Write about a random act of kindness you’ve done for someone.

This prompt just so happens to tie into a previous prompt, and a much older post, dating back to 2016. I am pleased I stopped to help a person in distress; I was less pleased by the length of time it took me to disentangle myself from the (in the end) rather ungrateful woman who I’d helped.

The story goes that we were coming home from a family outing to a nearby wildlife park, and as our bus pulled into the station, there was a woman who appeared to be injured, dragging herself along the railings near the taxi ranks. This woman was covered in blood, yet no one was going to her aid. My stepdaughter and I went to help her whilst my wife took my daughter and granddaughter home. We tried to ascertain who she was, and what had happened. We offered to call an ambulance; this offer met with a threat of throwing herself into traffic, for all she wanted to do was go home. However, the taxis would not take her whilst she was covered in blood!

She wanted me to go with her, all the way to Tilbury, which by all accounts was not gonna happen. I had no idea what awaited me there, and I’d have to get back, and it wasn’t exactly late, but it was going to be by the time I made it home. Besides, she needed medical attention, so I quietly called an ambulance, and kept grabbing paper towels from a nearby kebab hut, so she could at least start to tend to her injuries.

When the ambulance arrived, she would only get in it if my stepdaughter and I accompanied her to the hospital. This was also not ideal, but since it was the only way, we agreed. Upon arriving, she was checked in, and asked to wait in A&E.

It transpired she was known to the staff there (it turned out she had previously punched a nurse!), and it also turned out her wounds were the result of falling over whilst drunk. It emerged she was an alcoholic, and this got rammed home when she asked me to buy her booze, to smuggle into A&E! I refused (there was no chance of that), and so she discharged herself (well, she just walked out), despite being wrapped up in bandages.

I have no idea what became of her. I hope she wound up being ok, but that was a stressful occasion, and I can’t help but wonder if the old saying, that no good deed goes unpunished, is true!