Local angels

Date: 12/29/2010

I had my Christmas 1 week early. I want to tell you about my experience on Dec. 17. My daughter and I went from my hometown, Burrillville, RI to Springfield to pick up my son from Western New England College (WNEC) to bring him home for winter break.

My daughter was driving and we decided to stop at Dunkin' Donuts for coffee and a quick donut. We were about five minutes away from my son's college. My daughter pulled into the parking lot of Dunkin' Donuts and the brakes failed. Luckily, there was a cement pole and she was going slowly, but we hit the pole as the brakes went to the floor of the car. There was no damage to the car or the pole. No one got hurt, thank God.

So there we were, one and one-half hours from home in Rhode Island and five minutes away from WNEC. My husband was still working in Attleboro. Yes, I have AAA, but I was still in shock about what could have happened. If my daughter had not insisted to go to Dunkin' Donuts, we would have surely hit someone from behind as there were lights on the street heading for WNEC. It was rush hour. We got coffee and donuts and I was thinking about what I should do.

I checked underneath the car and saw a puddle of brake fluid on the ground. I checked the brake fluid reservoir and it was very low. (This had happened in the past so I knew what was going on.)

Then while I was under the car, an angel in the form of a fantastic man came to our aid. He insisted that he would try to fix the brake line that had the leak. He had fixed his brakes in the recent past. So off he went to his home to get some supplies in order to fix the leak. I knew that he was honest even though I had never met him.

Sure enough, he was back in about five minutes. His name is Brian. (I will not use his last name because I do not know if that is appropriate.) His girl friend arrived. Her name is Amanda. She helped him as well. To make a long story short, there were three leaks. Every time Brian would fix one leak, another one came. Brian made three trips to Napa Auto Parts. Also, I must talk about another angel named Tony who was kind enough to use his car's headlights in order to make it easier for Brian to see under my car.

After four-plus hours, the leaks were fixed and it was cold. He could not bleed the air out of the lines. He gave us enough brake fluid in order for us to make the trip to WNEC and then back to home.

Meanwhile, my husband arrived which was great because I wanted him to meet all these angels. We bought Brian and Tony scratch tickets and I pray that they won big.

Also, interestingly enough, both Brian and Tony had dogs with them. Brian had Buddy, a handsome chocolate lab, and Tony had Tia, a beautiful boxer. They were so sweet! Now my daughter wants one LOL.

To make the rest of the story short, we hugged our thank-yous and went our separate ways. We had no problems with my car although I was paranoid, so my husband drove mine home and I drove his home.

So I just wanted to share this unbelievable story with you. I also wanted to thank Brian, Amanda, and Tony for their kindness. Once again, I know now that there are angels out there. If there were more people in the world that would stop to help people in trouble, the world would indeed be a better place.

Thank you so much Brian, Amanda, and Tony! My family have new friends and they live 60 miles away in Springfield! I will never forget them never.

Thank you.

Stephanie L. Sloman

Burrillville, RI