The Man in the Car

At eleven o’clock, I rode past the Greek where Jürgen and I had eaten some hours before. It was still open and I went in to buy a bottle of water. Walking back to my bicycle I passed a parked car along the side of the street. Suddenly, I noticed out of the corner of my eye someone lying with his head on the steering wheel.
     Immediately I was alarmed and stopped to take a closer look. It seemed to be a younger man. Was something wrong with him? Was he unconscious? Or sleeping? Or dead? It was impossible to decide.
What should I do? Ignore it and hope for the best? I was not searching for new problems. But perhaps he really needs help? At last, I knocked on the window of his car. There was no reaction.
    Now, I was really worried. Should I call for help? Or ignore it? I decided to try again and knocked on the window, but this time with greater force. Slowly the young man`s head lifted and I looked into a confused, slightly annoyed face. 
     I gave him a sign to lower the window. Slowly, he let it down.  "Is everything okay?" I asked him. He didn`t answer, but he only stared at me with glazed eyes. "Do you need help?" I insisted.  He opened his mouth and said slowly with a thick tongue, "No, everything is okay!"

Nothing was okay! The man was obviously in a drunken stupor and had passed out. But that was no business of mine, so I decided to go on with my interrupted ride home. "Well then, I apologize for the disturbance and have a good night!" 
    I had just reached my bicycle when I heard a motor starting. Immediately I turned around and could not believe my eyes. The young man was trying to get his car out of the parking space! Damned alcohol! I cursed inwardly.
    Ten seconds later I stood in front of his car and gave him a sign to stop. He obeyed and looked again at me with glazed eyes.  "Hey, pal!" I said with a friendly but determined voice, "You shouldn’t try this. You can’t drive your car now." He gave me a puzzled look, "Why not?"
     Now I became angry. "Why not? You’re drunk! In this state you won’t even get to the next corner! Come on, don’t be a fool! It’s impossible!" He seemed to understand. "OK! I will not drive." I smiled with some relief at him, "That’s fine! Try to sleep it off! Good bye!"

I had walked towards my bicycle again when I heard the car starting again. Oh, no! I said to myself, turned around and went back to him. This time, I said very harshly "Do you not understand? You are drunk and you are not able to drive your car!" He seemed to think it over for a moment. Then he answered "But you can!"
  This affair was beginning to get complicated. I was not willing to take such a risk of driving an unknown car. My life was complicated and troubled enough. "No!” I said, “That’s not possible. I am not a well experienced driver and it’s dark!"
    For a moment he was silent and seemed to collect his thoughts. Then he said, "OK, but you have to sit down in my car and talk with me!" He looked at me with a challenging gaze. "Otherwise I will drive! Your decision!"
     I stood some seconds in front of his car looking down and searching for a way out. Then I resigned myself with a sigh and followed his "invitation". Slowly I went to the side door of his car and sat down in the passenger seat.

Midnight had passed and the young man had fallen asleep again. He had been to a soccer match at Fortuna Düsseldorf that evening and during the game had had too many cans of beer.
    After the game he had visited his girl friend, but they had began to quarrel with one another. Angry words were exchanged, tears flowed, and at last his girlfriend showed him the way to the door.
    It had not been the first time that they had quarreled, "It has always been about drinking beer. She does not like it! But I do and will not stop it!"
    He had gotten more cans of beer at a kiosk and began drinking while driving his car. Finally, he was so tired, that he stopped the car and fell asleep. So far his story!
     I had tried to comfort him, suggesting that it was perhaps only a normal quarrel with his girlfriend. He had looked miserable, "I love her so much!" At that, he had broken down in tears. Then we had become silent and fallen asleep.

Everyone has his own problems. However, at that moment my own dilemma seemed to me much more perplexing than his. I was tired and depressed and longed for my bed.
    I listened to his breathing. It sounded regular and hopefully he would not notice if I were to leave him now. But what if he wakes up in ten minutes and finds himself alone? Will he drive?
     I decided to take the risk anyway and opened the car door carefully. But just at the very moment I got one foot out of the car, a bright lightning flash illuminated the night followed by the heavy rumbling of thunder. Within seconds, a cloudburst unleashed torrents of rain on the earth.
    "Damn!" I cursed. Why now? With a sigh of resignation, I pulled my leg back into the car and closed the door again. I felt angry and irritated. This is not normal What is going on? A strange thought crossed my mind, Could it be that a higher power had determined it?
                                                 
What is to be done while sitting in a parked car during a rainstorm at the side of a young man sleeping off too much beer? I began to listen to the stream of my thoughts!
  So many odd things had happened in the last twelve hours. The "relatives" had announced the death of Jürgen, my purchase of the Bible, the talk with the young Christian, and now this strange scenario with that drunken young man sitting next to me. Was there a hidden sense behind it all?
   Suddenly I noticed a poster on an advertising pillar just outside the window in front of me. Well, I presumably had looked at it before but without paying much attention to it.
It was the only poster on the pillar and now in the darkness I could only read one word. It was written in big letters: PAULUS

Paulus, Peter and Paul, and his conversion from Saul to Paul! Long-buried memories from my Catholic childhood flooded my mind. Saul had persecuted the first Christians in Jerusalem.
    But on his way to Damascus to seek out more Christians, suddenly there was a blinding flash of light from above and a voice spoke out of the clouds! "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
    It had been the voice of Jesus and Saul had converted to the Christian faith and called himself Paul from that time on. Strange, why am I now sitting just in front of this name? A Coincidence?
     The talk with the young Christian came to mind and his prayer, Jesus, please show him that you are really the Lord and let him find you!. Was there a connection between the poster and the prayer?

The young man beside me began to move and opened his eyes. For a moment he stared at me questioningly, but then he seemed to remember. "Hello," I said, "how are you?"
    He smiled weakly and said, "Oh, much better. But I long for my bed!"  Then he turned the key of his car and started the motor. At once I was scared again. "Are your sure?", I asked him.
     He nodded , "Yes, everything is okay! Where do you live? I will take you to your home!" Outside it was still raining and I knew I could not stop him anymore.  "OK! Let`s drive!"
     A quarter of an hour later I opened the door to my flat. In another two minutes, as I laid my head on my pillow on my own bed, I fell at once into a deep sleep.