DEAR ABBY: You have printed stories in your column about the kindness of strangers. Well, I have a story to tell:
In 1978, my sister and I were traveling together. We visited the London Bridge in Lake Havasu, Ariz. We had some car trouble near Parker, Ariz., and had to be towed to a motel.
After the car was fixed the next day, we toured the Joshua Tree National Monument. At about 2 p.m. we decided we were hungry, so we stopped at a restaurant, only to discover when we entered that they were closed until 4:30 p.m. We asked one of the men sitting at the counter where we could find a restaurant that would be open, since we were traveling and were very hungry. He jumped up and said, "Come on in!"
Abby, the cook was stretched out on the floor napping, but the man got him up to prepare a meal for us. We had pot roast, creamed potatoes, vegetables, biscuits and honey and fresh coffee. We felt like royalty being served in a "closed" restaurant. It was one of the highlights of our trip.
As we were leaving, we took a snapshot of that little restaurant to remind us in years to come how kind they were to total strangers. It was called the Stardust. -- RUTH RANSHAW, HARRISBURG, PA.
P.S. At the time, I was 62 and my sister was 73.
DEAR RUTH: We are bombarded daily with bad news, so it's refreshing to hear stories about acts of kindness. It reaffirms the basic goodness of people.
With a customer service policy like the Stardust's, I hope they're still in business and thriving. Thank you for writing.