I Was So Ill I Couldn’t Walk When a Man Essentially Lifted Me to the Toilets.
Back when I was nineteenth year, my regular journey to work involved an packed public transport. The vehicle was always full and invariably became completely full once I boarded.
On one specific day, I began feeling quite nauseous when the coach lurched around the bends. I continuously reassured myself to persevere just a little longer until the bus reached where I needed to get off, so I could then make a mad dash for the nearest public restroom to vomit.
We were coming down the avenue close to my stop and I realised I was unable to make it. All of a sudden, it felt as if a curtain fell over me. Everything just went hazy and muffled; similar to when one cut the sound. I thought, “I’m going to faint”.
Luckily I was toward the front of the bus, allowing me to take a few steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to pull over, informing him that I was about to get ill. He promptly opened the bus doors and I weakly exited onto the sidewalk.
I was resolved to avoid being sick before six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and endeavored to make my way toward the green space on the other side, where I believed it would allow me to discreetly hide among some shrubs to throw up. However I must have fainted. I could feel my body but I was unable to walk or see clearly, so I started inching my way to the park.
“You right, love?”
Right then, someone picked me up. I sensed someone holding me and heard a man say, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I had to to be sick. So he virtually supported my weight over to an adjacent building and placed me in the ladies’ toilets. He wanted to know if I wanted him to remain with me but I said no.
A few minutes later, I regained my composure to the point of sitting on the restroom floor when from beyond the door I heard him inquire, “Are you OK, love? Do you need anything?” I was incapable to stand up just then but did manage to say thank you and after a few more minutes was able to move my feet. I got myself home passing several days recovering from which was a nasty tummy bug.
I never saw the stranger’s face – merely his legs and a large steelwork tools container he was carrying – yet he rescued me, when I was at my most vulnerable.
Often this world tends to make people self-protective, pushy, and rivalrous. His was the sort of gesture that melts away that protective shell. He served as evidence that humanity’s innate tendency is towards kindness, a trait I cherish in other people.
