Oliver parked his car and looked at the restaurants on that block. It was a commercial street in Montana, and he was ready to eat. But something stopped him from going into one shop immediately.

A man was sitting in a wheelchair, looking forlornly at all the vehicles passing by. He was unkempt and had the saddest look on his face. For some reason, this scene pulled at Oliver’s heartstrings, and he approached the stranger.

“Hello, sir,” he began. “Are you hungry?”

The man looked up. “I am. But I’m waiting for my daughter. She should be here soon.”

“Oh, that’s great, sir,” Oliver answered and went into the restaurant where he still purchased something for the older man.

During his meal, he barely paid any attention to his food and kept thinking about the man outside. He felt something was wrong. Was his daughter really coming to pick him up? Oliver had no idea but he asked around the restaurant.

The kind waitress who had served him his food earlier answered his questions. “His name is Mr. Perkins. I’ve been working at this restaurant for 15 years, and that man has been waiting for his daughter at that corner for 12 years, sir.”

“What? How is that possible?”

“Back then, I saw a woman helping him out of her car onto that wheelchair. I thought they were coming to eat here. But she got back into the driver’s seat and left. She never came back. According to Mr. Perkins, his daughter had something to do and was coming back soon,” she revealed, shocking Oliver completely.

How could anyone abandon their parent like that? And why has no one helped that man? He’s been on the streets for years?” he asked, outraged for him.

“Of course, we tried to help. All the restaurants on this block bring him food, and we’ve called nursing homes and everything. But he wheels himself back or gets really agitated. It was bad for his health, so the caretaker at the public nursing home brings him here in the mornings and takes him back at night,” she continued.

“Wow, that’s something, at least. But I still can’t believe his daughter left him just like that,” Oliver commented, scratching his neck in frustration.

“What can I say? People can be ruthless,” the waitress finished and returned to work.

Something in Oliver’s gut told him to do something. He couldn’t just let the man live his life that way. He went back to say goodbye to Mr. Perkins and took a picture of him with his phone, just in case.

He was trying to sleep in his hotel room that night, but Mr. Perkins’ sad face kept appearing in his mind. His story was shocking, but at least he knew that some people cared for him. Regardless, he thought about doing something more, so he got up and grabbed his laptop.

Opening up his Facebook, he wrote a post with Mr. Perkins’ story and attached his picture, hoping the online community would help him locate his family. It was a long shot, and if they had abandoned him on purpose, it wouldn’t work. But Oliver had hope.

He woke up the following day to discover that thousands of people had shared his post on the social media platform. He couldn’t believe it. He had several messages in his inbox from people who had spotted Mr. Perkins. Others claimed to know him, but there was one in particular that caught his attention.

Hello, Oliver!

I’m Richard Feinberg, and I believe that man is my father-in-law. Years ago, my wife, Fiona, left her father somewhere and needed to return home because she had forgotten her wallet.

She got into a terrible car accident and lost all her memories. She has been slowly regaining them, but the location of her father was never precise. It didn’t help that we moved from Montana to Nevada when we got married.

We tried to find him and had no idea where to start. Fiona has been going to several therapists for years, trying to regain her memories, but nothing worked. But now, your post has ended our search. Thank you! Thank you so much!

We’ll arrive in a few hours. I hope to meet you with my wife. Thank you so much!

Oliver was shocked once again. He had no idea something like that could happen, and no one had done anything before to fix it before him. Couldn’t the police help Fiona? Didn’t they have other family members? That was preposterous!

***

“DAD!” Oliver heard a scream of desperation coming from a car. A woman got out and crossed the street dangerously to reach her father.

Mr. Perkins looked up and smiled. “Honey!” he yelled and almost tried to get out of his chair, but the woman reached him and wrapped him in the biggest hug in the world. They both started crying. This had to be Fiona.

“Hello, are you Oliver?” a man asked as he approached him with his hand extended. His face showed all kinds of emotions, but mainly he was delighted that his wife had found her father.

“Yes. Richard? Thank you for coming,” Oliver said, extending his hand and shaking it.

“I can’t believe we finally found him,” Richard marveled, watching his wife hugging her father and crying in his arms.

“This is insane but I’m happy I was able to help. I’m curious though, didn’t you call the police?” Oliver wondered, trying not to sound judgmental.

“I know. It sounds insane, even to me. I met Fiona years after her accident. She didn’t remember even having a father or any family. But she was plagued by this instinct. She told me it was like forgetting to turn off the kitchen or the water faucet. So she started going to therapy and recovered some of her memories,” Richard explained more thoroughly. “We started looking straight away. But no one seemed to know anything.”

“That’s wild. We need a better system for our elderly,” Oliver remarked and told Richard what he knew of Mr. Perkins’ life on the streets.

“I agree. I’m only glad we found him alive. I was worried she would blame herself if something happened to him,” Richard continued. “Let me ask you something. What made you upload that post?”

“I saw him for the first time yesterday. I just realized why his story called to me actually. My grandmother had Alzheimer’s and one day, she just disappeared from our house. We looked for her and nothing. She was never found, and the police told us to give up. It broke my mother’s heart,” Oliver revealed, getting emotional himself.

Richard’s lips thinned, and he patted Oliver’s shoulder. “Thank you,” he said emotionally, and they rolled Mr. Perkins to the car.

Richard and Fiona were taking him to Nevada with them. Oliver asked the waitress to give them the number of the nursing home so they could resolve everything.

At least, Mr. Perkins’ story had a happy ending. He only wished that every other family could have one, too.