Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Sarah Haupt’s Inspiration

On a Friday morning, a few years ago, as I was preparing to leave for a trip to Agua Prieta, Sarah, my wife, asked me if I had enough money for the trip. Looking in my billfold I told her that I had enough, I had seventy-one dollars in my billfold. Sarah said that she thought I should take more so she went into another room and returned with four hundred dollars. This was the first time in our married life (fifty plus years) that she had done such a thing. I didn't feel that I
needed any more money and absolutely not that much. Sarah insisted that I take it and if it wasn't needed to bring it back. Reluctantly, I agreed to her wishes.

By appointment I met Norma, my interpreter, in Douglas and we decided to take separate vehicles into Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico (a town right on the border separated from Douglas, Arizona by a fence) as each of us had other matters to attend to after my need for Spanish
interpretation was completed. After several stops I felt that I no longer needed her assistance, as there were just two more deliveries for me to make so we went our separate ways. My first stop was one of my regular stops and it went well so I drove on to my last stop. This was to take a bicycle to Enrique, a gentleman that needed transportation to get to his new job. As I was unloading the bicycle, Norma came driving up at high speed. She quickly alighted and said that she was glad that she had caught me. She explained to me that Enrique had not paid on his lot since losing his job several months past and that he and his family must pay the entire balance by Monday or they would be evicted. I asked Norma to find out how much was due. She was told four hundred and seventy dollars. I returned home with one dollar. Needless to say there were tears in everyone's eyes.

A postscript: A few weeks later we were able to cross a donated mobile home to this family. The parents and three children had been living in a small pickup camper. They never complained, as this was much better than their neighbor's homes.