An elderly pizza delivery man gets into trouble when he rushes to deliver an order on time. He is stopped by the police for speeding, but it doesn’t end there. The next day, one of the police officers present did something surprising to him.
“I don’t know what happens to people these days! Values like kindness and compassion seem to have lost their meaning. People have become selfish and they don’t care!”.
We’ve all had these thoughts at some point, haven’t we?
Every morning we get newspapers with depressing news: the country is plunged into war, violence is claiming the lives of many children, etc. At some point we ask ourselves: “What is happening to our country? Why is everything collapsing around us?”
But we so often get caught up in the negativity that we miss out on the little wonderful things that are happening around us. After all, they never make the headlines! This is one of the reasons why we are sharing with you today the story of 84-year-old Easton from Texas. His neighbours used to call him “Easton, the rooster pizza man!”.
When Easton woke up that morning, it was like any other day. His wife Cassandra was still asleep, so he did not wake her. He carefully opened his wardrobe, took out clean clothes and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.
When he had finished preparing himself, Cassandra was still awake. He didn’t mind, as she usually fell asleep later than he did. He headed to the kitchen, quickly found his favourite ingredients and started preparing breakfast: two fried eggs, two slices of avocado toast and a cup of black coffee.
“Perfect!” – he thought, gathering everything on his plate and sitting down to eat.
After Easton had finished breakfast, he prepared a meal for Cassandra and left her a note on the fridge: “I’m off for my shift, dear. Your breakfast is waiting for you on the table. Love you.” Then he got into his car and drove to Rooster’s Pizza.
To save his wife’s life, Easton had no choice but to take a job, and he found one as a pizza delivery boy at Rooster’s Pizza. On his first day on the job, his co-workers judged him because it’s rare to see an 84-year-old pizza delivery man. But Easton didn’t care.
On the day Easton arrived at the pizzeria, he quickly put on his uniform and set to work. It was a busy day and they were overloaded with orders. Easton hurriedly grabbed the pizza boxes and headed to his car to make the delivery.
Having delivered the first two orders, Easton was about to make a third when he realized his car was out of fuel. He stopped at a petrol station for fear of being late for the next delivery.
Eager to arrive on time, he drove as fast as he could. However, when he reached one of the main roads, a police car followed him.
“Stop the car and pull over!” – the officer announced into the megaphone.
Easton’s heartbeat quickened and he became very anxious. Every penny of his salary mattered to him because it was going towards Cassandra’s treatment. He could not afford to be late with the delivery. But now he had no choice. He stopped and waited for the policemen to approach him.
When Officers Jenkins and Matthew approached Easton’s car, they were stunned to see an 84-year-old man driving a pizza car. They also didn’t expect a man of that age to drive so fast. “Uh, well… could you explain what’s going on here, sir? Why were you speeding?” Officer Matthew asked politely.
With tears in his eyes, Easton cautiously removed his hands from the steering wheel and began to plead with the officers. “I am sorry, officers. I am a very law-abiding citizen, but my wife is ill and I have little time to save her. I ask you to desist from this violation for once. It won’t happen again.”
“You see,” he continued in a shaky voice, “I’m late for a pizza delivery. We have a pizza delivery policy of forty-five minutes, otherwise I have to pay for it out of my own pocket, and I need the money for my wife’s treatment. I hope you understand…”
Constable Matthew looked at Easton’s watery eyes and trembling hands and felt deeply sorry for him. However, he could not go against his duty.
“Look here, sir,” he said to Easton. “We’re sorry. We understand your situation, but we still have to write you a fine because it’s all caught on camera. You can go to court and appeal. We hope you will be careful in the future.”
Easton pleaded that he could not go to court because he had neither the energy nor the time, but the officers could not help him in any way. So he was given a fine.
Easton was late for a delivery that day, which caused his manager to deduct the amount from his salary. He was also warned that if such a thing happened again, he would be fired.
Undaunted, Easton went for delivery the next day. “Rooster pizza!” – he exclaimed, ringing the doorbell of one of the houses on his list.
When the door opened, Easton recognised his client as the officer from the previous day. It was Officer Matthew!
“Oh! Enjoy your order, sir!”. He handed over the pizza and was about to leave when Officer Matthew stopped him.
“I’d like to give you something, sir,” he said. “Just a minute. I won’t take up much of your time.”
Easton turned around in confusion. “Did you just say something to me?”
Officer Matthew nodded and approached Easton with an envelope. “We were able to raise a modest amount for your wife’s treatment, sir. It’s only $2,340, but I hope it helps.”
“Last night I thought about being forced to give you a fine, but it is our duty, sir. I spoke to your supervisor and he agreed that no money should be deducted from your wages. Take care of your wife, and I appreciate the pizza! ” Officer Matthew smiled and made his way inside.
Easton could not believe what had just happened. With trembling hands he opened the envelope and found several hundred dollar notes and the following message: “Our duty is to protect and serve, but at the end of the day we remain human. Have a good day.”
With eyes full of tears, Easton rang the doorbell and thanked Officer Matthew once more. Then he got into his car and drove off.
