I Was So Ill I Was Unable to Walk When a Man Practically Supported Me to the Toilets.
At the age of 19 years old, my regular journey to work meant taking an express bus. It was perpetually crowded and was consistently standing room only when I stepped aboard.
On one specific day, I started experiencing terribly ill as the bus swayed around the bends. I kept telling myself to hold on for a few more stops until the bus arrived at where I needed to get off, at which point I could make a mad dash for the nearest public toilet to vomit.
We were coming down the road leading to the stop when it dawned on me I would not be to make it. In an instant, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. Everything just went blank and silent; similar to when one turned off the audio. I thought, “I’m going to faint”.
Fortunately, I stood near the front of the bus, so I managed several steps forward and told the operator to pull over, informing him I needed to get ill. He opened the entrance and I stumbled out on to the pavement.
I was determined to not get sick in view of a busy multi-lane road, so I forced myself up and endeavored to walk toward the green space on the other side, thinking I could it would allow me to discreetly hide among some shrubs to throw up. But then I apparently lost consciousness. I could feel my physical self, yet I was unable to walk and my vision was blurry, leading me to start inching my way to the grassy area.
“You right, love?”
In that instant, I got scooped up. I sensed someone holding me and heard a man say, “You right, love?” I told this mysterious stranger that I required to be sick. Thus, he practically carried me down into a nearby building and put me into the female bathroom. He asked me if I wanted him to remain with me but I said no.
A few minutes later, I regained my composure sufficiently to sit down when from beyond the door came him ask, “Are you feeling better, dear? Can I get you something?” I was incapable to get up at that moment but I did succeed to thank him and following a brief period recovered the use of my feet. I got myself home passing the following days getting over what turned out to be a horrible case of gastroenteritis.
I did not see his features – just his lower half and the big metal toolbox he held – yet he rescued me, when I was in my weakest state.
Many times, life has a way of making you self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. What he did was the kind of action that melts away that protective shell. He served as evidence that humanity’s innate tendency is towards kindness, a quality I adore about humanity.
