July 26, 2006

• Playing in Traffic

  The other day, I didn't have much to do. Work was dull, the air was dull, boredom prevailed. I left my office a little early, being overly air-conditioned and unsupervised for the day, and trekked up the street a block or two to wait for the bus.

  It was a trafficky day on on Market St, and the corner I was standing at had plenty of vehicle watching opportunities while I waited. Buses, trucks, zippy compact cars, all in a melee of steel and gasoline trying to get somewhere else. The light turned red.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw something emerge out of the traffic and bounce up onto the sidewalk, not a dozen feet from where i was standing. A child's ball- one of those ones little kids are always trying to chuck at one another's heads- with no child immediately or obviously in pursuit. I hustled over to investigate... and then realizing, looked into the traffic rolling along beside me.

  He was little, probably about eight, no taller than the bumper of the box trucks and SUV's that were stopped in line at the light. He scampered through the two lanes, cleared one, and squeezed between the bumpers of the two cars immediate. Chasing his ball, which had rolled out into the street.... unsupervised...... no adult or guardian in sight.

  Bad thing! Bad, bad thing!! My brain said in an instant.

  Where the hell is his mum??

  Where i work, we see the worst of the worst cases of kids whose families are too strained or underpriveleged to care for them, or too neglectful to bother trying. We compensate for the damage done by providing plenty of structure and nurturing- to the point where our small clients are rarely ever left unattended- and occasionally we have to hold kids to keep them from hurting themselves or others. Restraints are both physically as well as emotionally draining and potentially dangerous, so I loathe to physically handle any kid under my care. I especially don't with one i don't even know, who obviously belongs to someone else. I don't like messing with kids at all. Hah, I don't even like kids, really! But for this I made exception.

  He looked a little bewildered at me as I got hold of him firmly but gently by his shoulders. "Whooaaa there, little man.  Holey moley, do you know what you just did???" I don't think he understood me at all, and squinted up at me as I scolded him. "That's very dangerous, running into the street that way, and you're lucky to be standing here. DANGEROUS, do you hear? You're also lucky, because today I'm your fairy godmother, and I'm going to teach you the right way to cross the street. Then you can have your ball back."  He still looked confused, had barely a clue about what i was saying, but seemed to get the jist that he had made a big oops and this wierdo lady had caught him red-handed. He smirked at me as i lead him up to the corner.

  Once there, we waited for the light to change again. I pushed the walk button, and pointed across the street the little lit-up man in the box on the pole across the way. I held out my hand  to invite him to take it, and he looked at me funny. I gently took his upper wrist in my hand. Then we  made sure to look both ways, and crossed the street.

  When we got across I let him go, and walked behind him up to his front gate. I tossed him his ball and smiled, and he ran off into his backyard.

   Dumb little kid, geez.

  • 1:34 pm
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