Feeling So Sick I Couldn’t Walk As a Stranger Virtually Carried Me to the Toilets.
At the age of my late teens, my morning travel was on an express bus. It remained full and invariably became completely full by the time I stepped aboard.
One particular morning, I started experiencing quite nauseous when the coach rocked around every turn. I kept telling myself to endure for a few more stops so the bus could reached where I needed to get off, and then I could rush hurriedly to the closest public restroom to vomit.
We were coming down the avenue close to the destination as it dawned on me I would not be to make it. All of a sudden, it was like a fog descended upon me. The world became blank and silent; like someone had cut the sound. I said to myself, “I’m going to faint”.
Fortunately, I stood close to the driver inside the vehicle, so I managed several steps forward and requested that the driver to pull over, informing him I needed to be sick. He opened the bus doors and I hurriedly stepped onto the sidewalk.
I was resolved to not get sick before six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and started trying to walk toward the green space opposite the street, where I believed it would allow me to find some privacy among some shrubs to be sick. However I must have fainted. I could feel my limbs, but I was unable to walk or see properly, so I started dragging myself toward the park.
“Everything alright, love?”
Right then, I was lifted up. There was a strong arm supporting me and heard a man say, “Are you okay, dear?” I explained to this mysterious stranger that I needed to vomit. Thus, he practically supported my weight into a close-by structure and guided me inside the women’s restroom. He inquired whether I required him to remain with me but I refused.
A few minutes later, I had recovered to the point of sitting down and from outside the door came his voice asking, “Do you need anything, love? Is there anything you require?” I could not to stand up just then but did manage to say thank you and shortly thereafter was able to move my limbs. I made my way home passing the following days recovering from which was a horrible case of gastroenteritis.
I never saw the stranger’s face – merely his legs and the big container for tools he was carrying – but he helped me, at a moment I was in my weakest state.
Frequently, society tends to make people defensive, aggressive and competitive. His was the sort of gesture that melts away that protective shell. He was proof that our default setting is towards kindness, something I love in other people.
