Random Act of Scary Kindness

I was driving home on the usual route today when I noticed a woman, jogging with her dog, on the sidewalk.  Then, about 100 feet in front of her was a boy on a scooter.  I didn’t think they were together because the boy was going fast, and there was a lot of space in between him and the woman.

“Huh,” I thought, “that kid’s going fast.  I hope he doesn’t fall.”

And then he fell.  His scooter slipped sideways underneath him and he did a nosedive.  I thought I saw his cheek scrape the ground.  The scooter’s back wheel ended up in the street.

I saw this all with clarity because time slowed down at that exact moment.  Time went so slowly, in fact, that I was able to completely stop the car about five feet before the boy when I saw him fall.  I pulled around him, then pulled over to the side of the road and got out.

It was obvious at that point that the kid and the jogging woman were connected somehow, because he was staring at her with his back to me, and great sniffles kept coming from him as he held out his hand for the woman’s inspection.

“What happened?!  Are you okay?!” The woman said as she ran up to the kid.  She looked panicky.  It’s probably because I was standing there, a little off to the side, like I was going to snatch up scooter boy and run away.

“I fell,” the kid sniffled, sounding close to tears, and showed the woman his hand, which was dirty and had a scrape along the fleshy part where his thumb connected to the rest of the palm.

“You fell!” she exclaimed.  Her eyes were wide.

I’d had enough of her exclamation points.  “His scooter slid out from under him, and he took a tumble,” I interjected.  (Yes, I really said he took a tumble. I can’t believe it either.)  As I spoke, the boy turned to me.  I could see he was 9-ish year old with blond hair and glasses, and there was no massive gash along his cheek like I feared.  “Good thing you had a helmet on,” I told him and smiled a little, thinking to get him to relax.

“Are you okay?!”  The woman asked the boy again, and without waiting for an answer, turned to me and said, “Thank you for stopping!”

Really, I think if she could have spoken in all caps, she would have.  She looked freaked out — more freaked out than I thought a mother with a rambunctious boy on a scooter could look.  I smiled at her and said, “Will you be okay?  Do you want a wet nap or something?”

“No, we’re not far away.  Actually, yes.  ONE.  Are you sure?”  She seemed hesitant.

“Oh yeah, no problem.”  I rustled in my car and found the antibacterial wipes I keep in there for when I check my oil.  I held the package open, and she grabbed one.  Just one.  I tried to talk to the boy again, this time saying, “hey, you were going pretty fast there, that was impressive.”

“A little too fast, I think,” the woman said, glaring.  “Thank you for your help!”  And then she turned her back on me.

I got back into my car and drove away.  The woman and the boy didn’t spare me a second glance.

So.  Would you have done the same?  Would you have stopped to help a kid who fell on his scooter when it looked like no one else was around?  If so, would you have grabbed some sort of identification, so that you didn’t scar the kid for life because he’s probably been told not to talk to strangers since he was born?  OR if you were the mother of a scooter kid, would you be freaked out that someone stopped to help your boy when he fell?  And finally, do you think I caused the boy to fall by thinking about him falling?  These are the questions that Unsolved Mysteries should be trying to answer, not some silly actual crimes.  Sheesh.

Image courtesy of notinponce.