According to this article which broke here yesterday, and is currently available only in Norwegian, a young American woman traveling to Norway in 1988 to meet her new husband almost didn't get to go. She was checking in at Miami airport when they informed her that her bags were too heavy, and that she would have to pay 103 dollars extra to send her things. She simply didn't have the money, and was faced with leaving behind some of the finest things she owned, or not going at all.
Well, guess who was standing behind her in line?
Our candidate was 27 years old the day he met newlywed Mary Menth Andersen, on her way to meet her new husband, Dag, in Norway. While it's not clear from the article where Barack was headed to, we know that Mrs. Andersen was on her way to start a new life... but for lack of 103 dollars.
She had no way to call her husband in Norway, or anyone else to help, without missing her flight and losing her ticket price. The only option she had was to remove some of the weight from her bags, weight which, for a newlywed, meant only the most important things in her new life.
Tears flowed as she slowly resigned herself to this fate. And then a "strong but friendly voice" spoke up behind her...
I'll pay for her, he said.
(emphasis mine :-)
Update 05.10.08: User jannike has provided a much better translation here.