I have done my good deed for the day, and it’s not even 8:30.
Working from home today, and I have a peek-a-boo view through the bushes to the sidewalk. I noticed a young girl in a tutu on our parking strip. She was looking at the street, and I didn’t see an adult, but kids often run ahead. She continued down the sidewalk, and I asked Carl to look for an adult.
Carl stepped outside and did not see an adult. She was headed toward the busy road end of our block. Carl was barefoot, but I had slippers on, so I took off down the block. Thank goodness she just stopped at the end of the block and didn’t try to cross the street.
When I reached her I told her my name and asked hers. Her mother was taking her brother to his school and then would meet her? She said she was 6, and she didn’t live on our block. Another woman who was walking up the street did stop and listened to our conversation. Brooke was underdressed for our 50-degree weather, and I think it was clear this was not a normal situation.
I asked her where she was supposed to meet her Mom. When she pointed back down the block, I suggested we go there, and she took off at a 6-year old run. I followed at a 60+-year old jog. Carl appeared in sandals as we passed our house, and I asked him to get a phone. We stopped at the corner of the block, and I was trying to figure out the next move.
Brooke indicated the next two turns to the “meeting place,” which I suspect is her house. Carl arrived with the phone and put his vest over Brooke’s shoulders. She didn’t know her mother’s phone number, and I was trying to figure out whether to follow her lead further or call 911 or both.
And then her rather distraught mother pulled up. She didn’t yell but told her she shouldn’t leave the house, thanked us, and we all went home. Brooke did say it was her mother, so we didn’t hand her off to a stranger.
And now I am stuck trying to concentrate on work again.
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