I paid the back taxes on the house.
And I put the rest in a trust. For Ellie. For college. For whatever she needs.
Except for one part.
I set aside fifty thousand dollars.
I called David Reyes in Kansas City. I told him what I wanted.
He was quiet on the phone for a long time.
“Are you sure, Nora?”
“I’m sure.”
“It’s a lot of money.”
“It’s not mine,” I said. “Not really. It came from strangers. From truckers and churches and car washes and a man in Texas who lost his daughter. It came from people who wanted to say thank you to somebody who stopped.” I swallowed. “I want it to keep stopping.”
So we started a new fund.
The Lisa and Tom Brooks Fund.
It pays for things for families of people hurt or killed while helping strangers on the highway. Tow truck drivers. Firefighters. Good Samaritans. Anybody who pulled over when they could have kept driving.
