A guardian angel disguised as a photographer

By David Young

Newly arrived from Canada, and already carrying the burden of Canada’s loss to Cuba in the World Baseball Championship and you and the kids head for the car and it won’t start.

It’s the kind of scenario that supporters of  the Toronto Maple Leafs (hockey team) are accustomed to. Like Canada in the baseball series, with a couple of big wins under the belt, the Leafs tend to fade in the stretch. The car won’t start, no problem. Open the trunk and haul out the jumper cables, find a fellow Leafs fan on his way to drown his perpetual sorrows and dream of next year, and use the cables to jump start  the car, and you’re on your way.

So when Malcolm Britto, discovered a dead battery in the car  parked  at the Rod Carew Stadium, he first asked the chauffer to haul out the jump cables, only to get a puzzled look. “Jumper cables?”

Still no problem. Lots of officials around. Start with the parking attendant who was equally puzzled and directed Malcolm to the SINAPROC representative. SInaproc is Panama’s first line of defence in times of catastrophe, like floods, earthquakes, mudslides tsunamis and the like. But jumper cables?  Nada.

The search moved to the armed guards, miscellaneous officials, fans coming for the next game. Jumpers could be found at the local equestrian stables, but “Jumper cables?” Nada, nada, nada. 

Finally came a referral to la Casas de las Batterias, but with the regular Friday night traffic congestion compounded by crowds moving to and from the stadium, it looked as if the family was in for  the long haul, and another 30 minutes of  fruitless requests passed.

Then, as the drizzle began to fall,  the guardian angel appeared, disguised as a newspaper photographer. He didn’t have jumper cables but he had a solution.  He pulled his car alongside the stranded vehicle, whipped out a toolbox and disconnected his own battery. Then he replaced the suffering driver's car battery with his own, made the links, and hey  presto the engine started. He again switched the batteries and with a smile said :”Welcome to Panama”

Said Malcolm: “This was just another pleasant surprise that my family and I have experienced on our arrival here. We look forward to experiencing more of the people and the country.”

The guardian angel works for Mi Diario.