The Earthmover

Les Giblin tells the story of a police officer patrolling an area early one morning in a Midwestern town in the U.S. that had been recently ravaged by racial riots. (The officer, incidentally, was a white man in a town that was predominantly black.)

Suddenly, the Jeep’s radio came to life.

“Child in danger!” crackled Control Center. “Proceed at once.”

Shooting up a silent prayer, the policeman roared off in the direction of the address given. A few minutes later, he arrived close to his destination… only to find a gigantic mound of excavated earth blocking his way into the neighborhood. Another route would take too long, but there was no way he could drive his Jeep over the mound.

A massive earthmover was parked next to the mound of dirt. The driver of the huge machine (an African-American) sat in the driver’s seat, eating his breakfast. The policemen waved at him frantically, pointed in the direction he needed to go, and yelled,

“Hey buddy! Make me a way!”

The earthmover’s driver paused for a second. It was an unexpected request on a quiet morning. But something about the officer’s request made him put aside his sandwich (along with his suspicion of white policemen) and yell back,?“Follow me!”

The huge earthmover roared to life and, within seconds, ploughed a path through the dirt.

The officer sped off towards the address he had been given. He entered the house fearing the worst.

A toddler lay choking on a couch, his mother near-hysterical. The child had swallowed a button and couldn’t breathe. The officer picked up the child and, after a few seconds, succeeded in dislodging the button.

A tragedy had been averted in the nick of time.

The next morning, the officer was assigned the same patrol beat, and as he approached the spot where the earthmover had quite literally moved earth, he slowed down.

Suddenly, he heard a man’s shout.

He stopped the Jeep and saw a black man running towards him. Immediately recognizing him as the driver of the earthmover who had helped him the day before, he stepped out of his Jeep and started to say,?“Hey man, I just wanted to thank you…”

But before he could continue, the earthmover stopped him and said, “You saved a child’s life yesterday, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but how do you know…?”

The earthmover driver choked up and said,?“That boy was my son.”