On the way home from picking up my boys, I pass a young girl. Walking in a down pour, frantically waving her arms.
The road is a two lane. Large hill behind her and limited sight distance. She is about a quarter mile from the elementary school and she walking towards it.
She may be 9.
I was just about right up on her when I saw her. And I had a car behind me pretty close so I had to go past her.
I had to go over the hill and turn around. I came back, pulled over past her and asked her from a distance what was wrong. I didn't want to scare her and didn't want the passing cars to think I was kidnapping her.
About two car lengths from where I was stopped was the outer drive of the school. So I told her to walk over there and I got us out of the road.
I asked her again what was wrong. She said "my mom and dad are not home and mom's phone is turned off and I can't find anybody." So I ask if she wants to sit in the van while I call somebody. She backed up and I could see she was scared. I think she was crying but it was raining so hard I couldn't really tell.
So she points at the school and said she was going there. I asked her if she would let me call someone for her. She said "don't call the police. The power is supposed to be turned on tomorrow and if you call the police, they'll take me away from my mom and dad."
It's still a football field or more to the awning of the school. I asked her if that's where she went to school. She said yes. I asked if she would let me drive her to the door. She said no. So I told her to go on and walk over but I was going to watch till she went inside. She nodded and took off.
I called the school, told them what had happened and described the little girl. The secretary sent a teacher to find her and I talked to a counselor and told them again what happened.
While I was on the phone, they told me they had her in the office.
They asked for my name and number. I didn't give them that.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
I would have done as you did. Follow her to the school. However, I would have walked into the School to personally speak to someone and make sure they knew she was walking alone. You said she looked to be 9 but she may or may not be older. Hard to tell sometimes. Did she live close to the school and why was she going to school if you were picking your kids up from school?
I figure she road the bus home and no one was there. So she was going back to the school.
I stayed on the phone till they had her. I didn't need to go in and talk to them in person. I told them what she had said and they were handling it.
Thing is, if it wasn't raining and she hadn't been waving her arms around, I don't know that would have thought twice about her walking.
I don't know where she lives. Where I saw her, there are no houses around.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
You did the right thing, Lily, you made her feel safe, someone was looking out for her. Her parents will still be investigated for the lack of power, though. Poor kid.
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Sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug.
You know, it was storming. Not kidding, the wind was really bad about 20 minutes before this. If she hadn't said anything about being taken from her parents, I would have thought it was an outage because of the storm.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
You know, it was storming. Not kidding, the wind was really bad about 20 minutes before this. If she hadn't said anything about being taken from her parents, I would have thought it was an outage because of the storm.
Yeah, and if I got home late due to a storm making travel treacherous my daughter would be home alone. She knows to go to neighbors, but if that isn't possible should I be prosecuted for negligence? Nope.
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Sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug.
I know the little girl was scared. It was obvious.
I was kind of proud of her too. She was not coming any where near the van. Smart girl.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
I guess I'm a little puzzled why she bothered to flag you down if she wasn't really willing to accept a ride and didn't really even want you calling anyone.
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I'm not arguing, I'm just explaining why I'm right.
Well, I could agree with you--but then we'd both be wrong.
I guess I'm a little puzzled why she bothered to flag you down if she wasn't really willing to accept a ride and didn't really even want you calling anyone.
Maybe she thought she recognized the car.
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The Principle of Least Interest: He who cares least about a relationship, controls it.
When I turned around and got back over the hill, she was still trying to wave someone down.
I don't know what her thinking was. Like I said, she was about 9.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
I do not want to get in the middle of some possible custody issue.
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A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
I think you handled the situation well. You made sure the girl was safe, and that is what is important.
As to why she was flagging people down, but didn't agree to any help, if she was around 9, she probably didn't think the whole thing through. She was feeling overwhelmed and scared. It probably didn't even occur to her what kind of help people could actually give until it was offered.
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"I have a very strict gun control policy. If there's a gun around, I want to be in control of it." - Clint Eastwood
A flock of flirting flamingos is pure, passionate, pink pandemonium-a frenetic flamingle-mangle-a discordant discotheque of delirious dancing, flamboyant feathers, and flamingo lingo.
Such a sad world we live in when doing the kind thing is no longer a safe thing for the kids. Stranger Danger has turned everyone into a monster and leaves our kids in and even more dangerous predicament. I am VERY glad to hear this all ended well. You did good by not leaving her to fend for herself. She may not have gotten in the car with you, but I bet she felt better that SOMEONE was there.
