My New Friend Christa*

Walking is one of my favorite ways to be active and of getting places. Before COVID-19 I walked to work every morning and back home in the afternoons. On Bumble, I met my friend Reesha and we started walking our neighborhood in the afternoons.

It became one of the parts of my day I looked forward to the most. One, because Reesha is great to talk to and two, because something always happens when we walk together.

One particular evening a couple of weeks ago, Reesha and I decided to walk the trails in the Miami Springs golf course. We spotted not one, not two, not three but FOUR foxes just prancing around the grounds. We thought "oh wow for sure always something cool happens when we go out to walk." But we didn't know what the evening had in store.

As we neared the end of our walk, I spotted a woman walking about half a block ahead of us. It was dark but I thought I saw her stumbling and asked Reesha if she saw the same. She did not but when we got some feet closer, Reesha realized that the woman was indeed stumbling around. First. I suggested that we hang back and let her get a little further away in case she was a zombie but also so we could keep our social distance from a (more likely) drunk lady not wearing a mask.

But then I re-thought the situation and decided that maybe it was best we help because that's the right thing to do and because I would be really annoyed with myself later if I didn't help. So for purely selfish reasons lol.

We ended up getting to Christa* just as she fell to the floor. She was deeply embarrassed about falling and kept insisting she could walk home which was still a couple of miles from where we were. Reesha and I discussed and decided we should get her an Uber so she could get home safe. So we did and waited with her while the car came and then put her in the car when it arrived. Up to that point we were feeling pretty good.

Then the driver asked me "did you call the car?" I said I had. "Do you know what happens if she throws up?" No. "You have to pay a fee." Okay. "It's a $200 cleaning fee." Oh well let's hope she doesn't throw up. "You ever heard the saying 'no good deed goes unnoticed'?" Yes. "Well I have a similar one, 'no good deed goes unpunished'."

I almost cried because, friends, ya'll know I'm broke.

So Reesha said: "Let's drive to the lady's house and make sure she's okay!" And we ran to Reesha's car. And we drove to our new friend's house. And she was okay. And I didn't have to pay a $200 cleaning fee. And now all three of us go walking in the afternoons.

*name changed to protect identity.