I have to say that in spite of the culture clash, if you ever find yourself in real trouble, pray for a local to come by.
Our latest rental is in a pastoral mountain valley that is so
long, you almost need a passport to get out. Lots of locals live in this valley and know each other. Tonight I met some of them.
I was returning from an errand and had just entered the beginning of the valley road. I thought I ran over something, so I pulled over to the side of the road. I got out of the car, forgetting to put it in "Park" and the car kept going. It was a blur of confusion at first. If you can believe it, at first I tried to stop it with my hands. But then I ran along side and jumped into the rolling car and hit the brakes. I lost a shoe in the process.
Then I exited the car again and promptly locked myself out. Yes, I'll say it for you ... I was a perfect fool.
There I was, standing there alone in the dark, still far from home. I didn't have a cell phone on me, so I flagged down the first car that went by. A local stepped out and let me use his cell phone to call the roadside assistance service that comes with my car. I couldn't get through to a live person. The recording said there was a high volume of calls, blah, blah, blah. So, then I really started to panic.
The local guy starts trying to call around for anyone who could help. When I told him I lost a shoe, he told the person on the other line that we had a problem -
"We've blown out a flip-flop". LOL
Next thing I know, we're joined by another man, who is his relative living across the street. And finally, we're joined by a third man who is a friend of theirs. 911 gave us the number of a locksmith, but we couldn't get an answer.
These guys kept me company, made me laugh with their humor, and told me it was going to be okay when I got agitated and that they'd figure something out. One of them rescued a giant moth that was attracted to my headlights and gently scooped it up out of harms way. Mountain people always seem to stay calm.
They kept trying to call different people who might have some equipment to help. Then one guy discovered my passenger window was down a couple of inches and called his wife to bring a lantern and coat hanger.
I finally got roadside assistance on the phone and they said it would be 45 minutes for help to arrive, and that if we got it open in the meantime, I could call back to cancel.
Another guy went up to his house and brought me a Cherry Coke.
When the hanger didn't work, the guy broke a small branch off a tree and VOILA, he got the car unlocked! It was 10:30 p.m. and it felt like a miracle.
A police officer drove by just then and laughed at the story. I told him that I had to jump into a moving car like something out of an action movie.
These guys and the wife had stayed with me on that dark road for an hour and a half, even though one of them had just worked 11 hours and was dog tired and the other had just returned from a trip. The wife comforted me by telling me her own lock-out story and told me which house was theirs.
What can I say? Tonight was about pure kindness. I'm still drinking the Cherry Coke.
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! I am glad you're ok ! and ... did you run something (someone 
touching story
