A few days ago, I went for a swim at Sengkang. I needed to cut across the park behind my house to get to the 159 bus stop. As I was going to be late, I was walking briskly but my path was blocked by a kid on a tricycle. He's about 5 - 6 years old, and is merrily ringing his bell as he imagined he is on a adventure with Peter Pan in Neverland.

Apparently he didnt know the kor kor behind him is late and is rushing for time. I didnt want to alarm him by cutting his path as well. So I slowed down, while also looking to see whether his guardian or parents are around. It seemed like he was alone, cycling unsupervised. Thats actually no surprise since the park has lots of other kids playing around. It is not uncommon practice for the parents to make a visit to the supermart nearby while leaving their kids here.

The park wasnt huge so it was pretty soon that we reached a path leading to the HDB flats. That was where I needed to head for as well. Now here comes the exciting bit. There is a gentle slope down the path. Really gentle. So gentle that I thought the cute boy was able to maneuver. I was terribly wrong.

I was about 3 steps behind him, like what the SAF taught us to give a safety distance behind vehicles. As he rode down the path, he began to feel the acceleration and I think he freaked out... Especially when his legs stopped pedaling and it still got faster. The only thing he managed to do was to shout 'Ahhhhhhhhhh' And even so, being the only person behind him, I think I was the only one that could hear his shout in the park.

I was too slow to react as I saw his tricycle hit a small curb and flip, falling on top of him. He was pinned down by the weight of the tricycle. I finally snapped out of my daze and rushed to his side, hurriedly lifting the tricycle and see whether he was injured. It seemed like he was in a deeper daze than me and was at a loss of words. Either it was the 'accident' or seeing me. That was then a flustered maid rushed over and picked up his slippers, which he dropped at the scene of the accident. The maid immediately relaxed upon seeing the boy was unscathed and said about 5 'Thank You's to me. The boy didnt cry though, to my surprise. What a brave little boy. I patted the boy on his head and rushed off. He was still staring at me.