The Underpass

a shaky day today.
shook up.
on my way home from work, i stopped to take a pic of the bright red heart, (i amped it up) in a middle class neighborhood, very middle class, little crime, what? a few break ins, maybe.
So i am sitting in my parked car taking a pic of the heart, a boy goes past my car, turns and looks at me, comes toward the car. leans toward the window.
what i heard him say was, "can you give me a ride home, some men in a van were following me."
The kid was terrified, and what he described, was too frightening to contemplate. he was a slender 15 year old, a runner, he was drenched, his clothes were saturated, he said he "sprinted." the area where he found himself was several blocks away, he said he ran through a path, like a wooded path, "where cars could not drive through."
I used to do examinations on assault victims. And when somebody is so hurt and vulnerable, for me, well, you just love them. unconditionally. for today, i just loved the boy. and i am glad i stopped to snap this pic.