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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Lifestyle
Luke Scholes as told to Katie Cunningham

The kindness of strangers: the petrol station worker paid for my fuel and saved my date

Archival Image of a young man pumping gas with colourful illustrations overlayed
‘On the drive home I silently committed to getting that $20 back to him as soon as I could.’ Composite: Victoria Hart/Guardian design/Alamy

I was temporarily living in my home town of Wangaratta while caring for my grandmother, who had dementia. I got weekends off and on one of those occasions I met a girl called Marie. During that lovely early period of a new relationship where you’re still getting to know each other, I took her camping at Mount Buffalo in Victoria.

On the way home we stopped in Myrtleford, a small town at the foot of the mountain, to get petrol. I fuelled up and Marie stayed in the car while I went inside to pay.

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