He'd gone out in the early evening, not far, just to a local destination to run an errand that would take him a few minutes. On his way back home, just as he was about to turn from the intersection where the street we live on leads off from a main thoroughfare he noted the presence of a little drama. Where a middle-aged man was trying to push a vehicle closer to the curb, a woman standing nearby looking fairly miserable. Not yet dusk, it was cold and it was briskly windy.

So he stopped, parked behind the presumably stalled vehicle and walked over to the pair, asking if he could be of help. Seemingly reluctantly and in French-accented English, the man explained, urged on by his wife, that his vehicle refused to budge. When he turned the ignition it roared briefly to life, then turned back off. He had tried repeatedly to get it going, but to no avail. So, said my husband, what's your game plan? He offered his cellphone, but they had one with them and decided to call the Canadian Automobile Association and make use of their membership.

They might be awhile in arriving, my husband said. Live nearby? I could drive you home while waiting the arrival of the CAA. In fact they didn't live far, no more than a brisk half-hour walk, but they declined the offer, wanted to be closer to their vehicle when the CAA arrived. My husband said to them that whoever was driving the CAA vehicle in response to their call would likely not mind picking them up at home.

An alternative, my husband suggested, was just to come home with him, since he lives just up the street. That would leave them closer to the SUV, and eliminate the discomfort of having to sit in their vehicle, awaiting the arrival of assistance, since they couldn't turn on the heater. The woman brightened considerably at the offer, but the man gruffly declined. They would wait in their vehicle.

My husband signed off at that point, and returned home.