CHAD

Chad was about in his early twenties when he realized that he was never going to amount to much.  Both parents had left him. His Mother died when he was just a baby and his Dad abandoned him shortly after that.  He lived from foster home to foster home until his eighteenth birthday at which time he was told to get out and make it on his own.  The only thing he had ever really learned was that nobody cared about him and never would.  Chad wasn’t dumb but good luck didn’t seem to like him much. He did graduate from high school where his education ended.  So he went to work at a large grocery outfit where he separated vegetables getting them ready for delivery.  Lots of work but not much pay.  He made just enough to pay for a small apartment that had a bed, a table, a chair and a window where he could look out and dream about perhaps better days ahead.  Each day was about the same: work, go home, dream, sleep and go back to work. 

                Chad somehow found ways to make himself smile.  He enjoyed reading and the library books were free.  He enjoyed watching baseball so he spent many hours in the summer watching little league games.  Because they were free.  Girls were out of the question because he was always afraid to ask any of them out.  They were not free.  So he read books about baseball and dreamed that someday he would be able to see a major league game.  But when he found out how much such a ticket would cost he decided that he had found another dream that never would come true.

                Then he got the thought!  He would find a second job and save enough money to buy a ticket.  And he did.  He got a job cleaning floors at the local food distribution center where his company normally sent foodstuff.  He intended to work there only as long as it took to buy that ticket and hopefully would have enough left over to buy a hotdog and a coke.  It took him four and a half weeks but for the first time in his life he was seeing one of his dreams come true.

                The day came.  He had to walk to the stadium which took him over three hours but he knew it would be worth it.  He got up early in the morning so he would not be late for the game.  Happy, happy, happy!  When he got there he decided to pause just outside of the stadium and enjoy watching the others march in.  Everyone was going to enjoy the game.  While he was sitting he noticed a lot of different happenings.  Some people were telling their kids to stop this or that or they were going back home.  None of them did, however.  Chad started to go on in when he observed a small boy around nine or so trying to sneak in but was caught and send on out.  The boy came over near Chad and sat down on a rock and just looked sad.  Chad asked him what was bothering him although he already knew.  The boy had tears in his eyes when he explained to Chad that he was alone in the world and nobody cared anyway.  He told Chad that he wouldn’t understand that but Chad was well aware exactly what this boy was going through.  After all, he had been there.

                “Can’t your Dad buy you a ticket?” Chad wanted to know.

                “Ain’t got no Dad. I live in a foster home and they hate me I think.”

                Chad could not leave the boy now.  And as much as he wanted to see the game he was not going to let the boy go home thinking that nobody cared about him.  He took the boy by the hand and led him to the entrance gate where he handed the ticket collector his ticket and sent the boy in.  The boy ran without looking back.

                “You just wasted your money on a no good young sneak”, the ticket collector snarled.

                Chad went home happy!

                Years went by and Chad did do somewhat better.  He got a better job and even met a girl who seemed to see him for who he was rather than what he thought he should be. He never asked her out because he didn’t feel worthy.  She asked him.  And it wasn’t too long before Chad realized that he wanted to live the rest of his life with her.  That could never be, he thought.  Even though he made better money than he once did he still didn’t make enough to support such a fine girl as Sarah.  But Sarah didn’t see it that way.  She had a small job, too so of course that should be enough.  So she asked him to marry her.  Chad thought that was sort of strange but there was no way he could think of to say no.  So he said yes.  And the wedding was planned.  They would get married as cheaply as possible and then live happily ever after.  That worried Chad almost out of his mind.  After all no one had ever cared even a little bit about him and now he was marrying a princess.  So he did what any sweet thinking man would do.  He fainted.

                Sarah knew that his passing out was not good so she called a doctor.  And after a series of tests they were told that he had a disease that neither of them could pronounce.  The doctor told them that he would need an operation that only a few surgeons were able to do and that it was unlikely that he would be able to find one that would work on a patient who couldn’t even afford insurance.  And Chad certainly didn’t have any of that anyway. 

                Sarah called every doctor who was listed for that type of operation to no avail.  And she then wrote each one a letter trying to get one to help.  She told them how Chad had grown up thinking no one cared and rested on the hope that one of them might. She was about to give up when she got a response from a Dr. Arthur Wellington who said only that he agreed to do the operation but little more.

                The operation was a success and after some two months of rehab he was discharged from the hospital fully cured. But now the hard part:  Chad could not sleep because of worry about the bills.  There would be not only the doctor’s bill but the ones from the hospital.  Chad was looking forward to a lifetime of debt and he knew it.  So he would just tell Sarah that she should find a more suitable partner for a husband.

                “We are already married, you nut, let’s go home.”  They started down the steps to leave the hospital.  They would just tell the woman at the desk that they would pay them what they could each month for the rest of their lives. When they got to the checkout desk the nurse there handed Chad a letter.  “They are afraid to tell what the bill is so they have put it in an envelope so I can read it when we get home.  That way if I pass out again they will have no responsibility about it.”

                Sarah couldn’t wait.  She opened the envelope.  It was not a bill but a letter.  Sarah read it to herself first and then started crying as she passed it on to Chad.

                The letter:

Dear Chad,

                I hope it is all right to address you by your first name.  You see I have never known your last name.  You perhaps will not remember me.  But maybe you will recall our meeting some years back.   I was an orphan boy who had lost all faith in manhood.  I was certain that no one on this earth really cared.  But God led me to a baseball game that I had no ticket for and no way of ever seeing the game.  I tried to sneak in but was caught and ushered out.  That is when I met you.  You showed me more love than I had ever received before.  You gave me your ticket.  I think of that act of kindness almost every day and have wondered for years if I would ever get an opportunity to thank you for that kind deed.

                When I got the letter from Sarah she told that story simply trying to explain to whoever was reading that you were worth doing something for.   She also told that you had worked a second job for more than four weeks to earn the money for that ticket.  And you gave it to me.

                I don’t remember much about the game.  What I do remember is that there was someone who showed that there are people who do in fact care and you were willing to sacrifice to the point that I could have a returned faith in my fellow man.

                I am truly indebted to you.  You have done far more for me than I could ever do for you.  Although I want to do more I have paid your hospital bills and please accept my services at no cost to you.  Your kindness actually gave me a new life.  Thank you!

Sincerely,

Your friend,

Dr. Arthur Wellington