A young squirrel lay asleep in a boat, too exhausted to stay awake any longer. He was separated from his friends, and in danger. Readers of Mistmantle, you know this story. A couple of passing otters found him and helped him to where he needed to be, but he never knew that. Only you know that.
Ten days ago, a member of my family fell, was injured, and ended up in hospital. Fortunately the fall happened where passers-by would see him and a dog-walking stranger looked after him, sent for an ambulance, and waited until it arrived. The hospital in question isn't easy to get to for non-drivers, like me, so I got to the nearest station but there was no taxi rank, not even a phone number for a taxi. However, I could see a pub about five minutes walk away, so off I went and asked the barmaid/landlady if she had the phone number for a taxi firm. Yes, she said, and would you like me to call one for you?
I hadn't ordered a drink, and she hadn't asked me to. She just phoned me a taxi. She didn't even say 'would you like a drink while you're waiting?' but out of courtesy I ordered a tonic water.
The kindness of strangers. It changes the world. You can be the stranger.
3 comments:
Very valuable lesson for the world today, and I hope your family member makes a speedy recovery.
Also, I'm very excited to tell you that you may have a new young fan soon. Our family is great friends with another household on the street, and there are three kids from grades second through fifth. They all have a summer reading project to do, which the oldest one complained to my father about because she has trouble staying interested in a book (By the way, my father also read the entire Mistmantle series years ago when I was finished with the books; he tells me he was quite sad about his favorite character Lugg).
My father asked the girl what she would like to read about the most, and fantasy came up. On a whim he says he thought of what I read around her age and told her about the Mistmantle series: hero and villain animals on an island with magic mists, and I guess it interested her. A copy of Urchin and the Riding Stars came in last week through the mail along with two other books for the three kids. They were gifted this weekend for Independence Day here, so no idea yet how she likes it, but I'd be happy to let you know soon!
Hello again, and thank you very much for guiding new readers over the mist! I'm sorry your father missed Lugg so badly. My younger son still makes me feel bad about Lugg.
Thank you for your good wishes for my family member, he's making good progress.
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