I Was So Ill Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Essentially Lifted Me to a Bathroom.
Back when I was my late teens, my daily commute involved an packed public transport. The vehicle was always jammed and would always be standing room only once I stepped aboard.
During a certain commute, I started experiencing terribly ill while the vehicle swayed around every turn. I kept telling myself to endure for a few more stops until the bus got to my destination, at which point I could rush hurriedly for the nearest public restroom to vomit.
As we neared the street towards the destination as I understood I would not be to last. All of a sudden, it seemed a curtain fell over me. The world became white and really quiet; like someone had cut the sound. My mind raced, “I am about to pass out”.
Thankfully, I was positioned close to the driver inside the vehicle, allowing me to take a couple of steps toward the driver and requested that the driver to open the doors, explaining to him I was going to be sick. The driver opened the bus doors and I stumbled out on to the pavement.
I was determined not to vomit in front of six lanes of traffic, so I gathered myself and started trying to make my way across to the park on the other side, thinking I could I could at least find some privacy near some foliage to vomit. But then I apparently blacked out. I could feel my body but walking was impossible or see properly, leading me to start crawling towards the park.
“Are you okay, dear?”
In that instant, I got scooped up. I felt an arm around my waist and a stranger inquired, “You right, love?” I managed to tell the kind passerby that I required to be sick. Thus, he practically carried me over to a close-by structure and guided me inside the women’s restroom. He inquired if I wanted him to wait for me but I refused.
A few minutes later, I felt better to the point of sitting on the restroom floor and from the other side of the door I heard his voice asking, “Are you OK, love? Is there anything you require?” I was incapable to get up at that moment but did manage to express my gratitude and after a few more minutes was able to move my limbs. I got myself home passing the following days getting over which was a nasty tummy bug.
I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – just his lower half and the big metal toolbox he had with him – yet he rescued me, during a time when I was at my most vulnerable.
Many times, life can make you defensive, aggressive and competitive. His was the sort of gesture that reverses that emotional callousness. He served as evidence that people’s natural inclination is towards kindness, something I love about humanity.
