Noncense
I've already told you all about saving a woman from a knife-wielding maniac (here), preventing a suicide (here) and rescuing swimmers in trouble (here). So today I shall relate a tail of inadvertent noncery.

Walking to work one morning, I saw up ahead a small girl, about 5 years old, hiding behind an upturned table outside a pub. She was giggling, clearly playing a joke on mum. But as I got closer, the smiles faded and she started to look scared: it seemed that mum was no longer anywhere in sight.

This was near a very busy intersection in a crowded town centre, and I didn't think she should be left alone. So I approached her and talked to her, and confirmed that she'd lost her mum as I'd suspected. I knew where the school she named was, so I decided to take her there and see if I couldn't find a policeman on the way. As it happened, a few minutes down the road, I spotted a frantic-looking woman in the crowd up ahead, and so reunited them safely.

As I left them, it occurred to me rather worryingly how easy it had been to get the girl to come with me. I wondered what the two old women standing nearby - who hadn't bothered to try to help the girl, they were too busy gossiping - had made of it. And I had a long talk with my own daughters that night, too...
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Fri 10 May 2013, 14:57, 4 replies)

Keep away from strange men,
and just latch on to the first frantic woman that you see.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Fri 10 May 2013, 15:50, closed)

Are you sure it was her mother you reunited her with?

( Ghoti Fingers, Fri 10 May 2013, 18:45, closed)

You can't fake the look of relief on your face when you find a lost child
I've made that look myself.
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Mon 13 May 2013, 12:08, closed)

that'll be an interesting conversation
"today, I, a stranger, helped a lost little girl find her mum safely, and it made me both worry and think. So, girls, make sure that you are wary of strangers because they might be dangerous". Erm.
(haberman is singing in the changes, Wed 15 May 2013, 15:24, closed)