I was once part of...
Illustration
I was once part of a group taking children to a zoo in a major city. One dimension of church field trips is the acute sensitivity about taking care of other people's children when they are entrusted to you. A portion of the day's activities involved transit to and from the zoo on the city's metro system. Our trip required one transfer of lines in the middle of the trip. We were very conscious of our obligations to the children and each adult had four children to supervise. As leader of the whole excursion, I found it advantageous simply to "float" without a specific group of children to supervise. I was following at a distance when the group began making the transfer to the next rail line. I still remember the look of horror on a leader's face when one of her wards pulled away from her and darted onto another car, just as the leader entered the proper with three other children in tow. She failed to see me run to join our straggler on the wrong train. I quickly retrieved the child, exited the next station, boarded a car headed in the proper direction, and joined our group within a few moments of the zoo stop. The delight and relief on the leader's face when she experienced the return of her missing "lamb" established a new dimension of celebration for me.
-- Frye
-- Frye
