A Different Lesson

Lamb had a good first day of school this year. Which is nice. Start the year nice and maybe it keeps going that way, eh? She even said she made sure she spoke up in class to set a good first impression. That's my girl! But we had a very different lesson on the way home.

I picked Lamb up from school and we headed to pick up Mister from another school. As we were traveling along, Lamb said that she saw a person lying on the cement next to their car. The person wasn't moving, she said.

What to do? I'm busy. My son is waiting for pick up. And Lamb could have been mistaken. Or saw a person on the ground trying to reach their keys, or something.

But what kind of lesson is it if I either dismiss what her eyes tell her or if I dismiss helping someone if I believe her?

So I turned the car around and told her to look for the house she saw. She saw the house--set back so it was difficult to see from the street. But we'd passed it by then.

So I turned the car around again. We passed the house again but this time I caught sight of a women indeed lying next to a car with a door open.

So one more time I turned the car around, and pulled into the driveway. Leaving Lamb in the back seat, I saw a women was just lying there.

I called to her as I approached, "Miss, are you all right? Do you need me to call for assistance?"

She kind of rolled and looked at me, and responded that she was fine. I asked again if she needed me to call for assistance. She said no.

Then, still lying on her back, she extended her hands toward me and wiggled her fingers, saying, "Hey, come over here." Whoa. She was quite obviously stoned out of her mind. I didn't smell alcohol. But she was responsive and moving. So in no short-term danger of expiring.

She repeated the invitation when I did not immediately respond.

Then I said, no, if she's okay I need to go get my son. To myself I said I wouldn't touch her with somebody else's ten foot pole.

So I got in the car, and--while taking care not to back over the woman--I got out of their fast lest more male and better armed--but similarly wasted--people came out of the house.

I assured Lamb that she was in no danger and commended her for noticing a possible person in need and letting me know. But she was probably drunk, I said (I had to explain this somehow, no?). Which baffled Lamb given the early hour it was.

I almost called 911 anyway. But I figured that woman's life was probably messed up enough without attracting medical attention that would be followed by police attention. And she did not seem to be in any immediate danger. I haven't seen or heard any news of something bad this week. She's messed up enough. And if she spends more time in that driveway, I won't be stopping.

But Lamb knows I take her seriously. And she knows I will react seriously. And Lamb had a lesson in how a life can be wasted if you don't take care of yourself. So lessons were learned on the first day of school that should pay off in future years.