I went to see Red Dragon ⚠️ ↗ this afternoon (great movie, by the way)
at a local shopping center. This particular shopping center has a
shuttle tram that takes you from the street to the shopping area and
back again. After the movie, I walked over to the shuttle tram's
pick-up area and as I sat, waiting, a girl came up to the area on
one of those mettle scooters that I see boys riding all the time.
She seemed Tom-Boy-ish, in a way. She and an older man spoke for
a few seconds. I thought it might have been her grandfather. He just
commented on her scooter and she talked as if she might just ride
her shutle to the street although it was a pretty good little ways out
and mostly down hill. But then she saw the shuttle tram coming
and waited. In a way, she reminded me of Mika Boorem ⚠️ ↗ from Hearts ⚠️ ↗
In Atlantis and Blue Crush ⚠️ ↗.

We stood around looking all stupid for a few minutes until
the shuttle tram pulled up and then she and I got in the front seat
of the first car ad the older man got into the second seat while
all the other people filled the other seats, as well as the seats in
the other two cars.

The shuttle driver sat there for a few minutes while his helper
made sure everyone was secured in the cars and he and the girl began
to talk. She said, "Hello again" and started telling him that
she was considering riding her scooter down the hill until she saw
him coming and decided to wait. I decided to join in and asked her
if she had good enough breaks on it and she said yeah and showed
me how they worked.

The driver asked her if she had ever replaced the tires on it (they
really weren't tires, but thick rubber covering the rims) and she
said she had had the scooter for three years and had never had
them replaced since they had never worn out. I asked her how old
she was and she said she had just turned 13. She had gotten the
scooter shen she was 9. I told her she was a little over a year older
than my nephew and showed her a pictur of him that was taken the summer
of 2001. She said she thoguth he was pretty cute.

She had two large packs of Starburst candy she was working
her way thru and offered one to the driver and then tome and then to
the older man sitting in the seat behind us but we all turned it down.
We finally filled the three cars up and the driver's helper got into
the front car and we started down the hill. She and the driver talked
until we got to the bottom of the hill at the drop off point where she
began talking with me. As she and I got off the car she almost seemed
to latch onto me (not phisically but psycologically) and started talking
with me about all sorts of things.

She waited for me on the sidewalk so she could walk next to me
to the bus stop. We talked and she bombarded me with all sorts of
questions and I patiently answered each one. I asked her if the old
man was her grandfather and she said he wasn't so I deduced that she
was obviously by herself.

I was going to catch my bus at the bus stop there at the side of
the street but she had to take the subway train down one station to
get her bus. She asked me what bus route number I was talking and she
told me which one she was taking. She asked me if I would rider the
subway train with her to the next station because I could catch my
bus there. I started not to, but she seemed to act as if she wanted me
to, and my heart just melted. So, I said okay and her eyes seemed
to lite up. We crossed the street over to the entrance of the subway
station and she decided to take the elevator as I took the escalator.
She said, "I'll race ya down" with this cute little grin on her face
and I smiled back. We made it to the secodn level andI stood there
thinking she was getting off there but she was going to ride down
toteh third level. So, that meant she got a small head start on me.
She made it down to the third level before I did and raced over to the
bottom of the escalator with a big grin on her face and said, "I beat
you !" I smiled back with a small laugh and said, "I sure did !
I thought you were getting off the elevator on the second floor."

We walked over together to the excalator that took us down to the
fourth level where the train platform was located. As we walked I
told her my name and she told me her's was "Danielle". I handed her
one of my business cards. I usually do that when I introduce myself.
We got down to the train platform where we had ten good minutes
to talk before the train showed up.

We began talking some more and she told me she had seen guys
down on the tracks working before and there was a little ledge they
could go under when a train pulled in. We both wondered how far
back it went and she wondered if I would want to hop down and take
a look. I said I better not and then she asked me if I would lift
her down so she could do it. I said I could but we might get into
trouble. There weer security guards that walked thru there a lot and
they might not like that too much. Then she agreed we better not try that.

On the walls of all the subway stations they have different
types of art. On the ways of this particular station they have
different historical aspects of the area in english and spanish.
So she read aloud some of the spanish as if trying to impress me.
Then she asked me if I knew any spanish and I said I did, as well as
three other languages. She asked which ones and I told her. Then she
wanted to talk with me in spanish some. I assumed because she
wanted to know if I was telling the truth. (+:

She then told me she was half Argentinan, although she sure didn't
look as if she had any hispanic in her. She told me her last name
and sure enough it wasa South American name.

Finally, the train started pulling into the stationa nd she wanted
to go get intot he first car. So we walked to the other end of
the platform and got into the first car. She liked to look out of
the train operator's window as the train went down the tunnel. She talked
to me about the trains and how fast they travelled.

We pulled into the next subway station and she lead the way to
the elevator. She asked me if I thought she had an accent amd I said
it sounded as if she had a little bit of one and then she acted as
if to be saying, "Oh, I do not." We went up to the second level and
then walked over to the next elevator and went to the third (street)
level. The bus I needed was sitting there when we walked out of the
elevator, so I asked her if she wanted me to sit with her till her
bus came. She said, "Nah, you don't have to," and I told her I would
if she wanted me to and she said. "That's okay."

So I got on my bus looking back to make sure she was going to be
okay and then she decided at the last moment to get on the bus with
me. She said she can ride down to her street on this bus and catch
her bus the rest of the way home. Part way down the road the driver
said she needed a quarter to transfer. She looked at me as if she
needed a quarter from me. So i gave her a quarter for a transfer.
Then another passanger started telling us she made need yet another
transfer to get onto her bus so I gave the bus driver another quarter
to make sure she was able to get onother bus.

She asked me how far I was going --it was almost as if her
underlying tone was that she wanted me to ride her bus with her. I wish
I could have. But getting a bus home afterwards would have been
difficult with it being so late.

We finally made it to her street and I told her to give me a call
and she said she would. Of course, I still haven't heard from her but
hopefully I will one day again one day.

My oh my, what a little angel. I was just glad I could be there
for her. It brought out hte fatherly instincts in me. Seeing how the
others on teh bus seemed to react as if we were uncle adn niece or
"care taker and his charge". I almost felt like Mr. French on "Family Affair".