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Heidi's Guardian Angel

     What a big day it was for Heidi. With the help of her best friend, Laura, and Laura's husband, Bill, she finally passed her driving test and got her license. When in line for the photo, it was obvious that Heidi was much older than the rest. She was 28 years old among many that had just turned 16. As she stood in front of the camera, she arranged her very long, light brown hair in front of her shoulders as if to show it off. She gave a big smile behind all that hair showing the jubilation she felt by overcoming her fear of driving. "Wow, your hair is so long!", said the women behind the camera. Heidi had really long hair, it had grown out to about her knees. Since she was very shy and didn't drive, her social life was limited, so she had a lot of time to spend caring for her hair. Not helping her social life was the fact she worked in a grocery on evenings and weekends. She was overweight, and had very few friends. Her hair, however, was very beautiful and well cared for.

    Heidi had been saving her money for quite a while. She had about $4,000 to buy a car. Bill went with her to buy one and she settled on a used yellow Capri. She kept about $700 to buy insurance and have something for a rainy day. Heidi felt a new independence with her car. No longer must she have to ride the bus home from the grocery at 11:30 PM through the bad neighborhoods. When she wanted to visit her friend, Laura, she could now drive to her place instead of Laura always having to come into the city. If she wanted an ice cream cone, she didn't have to walk the 1/2 mile to get it.

     Most important, Heidi had overcome one of the many secret fears she had. Since she spent so much time alone, she had many bad nightmares. One of them was she would have an accident and cause a great loss of life, and it would be all her fault. Because of this, she was afraid to ever learn to drive. Heidi had many other secret fears and reoccurring nightmares. In one of these reoccurring dreams, she would be pinned down by her ponytail, and her long hair would be cut off piece by piece. Another had her being chased by thugs with knives wanting a piece of her. Just as they would catch her, she would wake up and run to the mirror to look at herself, to see if she was OK. In her dreams, she would be forced to relive some of her worst moments in high school, where she was ridiculed because of her weight, being gullible, and her unwillingness to cut her hair. Thanks to Laura, Heidi was working with her secret fears, rather than hiding from them. Even though she lived in a high crime area, thankfully, nothing bad ever happened to her.

     Laura was a psychologist with the state. She met Heidi on the afternoon bus while her car was having body work done. Laura singled out Heidi sitting by herself  looking aimlessly out the window with the big mound of hair tied up behind her head. Laura got Heidi to open up by the end of the week, confessing some of her secret fears. Laura took an interest in helping Heidi and brought her out to her suburban home to meet her family. She had two children who loved Heidi and her long hair. The oldest called her Rapunzel, and Heidi would let them brush her long hair. Heidi enjoyed all the attention her hair got from the children. She also liked having a best friend for the first time in years. Whenever Laura was in the city, she would visit before Heidi had to go to work, and help her with her hair.

     About a month later, Laura planned a birthday party for Heidi's 29th birthday. It was a Monday, Heidi's night off. Heidi drove out to Laura and Bill's in her Capri, still getting used to the new found freedom her car gave her. On the way, there was a low water bridge over a normally dry creek. As Heidi crossed the bridge, she heard a rumble. All of a sudden, a large branch fell right in front of her car. She swerved off the road into the ditch to avoid the branch. The suddenness of it all caused Heidi to pass out in fear. When she came to, she was surprised to find that she was not in the ditch, but back on the side of the road. Her car seemed unharmed, save a few scratches. There was one more strange thing. When she left her apartment, she had her hair braided and tied in a bun behind her head. Now, her hair was still braided, but the braid was free from the bun and hanging in her lap. The branch she saw was gone. Heidi was afraid. Was this a dream? Did a branch really fall in front of her car? She drove on to Laura and Bill's determined to keep quiet about this incident.

     While at her birthday party, Heidi was very subdued. Laura kept quizzing her about it. Finally, Heidi confessed to the incident. Bill went out to check the Capri. Sure enough. one of the wheels was bent, like it hit a rock or large tree branch. They could only surmise that Heidi passed out thinking she would hit the ditch, but righted her car as she passed out. Maybe she thought the branch was bigger than it actually was. Why her hair was suddenly down, no one could figure that one out. Getting this out of her mind, Heidi enjoyed the rest of the night. She took out the braid and let the children brush her hair.

     A storm started to brew, and Laura felt Heidi should get past the low water bridge before the creek came up. It wasn't very often the creek and the bridge caused a problem, but Laura felt uneasy about Heidi being a new driver and being unfamiliar with the road.  As Heidi was leaving, it started to rain. She decided not to put her hair up, but just put it in a ponytail for the drive home. She got in the Capri and flipped her ponytail behind her.It landed between the seats. She turned on her lights, waved, and drove off into the rain. She drove slowly and carefully down the road until a large pick-up came speeding behind.

     The truck flashed it's lights to make her speed up. Afraid, Heidi drove slower. The driver of the truck took this as an insult and got right up behind her car. He flashed the lights again. Heidi had nowhere to pull over on this part of the road and didn't know what to do. As they approached the low water bridge, the truck finally passed her and pulled in front of her safely. Heidi thought the incident was over as they went to cross the bridge. But the truck driver, insulted by Heidi's innocent actions, locked his brakes on the bridge and Heidi's car slid sideways, crushing it's right side into the rear of the truck, and raising the rear dangling over the side of the bridge. The truck driver drove on, leaving Heidi's car crushed and hanging dangerously over the rising creek. Making matters worse, her ponytail was pinned between the seats by the crushing blow to the side. She could not free her hair without cutting it. Her purse was catapulted out of the car when the windshield broke, so there was no way for her to even find anything to cut her hair with. The rain continued to fall, and the creek rose to closer to the bridge. If this kept up, she would be swept from the bridge, pinned by her long hair in the car and would drown. All of a sudden, her worst nightmares were happening right before her eyes. An accident. Being pinned by her hair. Only this time, she might not wake up unless her hair was actually cut for real! All she could do was scream into the dark, rainy sky.

     Finally, another car came upon the bridge. The driver and passenger got out to survey the dangling car. They noticed Heidi still in the car. They were a teenage couple. The boy went into the trunk of his car and retrieved a bolt cutter. He tried to calm Heidi by telling her he would help her. His girlfriend joined in comforting Heidi. Using the bolt cutter, he got the driver's door open and reached in to help Heidi out. "NO!, my hair is pinned between the seats. can you free it?", she pleaded. He looked at her pinned ponytail and told her , "We'll have to cut your hair! There's no time to free it." He took the bolt cutters to Heidi's ponytail right below the band. She closed her eyes anticipating the inevitable. But the cut didn't happen. She opened her eyes to see no one there. "Help!! Where did you go!!" Cut it! Just get me out of here!!" Another voice could be heard. Someone else was there. She heard, "Don't you cut her beautiful hair! I'll take care of this!." Then she heard "Buddy you are an idiot, This will cause both of you to drown! Just get in there and cut her hair and get her out of the car before it either falls off the bridge or gets swept off!" Then, "Shut up and get you and your girlfriend off the bridge! The water's right up to the road and rising fast!". "Help, Please", Heidi screamed. The new stranger climbed onto the roof of her car and broke out the back window.He leaned over and yelled, "Can you hear me?" "Yes!", she screamed. "OK, I will take the cutters and wedge apart the seats. You lean forward and when you feel you hair freed, run for the bank!"  "OK"! she yelled back. He leaned into the back of her car and pried the seats apart hanging upside down. When Heidi felt her hair freed, she threaded it through the small space created by the stranger and after getting it all loose, got out of her car and ran for the bank. However, with her weight out of the car, the stranger's weight caused the car to tip over the side of the bridge and get sucked under it by the rising current. All three gasped in fear as the Capri was force fed down the creek by the current. Who was this stranger that would risk his life to save a girl's beautiful hair?

     "Did you know who he was?", asked Heidi to the couple. "No, he had dark glasses on. I have no idea who he was." Heidi gave both of them a hug and thanked them for helping her. " Don't thank us, we didn't do anything. Thank whoever that other guy was. He did it all." His girlfriend commented on how long and beautiful Heidi's hair was and invited her to come with them so they could call the police . Heidi agreed and went back up the hill with them. Heidi called Laura when she got to a phone to tell her what happened. They had to wait until the rain stopped before they could get to the other side of the creek to see Heidi.

     The next morning, Heidi, Laura, Bill, and the police went to the bridge where the accident happened. A tow truck pulled Heidi's Capri back on to the road. Heidi told the police about the actions of the truck driver, the teenage couple, and the mysterious stranger. The car was a total loss. Heidi said she only had minimal coverage, so she was out of luck. Heidi realized her driving days were over. She couldn't afford another car. She let the towing company take possession of the car to cover the charges, since she lost her purse and what little money she had. No sign of the stranger could be found, so the police police didn't know if he drowned or made it out of the creek OK. There was no sign of Heidi's purse, either. She would have to accept the fact that she would have to report her credit cards and driver's license as lost.

    Meanwhile, Bill was mulling about on the other side of the creek, where Heidi swerved from the tree branch. Saying nothing, he came back over by the rest. Bill and Laura took Heidi home and Heidi had to go on as she was before she bought her car. That meant riding the bus late at night with her groceries and things. No more spur of the moment trips. On the way back home, Bill told Laura that Heidi definitely ran off the road to avoid the tree branch. He found it on the other side of the barbed wire fence. Someone must have pulled her car back to the road while she was passed out. Maybe it was the same stranger that saved her from drowning. Laura said, "I don't know who he might be, but he was her guardian angel that day! Oh, how I wish I could thank him, not only for saving her life, but risking his own just to save her beautiful hair from being cut. Her hair means so much to her, and now that she lost her car, I couldn't imagine her if she lost her beautiful hair, too!".

     For Heidi, life was just more bad nightmares. She kept dreaming about the stranger and how he might have lost his life just to save her hair. This made her feel very selfish. "I do not deserve this beautiful hair, not if someone had to lose so much because of it." She called Laura one morning to tell her she was going to cut it all off. Laura talked her out of it because since someone went to such great lengths to save it, she owed it to him to keep it long. Heidi agreed. But, still, every night was filled with fear and nightmares. She said she will never drive again.

     Two weeks after the accident, when Heidi walked up the stairs to her apartment, she noticed a box sitting by her door. There was a note. "Beautiful Rapunzel". Heidi picked it up and went inside. As she opened it up, she went through the contents. There was her lost purse! Not only was the $25 she had with her that day still there, but there was an extra $100 bill. There was also a license plate number taped to her purse. Immediately, she called Laura because her oldest was always calling her "Rapunzel". Laura new nothing about the package or why there would be an extra $100. "Heidi, you must have a special angel watching over you. I have no other way to explain this. I have to tell you the Sheriff was just here this morning wanting to get a hold of you. Someone saw the truck stop in front of you causing the accident. They have the driver in custody. Here's the number for the police department. Call them right away."

     Heidi called the police and gave a description of the truck, and the number taped to her purse. It matched. Heidi was able to get a settlement out of the truck's owner, buy another car, and move to a better neighborhood. Deep down, she knew someone out there loved her and her beautiful hair enough to help her through this ordeal. He loved her enough to risk his life just so she could keep her long hair that night. He even was able to find the driver that caused the accident. Was it a guardian angel, or just a mysterious stranger that loved long hair? Heidi no longer dwelt in fear. She knew that someone cared. Some day, she hoped to find out who. Her dreams were now not nightmares, but visions of someday meeting this stranger.

Heidi's Guardian Angel is fictional. Any resemblance to an actual event is accidental.

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