Fw: True story!

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• To: ENABLED-GARDENER@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
• Subject: Fw: True story!
• From: Pat Mair pmair@ISOA.NET>
• Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 17:26:14 -0400

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Rose <tomrose@carolina.net>
To: Patricia Rose <pmair@isoa.net>
Date: Thursday, August 05, 1999 8:49 AM
Subject: True story!


Hey Patricia,
Here is that article...enjoy
 
 
TRUE STORY IN
  ATLANTIC CITY N.J.(WAS IN THE PAPER)

  On a recent weekend in Atlantic City, a woman won a
  bucketful of quarters at a slot machine.
  She took a break from the slots  for dinner with
  her husband in the hotel  dining room. But first she
  wanted to stash the quarters in  her room.

  "I'll be right back and we'll go to  eat," she told her   husband and
she carried the coin-laden bucket to the
  elevator.

As she was about to walk  into the elevator she
  noticed two men already  aboard. Both were black.
One  of them was big... very big... an  intimidating figure. The  woman
froze. Her first thought  was:

These two are going to rob me.  Her next thought was: Don't  be a bigot,
they look  like perfectly nice
  gentlemen. But racial stereotypes are powerful, and
fear immobilized her.

  She stood and stared  at the two men. She felt anxious, flustered,
ashamed.  She hoped they  didn't
  read her mind, but knew they surely  did; her hesitation about joining
them  on the elevator was all too  obvious.  Her face  was flushed.
She  couldn't
just stand there, so with a mighty  effort of will  she picked up one
foot and stepped forward and followed
with the  other foot and was on the elevator.

Avoiding eye contact,  she turned around  stiffly and faced  the
elevator doors as  they closed.  A  second
passed, and then another second,  and then another.
  Her fear increased!  The elevator didn't move. Panic consumed her.  My
God, she thought,  I'm trapped and about to be  robbed!  Her  heart
plummeted........... perspiration poured  from every pore. Then....one
of
the men  said, "Hit the  floor." Instinct told her: Do
what they tell you. The bucket of quarters flew upwards
  as she threw out  her  arms and collapsed on the
elevator  carpet. A shower of  coins rained down  on
  her. Take my money and spare  me, she prayed.

More seconds passed.  She heard one of  the  men
say politely, "Ma'am, if you'll just tell us  what floor you're  going
to, we'll push the button."

The one who said it had a  little trouble  getting  the
words out.   He was  trying mightily to hold in a
belly laugh. She  lifted her head and looked up at
the two men.  They reached  down to help her up.
Confused, she  struggled to her feet.

"When I told my man  here to hit the  floor," said the average sized
one, "I  meant that he should  hit the elevator  button for our floor.
I  didn't mean for  you to hit the floor, ma'am."  He spoke genially.
He  bit his lip. It was  obvious he was  having a hard time not
laughing. She  thought: My God, what  a spectacle I've
made  of myself. She was too humiliated  to speak. She wanted to blurt
out an  apology, but words failed her.
How  do you apologize to  two perfectly  respectable
gentlemen for behaving as though they were going
to rob you?  She  didn't know what to say. The 3 of
them  gathered up the  strewn quarters and  refilled
her bucket.

When the elevator  arrived at her floor  they insisted on walking her to
her room. She seemed a  little unsteady on her  feet, and they were
afraid she
might not make it down  the corridor.  At  her door they bid her a good
evening. As she slipped into  her room she could  hear them roaring with
laughter
while they walked back to the elevator.

The woman brushed herself off.  She pulled herself
together and went  downstairs  for dinner with her
husband.

The next morning  flowers were delivered  to  her
room - a  dozen roses. Attached  to EACH rose was
a  crisp one hundred dollar  bill.  The card said:
"Thanks for the  best laugh we've had in years."

It was signed,

Eddie Murphy and  Michael  Jordan