Last week at this time I was brushing off my tuxedo and polishing my Daytons (Drivers) in preparation for opening night of Vancouver Opera’s performance of Lucia di Lammermoor. This evening I am back at home mulling over something I saw after attending the “Meet-up of Meet-ups” at the Caprice nightclub in Vancouver.
As I was walking along Granville Street I saw a very young mother and her partner (some over-sized thug wearing an ill-fitting Ed Bromley hoodie) walking with a little girl between them. The little girl couldn’t have been a day older than my twin girls. The little girl was holding her mother’s hand and her little legs were going as fast as they possibly could just to keep up with her mother. And then, because the little girl couldn’t keep up, the mother said, “Do you want Richard to hold your other hand?” and the thug reached out and took the little girls other hand. That way the couple could drag the little girl between them. I’m telling you, I could feel my heart physically hurting to see this little girl being dragged along Granville Street with her little legs going like egg-beaters that late at night and her face wrinkled into a combination of fear and concern about being left behind.
The pain in my chest was physical. It hurt to know I could never really help that little girl. It still haunts me.