Good deeds keep good doctor on his way

Sometimes reality is truly stranger than fiction. Take the case of Mickey Slimp traveling across Cass County about 6 p.m. Feb. 15. It began with a flat tire.

Dr. Slimp, now of Tyler, TX, is known by many because he was employed for six years with then East Texas State University in Texarkana. He was on his way to Little Rock, Arkansas, and the campus of the University of Arkansas Medical System where he would document the installation of a supercomputing node.

At about the middle of county, Dr. Slimp’s Toyota Prius Hybrid -- usually so quiet as to be silent -- began vibrating. Coasting to the side of the road near the state highway department’s rest area, he looked. A flat tire. It was dark, busy traffic, noisy, hard to see, and after a few moments he was having phone issues contacting AAA, the roadside rescue service.

A happy, vigorous person, Dr. Slimp was, perhaps, about to be in a pickle.

Then a truck-like van passed him by, slowed down and stopped up ahead. It turned around and came back. Dr. Slimp noted it had exterior lighting and tools. A bearded young fellow who looked resourceful stepped out, walked up, asked what was wrong. He said he thought he could help.

“He changed my tire in nothing flat but wouldn’t take any money because he said he kept himself and his truck prepped just to help people out like this,” Slimp said. Jeff Lummus, it turns out, was a mechanic for Southern Longview Automotive in Longview.

Dr. Slimp was relieved but still had another problem. His car’s spare tire, called a donut, was good for about 50 miles of travel. That’s all. Dr. Slimp looked online for Wal-Mart, about 14 miles away in Atlanta. It was 6:45, and Wal-Mart’s auto shop closed at 7.

At 7:02, the Prius gingerly rolled up to Wal-Mart’s car shop door. Time for another miracle. Auto shop employees Joe Wilson and Mandy Whitney saw the red car come up, kept the shop light on and the door up just a little longer.

With a helpful spirit, they looked and found Wal-Mart had only one tire to fit the Toyota. That was it. Within the hour, the tires were repaired, changed and reinstalled.

“We do this all the time,” the two said. “No way we are going to let someone not get a tire change when they really need it this much.”

Dr. Slimp made it to his computer meeting at about 9:30 the next morning. He had a warm human miracle to tell the crew at the medical center. If theirs were a supercomputer, he said, his friends on the road and store were super people.