I Was So Ill Walking Was Impossible When a Man Practically Supported Me to a Restroom.
Back when I was my late teens, my morning travel involved an packed public transport. It remained full and invariably became completely full once I boarded.
On one specific day, I started experiencing terribly ill while the vehicle rocked around every turn. I kept telling myself to persevere for a few more stops until the bus got to my destination, and then I could rush hurriedly for the nearest washroom to vomit.
As we neared the avenue close to the destination as I realised I was unable to make it. In an instant, it was like a curtain fell over me. The world became hazy and muffled; as if someone turned off the audio. I said to myself, “I will lose consciousness”.
Thankfully, I was positioned near the front of the bus, allowing me to take a couple of steps forward and told the operator to open the doors, explaining to him I needed to be sick. He opened the bus doors and I hurriedly stepped out onto the street.
My intention was to not get sick in front of multiple lanes of cars, so I gathered myself and started trying to walk across to the park opposite the street, where I thought I’d at least be able to secretly conceal myself among some shrubs to throw up. However I apparently fainted. I was aware of my body but I was unable to walk or see properly, so I began dragging myself toward the park.
“Everything alright, love?”
In that instant, I got scooped up. There was a strong arm supporting me and heard a man say, “Are you okay, dear?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I needed to be sick. Thus, he practically carried me down into an adjacent building and guided me inside the women’s restroom. He inquired if I needed him to stay with me but I declined.
After a short while, I felt better to the point of sitting on the restroom floor and from outside the door I heard him ask, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I wasn’t able to stand up at that moment but did manage to express my gratitude and following a brief period was able to move my limbs. I returned home and then spent the next few days healing from what turned out to be a nasty tummy bug.
I never glimpsed that man’s face – only his legs and a large container for tools he had with him – but he helped me, during a time when I was completely helpless.
Often this world tends to make people guarded, hostile, and combative. What he did was the kind of action that melts away that protective shell. He was proof that our default setting is to be kind, a quality I adore in other people.
