Misplacing items is a fact of life for most of us. It’s bound to happen sooner or later. But there are certainly different levels of panic that ensue depending on how valuable the item is.
Keys and wallets go missing fairly often. Phones disappear. Pets run away. Electric scooters aren’t generally an issue, but sadly, that’s exactly what Millie Anderson of Guam experienced on Monday.
Anderson was out with her daughter on Monday, her scooter on a platform on the back of her daughter’s truck. At some point, they realized that the scooter was no longer there — it had fallen off after missing a turn.
For Anderson, the scooter isn’t just a convenience, it’s a major part of her life. Not only does it help her stay mobile, but it’s rigged with her oxygen tank as well.
“I carry my oxygen on the scooter; it’s pretty heavy. It’s just a purse size, but it’s heavy, but I know I would need it because I wouldn’t be able to breathe,” she told KUAM News.
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“I would be too tired, so I haven’t gone anywhere.”
The word went out, but little did they know that even as they were trying to figure out where the scooter could’ve ended up, a good Samaritan had located it and was looking for its owner.
According to a post by KUAM, some spotted a man picking up the scooter, and many immediately assumed that he had absconded with it — but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Ben Matanane was driving when he spotted cars ahead of him swerving out of the lane. At first, he thought the toppled item was a stroller.
“I was driving down Bello Road, and I thought it was a baby carriage on the road cause all of these cars were driving around it,” he told KUAM.
“When I came up to it, I stopped, reversed, put the tailgate down and another truck pulled up behind me and asked if it’s my scooter, and I said, ‘No, it’s not. I found it on the road like this, and I’m just going to pick it up.'”
Realizing the piece of equipment was probably dearly missed, Matanane spent the day trying in vain to locate the owner.
Eventually, after turning up empty-handed, he dropped the scooter off at a dentist’s office for safekeeping while they waited for an owner to step forward.
On Tuesday, Matanane’s sister spotted the original story of Anderson’s debacle and contacted Matanane. He reached out to Anderson, who was beyond thrilled to have her wheels back.
“Oh my god, now I’m going to go places,” she said. “I take it to the exchange, the commissary, to the mall — everywhere I go, to bingo.”
Thankfully, there are still people like Matanane out there, looking to right wrongs instead of profit off of them.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.