After a hard day at work, a young man was on his way home. It was hot that day and he wanted nothing more than a cold drink and a shower. He drove home his usual route and came upon a car pulled off along the highway. An elderly lady was out of the car looking at her flat tire. He slowed down and pulled over behind the car. He walked up to the lady and asked. “Need some help?”

“It seems I have a flat tire and I don’t even know where the spare tire or the jack is at. “My husband who recently passed away always took care of those kinds of things,” she told him as he saw her begin to tear up.  

“Well, my name is Jake and these new cars have the tire either in a rear compartment or underneath the car, let me check,” he told her. He opened the back hatch and found the jack and the spare. “Here it is, I’ll have this fixed in a jiffy.”  He went right to work and had it done in about 15 minutes.

“That was fast. How much do I owe you, Jake?” she asked.

“No, Ma’am, I can’t take any money, you just pay it forward to someone that you come upon that needs help. That will be thanks enough.”

The woman thanked him and told him she would do that and went about her way.

A few miles down the road, she decided to stop at a diner for a snack and something to drink. As she sat down, a very pregnant waitress came to her booth with a big smile on her face. “Hello, Ma’am. What can I get for you this evening?”

“I think I will have a piece of that cherry pie in the case and a cup of coffee.” 

“Yes, Ma’am, coming right up.” When she brought the pie and coffee the woman asked her, “When are you due, It looks like soon.”

“This week sometime,” she told her patting her oversize stomach.

“You should be home, off your feet, dear.”

“Well, I can’t really take the time off, we need the money. I’ve been saving my tips for months, just so that I can be home with the baby for a couple of weeks.”

The waitress gave her the bill, smiled and went about her duties. The elderly lady looked at the bill and took out her wallet and left the money under the check before she exited the cafe. Later the waitress came over to clean the table and pick up the money for the bill. There under the check were five $100 bills and on the napkin was written, “For you and the baby, I’m paying it forward.”

After her shift that night, excited to tell her husband what had happened, she went into the bedroom and slipped quietly into bed. You’ll never guess what happened tonight, Jake,” she said as she began to tell him about the lady that left her a $500 tip.