Short story by Raimi Zamani
Maya waited on the sidewalk for the light to turn green. The Kuala Lumpur traffic was stuck in a massive jam.
Cars and trucks weren’t moving, but motorcycles could still zoom between them.
One rider immediately caught Maya’s eye. The motorcyclist was a woman who wears a pink coloured uniform. She must be working in a hospital, Maya thought to herself.
Maya could see that a pickup truck was changing lanes quickly into the path of the woman. The woman swerved sharply to avoid the bus. Maya gasped.
She’s going to crash, Maya thought.
Suddenly, the motorcycle’s front wheel hit a patch of loose gravel on the side of the road. The bike wobbled wildly.
With a loud, scary screech, the motorcycle slid off the pavement, flipped over the grass, and…
Crash! Splash!
The motorcyle and the woman disappeared into the deep monsoon drain next to the street.
None of the drivers saw the accident because the ditch was hidden by tall bushes.
The drivers seemed totally clueless of the accident that happened in a blink of an eye. Maya realized that she might be the only witness.
Maya ran to the edge of the grass and looked down. The drop was steep. The woman was lying in the muddy water in the monsoon next to her wrecked bike.
She was not moving.
Maya’s heart beat fast, but she remembered her dad’s number one rule: Stay calm and call for help.
She tapped the red emergency button on her smartwatch. It instantly called 999.
“Good afternoon, what is your emergency,” a calm voice answered.
Maya tried to keep her voice steady.
“Hi, I’m by the big intersection next to the park. A motorcycle crashed into the deep ditch. She is hurt, and nobody else saw the accident.”
The operator told her an ambulance was on the way and warned her not to climb down. Next, Maya asked the assistant in her watch to call her father.
She was anxious to tell her father about the accident.
“Yes, the motorcyclist is a woman. She fell into the ditch. I called an ambulance, but I’m a little scared.”
Her father promised to come immediately to accompany her.
“Stay right there,” her father said.
Minutes later, loud sirens wailed. A fire truck and an ambulance pulled up with flashing red and blue lights. Maya waved her arms high to show the paramedics exactly where to look.
They climbed down the drain with a ladder and a special basket to lift the man. At that time, a small crowd had gathered by the drain.
Just then, Maya felt a warm hand on her shoulder. It was her father. He looked out of breath, but gave her a big, reassuring smile.
A police officer walked over to them with a notepad.
“You have earned a very big merit today,” said the officer with a smile.
“Nobody else saw the motorcyclist fall into the drain. He could have been trapped down there for hours without your help. Great job.”
The officer took note of their particulars and told them that he would inform the school about Maya’s meritorius action.
The lady was being carried on a stretcher into the ambulance. As the ambulance doors closed, she could see the woman raised a hand to give an okay sign.
Maya smiled.
She was so glad she had her little blue watch, and she really hoped the woman would recover soon enough.
We believe that fiction is a powerful way to build empathy and help us better understand the natural world.
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