A man is horrified to learn that his frail elderly neighbor, despite having a house, has been living in her old, broken-down car.
Sometimes, it takes us a long time to realize that something is wrong, especially if it has been wrong for a long time.
David Castle was accustomed to seeing Olivia Madison arrive and depart in the same car as him.
That’s what he thought, at least until he got home at 2:30 in the morning to find Mrs. Madison apparently asleep in her car. Had she shut the door on herself? David was puzzled. He then realized that he had never, ever seen Mrs. Madison actually drive her car.
David approached the battered Ford and peered inside, concerned. Under a thick comforter, Mrs. Madison was fast asleep in the front seat on the passenger side.
A number of neatly arranged boxes of groceries and other essentials were in the backseat. It was evident: Seventy-nine-year-old Mrs. Madison was living in her car!
David, shocked, wondered why. She owned the pretty Victorian two-story house next to him, which had begun to look saddened after Mr. Madison’s death three years earlier.
David went home and woke up his wife. “Lydia,” he said, “I think Mrs. Madison has been living in her car. Honey, please fix up the guest bedroom. I’m going to bring her in.”
Lydia jumped out of bed. “Oh my God, David! Mrs. Madison?” she gasped. “But she must be ninety if she’s a day!”
“I know,” said David grimly. “I never thought I’d see someone I know living on the street. I’m going to go get her.”
“Don’t scare her, David,” begged Lydia.
“Don’t worry, I won’t, but it’s freezing tonight,” David said. “And she’s not sleeping in that car one more night!”
David walked back outside and approached Mrs. Madison’s car again. He knocked gently on the window until Mrs. Madison’s eyelids fluttered. “Mrs. Madison,” he called softly. “It’s David Castle from next door!”
