Waaaaaahhhhh !!!!
Sorry, I just had to do that first... you see, I almost ran over a kid less than an hour ago. It was a good thing I was going rather slow (about 30 kph) along that narrow street connecting Amang Rodriguez St. in Manggahan, Pasig and C5 Road in QC. The boy, between 9-11 years old, suddenly darted out of one house straight into my path. As he did, both my legs straightened as they hit the brakes and the clutch, my arms striaghtened as my left hand held the stering wheel and my right hand hit the horn in one long "beeeeeep," at the same time I mouthed off the worst cuss words I could (and have been avoiding saying in the presence of my daughter. And my daughter was right beside me on the passenger seat...)
Many people saw it and knew that I couldn't have done anything else. A tricycle driver going the other way saw it and paused to give a piece of his mind to the kid.
The kid? He just stumbled in front my car, got back his bearings and ran off to the other side, still without looking anywhere else but ahead of him.
When I saw that he was ok, I put my attention to the other kid... Kimi. Her immediate reaction was a heartfelt "Mama, that was scary!!!" To which I responded with words to settle her down. Surprisingly, she did not cry or do anything else. She was obviously unnerved and took a while before she said she wasn't scared anymore. Come to think of it, at seven years old, my baby took this experience rather well!
At least, better than I did! The first thing I did after making sure she was ok was to call my friend and rant! My heart felt like it wanted to explode out of my chest. As we drove on, I was more wary of the pedestrians and even, at one point, told my baby, "Honey, don't ever, ever do that, ok? Don't run across the street without looking first!" Then thoughts of the expenses that might have been incurred entered my mind. What if we hit the kid? What if there was a car behind mine who couldn't stop as fast as I did? Up to now, I still shudder at the thought!
Oh life... so full of excitement, isn't it?
Omigash, thankfully no one got hurt.
ReplyDeleteBut what struck me was where were the boy's parents / guardians / nannies / whatever-else-they-call-them-people-nowadays?
just another reason i don't drive... glad you and kimi and the boy were unharmed
ReplyDeleteI have no idea where anybody responsible for the kid was (or are, for that matter). If that tricycle driver knew them, I'm sure they'd have heard by now.
ReplyDeleteI've had accidents with the car before. No one hurt, so far... thank God! I used to think I would never learn to drive because I didn't think I could handle these things, but then need pushed me. And here I am, five years later and driving around.
Just try it. Take small steps to learn. Manila is a good place to start driving because it creates in you nerves of steel!
=)K