Hero

He walked along never looking up to the sky, eyes constantly placed there on the ground watching his feet, I suppose, as he trudged along. Hands in his pocket, never a smile for anyone, he would walk daily, to where? I don’t know, yet, he walked each and every day like clockwork. Was he disrespectful? Never, he just didn’t ever have a word for anyone, he seemed a loner, but one day made me see him differently. She was five years old, playing with a bright pink ball in her front yard. The ball seemed to have a mind of its own as it rolled into the street. He was on his daily walk down this street when in the corner of my eye I noticed her venturing into the street to get her new ball. I wouldn’t get there on time to stop the child as a woman on her cell phone in her SUV drove unknowingly toward the innocent child. He noticed, too, and like a bullet, shot out between other cars, grabbed her and placed her safely back on the curb. The child witnessed her ball explode under the weight of the car and cried. The girl’s mother came rushing out just in time to see him walking down the street and she assumed the worst. She accosted him and accused him of heinous crimes of depravation and immorality. He tried to continue to walk but the wall the mother created was one of unbearable force, until I acted as he. I came between the cars now and told the mother what had transpired and the look on her face was one of only embarrassment as she picked up her child and ran quickly into her house. He said thank you and walked on, but not before I said thank you to him for saving the girl and me, the girl from physical death and me from a death of spirit. I continued on my day with a smile on my face and a love for the world in my heart.