A Flourish in the Desert

My story, I think, reflects the virtues of nobility and generosity.

I was traveling with my 19-year-old son on a long road trip. We were in the middle of the Arizona desert with only a couple hours sleep the night before. Finally, I had to stop, it was around midnight I just couldn't go any further. We pulled into a town called Quartzite.

As I walked slowly into a convenience store for coffee, there was a man and his dog by the door - a ragged-looking man, gently and patiently giving his dog water from a paper cup. We made eye contact and I smiled a bit. As I was leaving the store a few minutes later, he rose from the sidewalk and with a toothless flourish opened the door for me. I nodded my thanks to him, he nodded back, I sailed out and felt like a queen.

Chivalry is not dead, it has lots of different names and faces, some not as fancy as others.

— Dorothy Stuhr, California