Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Morning Blunder

This morning, I did something good to help other people.
I was driving home from my run at the gym when I saw two middle school kids walking in the dark with their backpacks on. The temperature on my car thermostat said 2 degrees.
I wondered if they didn't know school was canceled.
I'd woken up that morning around 5 and pulled up the local weather station with its list of closings. It listed every school in the county, including ours because the temperature hovered around -2 degrees Fahrenheit. That's -18 Celcius.
Two weeks ago when the temperature dipped down this low, they closed schools for two days.
I had driven past the kids already and was debating whether I should go back and say anything to them.
I turned the car around, stopped and, on my phone, pulled up the page for the local weather station again. I double checked that our school appeared on the "closings" list.
Then I drove back down the road, rolled down my window and told the kids, a brother and sister, that schools were closed. I asked if they wanted me to give them a ride back home since it was so cold.
We live in a small town, so that's not as dangerous as it might seem to big city people.
I also told them my son was a senior in high school.
They climbed into the back seat and told  me they were in 8th grade and 6th grade.
"I'm going back to bed," the boy, who was in 8th grade, told me.
I dropped them in front of their house, about half a mile back. Then drove home.
As I pulled into the driveway, I noticed that my neighbor was pulling out of her garage. She teaches at the Catholic schools, and I wondered where she was going. My list said the Catholic schools were closed too.
That's when I got worried.
According to the list, my college was closed, so I was in no hurry to take a shower. I had all day.
I came inside and searched for the closings page on the computer. The list showed only a few school delays and closures. Our school district and the college where I teach were not on the list.
"Oh, no," I told my husband. "I just told those kids there was no school. I don't even know their names."
At the same time, I needed to hurry to get ready for work.
I called my friend who lives down the block from the kids. Her 6th grade son knew them and called them. Then her son, a senior in high school, picked them up and gave them a ride to school.
She saved the day for me, and for them.
I figured out finally, that the page I was looking at on my phone was the page of closings from two weeks ago. It called up the same page I'd looked at without refreshing it.
I nearly caused a number of us to miss school.
It's fairly embarrassing and is a reminder to me not to meddle in other people's business, even if I'm trying to be a helper.

4 comments:

Lucia said...

You were being a good smaritan! No worries it worked out in the end right.

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

LOL - you meant well !

Gigi Ann said...

You meant well, but we all do things like that once in awhile. It was the thought behind it that counted, as the old saying goes.

Sheila said...

oh my goodness, I bet those kids were cursing you!

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