The old woman had been looking at the houses on her street for ages. Because, what should a woman do when she had nothing else to do. Of course it is important to inspect your neighbours. What are they doing? Where are they going? She had be helping them. Looking out for unwanted people.

There had been a drunken man once, and Beatrice had helped the whole neighbourhood by running outside and walking towards him with her cane as high above her head as she could manage.

Beatrice stood behind the curtain. The neighbours opposite of her house had been screaming at each other for ages just on their own driveway.

Beatrice looked at them with concern. Were they alright? They weren’t breaking up with each other, right? That wouldn’t be good.

Beatrice had the old fashioned idea about marriage where couples shouldn’t divorce at all time. “Those modern people who think so casual about marriage,” Beatrice mumbled to herself, while she walked away from the curtains into the rest of the house, leaning on her walker.

Just when she reached the kitchen she heard a loud thud. Beatrice looked up from the counter. What could that be? Slowly Beatrice turned around again towards the living room and the kitchen and there she saw some children, not too old, but old enough to play alone on the street.

The children were playing at the ball. Normally Beatrice didn’t mind that as much. They were just playing. Beatrice only felt the regret of not being able to move that much.

But now they were throwing a football at her own window. Beatrice looked at it with concern. Why would they do that? The children were laughing as another thud sounded with the ball hitting the window.

Then Beatrice got angry at them. “Stop doing that!” Beatrice tried to scream, but her voice wasn’t loud enough for them to hear. She hold her cane in the air to try and scare them off, but the children only laughed more.

She sighed, grabbed the walker firmly and walked towards the front door. She walked slowly. Beatrice wasn’t as fast as she had used to be.

When she finally reached the front door she opened it and she walked towards the children. All the children were looking at her. They didn’t really move until she almost reached them. But when they started to move they were fast.

Beatrice raised the cane in the air again, but that also made her less in balance. And when a child ran just past her she even lost her balance. Beatrice her face twisted when she let go of her walker. Her whole body seemed to ignore her and after she could look at the sky for just a second she landed on the floor with painful crash.

Immediately Beatrice felt the pain rushing through her body. It felt as if the pain was sent through her body like electricity. Beatrice felt the anxiety of not being able to get up again. She was afraid that she needed to go to the hospital, just like many of her age group.

The children looked at her with a shocked expression. They stood still and only stared at her with open mouths.

Then suddenly everyone moved. But they weren’t rushing to help her. They ran away from her. Into the distance, into houses close by. And Beatrice only lay there on the floor, while she didn’t dare to stand up on her legs.

Beatrice lay there for about half a minute when finally someone reached for her. Beatrice heard a small voice behind her. She turned around slowly to look into the eyes of a beautiful young female child.

“Are you okay madam?” she asked sweetly. Beatrice her face still had a pained expression, but she didn’t want to scare the small child, so she forced a smile.

“I am okay, dear. But it is difficult to get up.”

“I can try and help you,” the child said. She looked eager and Beatrice nodded.

And slowly, leaning on both the walker and the little girl, Beatrice was able to stand up. She was glad that she could still do that, even though parts of her body still ached.

“Would you be kind, and help me towards my house?” Beatrice asked the little girl. She pointed towards the house, even though it was still with her finger, so she didn’t have to let go of the walker.

The girl was beaming and she nodded. Slowly they walked towards the house. The young girl led the older woman into the living room and carefully she sat the woman in the big chair, just before the window.

When Beatrice finally sat, she looked at the girl with a lot of gratitude. She touched the cheek of the girl and smiled. “Thank you so much, young one. When I feel better, please come by to get some treats. You like treats, right?”

The girl now glowed with excitement. “Yes madam. I would very much like that.”