letter that told him there was an error in his score. He actually scored 740, not 1480. The change happened when he believed in himself. That’s what you have to do. Start acting like a 1480 guy.”

My mind wandered in the back of the classroom of Dr. Johnson’s course on fluid mechanics when I heard a beep on my phone indicating the arrival of a new text. It was from Lefty, 6 months after we last met and 3 months after I started classes at the local college. I squinted to read the screen.

Hey Connor. Thanks to you, my wife and I have reconciled and I’m back with my family. I can’t thank you enough. How are you doing?

I typed back “Thanks to you I applied and got accepted to an engineering program. We are both better off than when we met the first time.” I hit the send button and got the thumbs up icon back. I put my phone away and a few moments later it pinged again. I took it out of my pocket, looked at the text, and smiled. It said, “I knew you could do it, 1480 guy!”