girl

I was walking downtown to meet a friend when I saw a girl wipe out on her bicycle, about 10 feet in front of me. She really bit the dust. She was riding on the sidewalk, attempting a tricky slalom between a tree and a metal bench. The front of her bike clipped the bench and she went flying -- straight over the handlebars and flat onto her face. Her face skidded on the pavement, her glasses went flying out into the street, and gloop -– I swallowed the gum I was chewing in one sicky fruit-flavored gulp. It was all very dramatic, but I’ll make a short story shorter here.

I asked if she was okay. No! she wailed, but she didn’t cry, not once. She had blood on her mouth. I thought maybe she’d chipped a tooth. She asked me to use my phone to take a picture of her mouth for her to see. I suggested instead that we use it to call her mother. “A nice lady gave me her phone,” she explained, calmly. She promised us both she’d go right home. She said she could make it.

I waited for her to get up and collect herself a little. She thanked me a lot. Finally, I walked on, shaking and shocked, like she was.

I’m not telling this story to play the hero. I just hope there’s some good karma in it, and if the buka ever crashes her bike, there will be some “nice lady” walking by, who will tell her to call her mother.