Urban angels

Thank goodness for those beautiful people who think beyond their own world and save a moment from going very badly wrong.

‘I’d rather regret the things I have done, than the things I haven’t done’. — Lucille Ball.

~~

I got off the city train in the steep part of town and looked up at the platform signs wondering which way out of the tunnel, left, or right? People were moving in every direction. I chose right and started walking on the raised, bumpy tiles designed to protect you and keep you away from the edge. I look up to see a white guide cane with a white rubber base. A young man with a very cloudy eye stops in front of me, facing me and says,

‘Please. Which way for line one?’

While I looked at all the signs above our heads for him I muttered ‘Mmmm. Let’s see…..’ because of course, I wanted him to know I was on his case, didn’t I? As soon as I said it I winced, but he probably had far bigger concerns than my crumby choice of words.

The sign above my head pointed left, so I said, ‘It’s this way’.

We walked a few meters together, and he thanked me. I said goodbye and walked back the other way. He had one eye that looked OK. I deduced he could see more than a bit. If he’d got this far on the underground, he’d find his way and yet I hesitated. What if he couldn’t see much at all?

I turn to watch him. I see his black jacket, black hair and slim frame. The train is still in and he is walking, waving his stick side to side, but then he walks past the exit. In seconds he will hit a black wall.

I started running along the crowded platform. Then I see an older, smartly dressed man leave the train, woollen-business-coat-over-suit, he too saw the guide cane and the guy in the corner of his eye. He took a double take. I watched him check over his own shoulder at where the blind guy was heading. In large strides he got to him and said something to him, held his elbow and then guided him back up the stairs.

I braked. Smiled at Suit. I was thinking, thank goodness for urban angels. You never see them coming. Suit’s halo was as visible as cat’s-eyes in the dark. Then he spotted me poised to turn in front of him, guessing I suppose, that I’d been anxious about the guy too. ‘It’s ok’, said Suit’s return smile, ‘I’ve got him’.

As I retraced my steps out of the train station up into the street in the sunshine, I felt such a fool for letting him go alone. It’s difficult to shrug off the emotion of regret. And sometimes it grows. I had to accept I made a bad decision and move on. Next time I won’t take so long to think twice. Thankfully we learn from our mistakes.

This was a story inspired by the title ‘Regret’. The challenge was to write no more than 300 words. I filled it out a bit here as 300 was quite a challenge. I want to thank

Feasts and Fables

and

Susie Mawhinney

for their

Encourage Meant

.

Edited for errors, including the title. Angels or angles?! Apologies. Yes, such a stupid mistake! But in the title?! Serves me right for writing to fast :)