A Rescue!

When I (Lizzy) embarked upon a grocery shopping trip today, I had no idea that I would protect someone from serious bodily harm. As larger shopping complexes come up here, a relatively new people moving feature is the escalator. They remind us of the many conveniences in our former world, but they seem to incite fear in the hearts of locals as people carefully place a foot onto the moving stairs. When Nay and I were standing by the escalator at the grocery store while P.J. was paying nearby, this older couple prepared to enter the escalator. The husband stepped on without any hitches and reminded his wife that all would be okay if she just stepped forward. Unfortunately, escalators don't work that way, and you do actually have to put your foot on a step.

Right when the woman boldly set her foot down on a step, I noticed that she stepped on the crack between two. As the front stair lifted, everything went into slow motion, and this poor lady started falling backwards. That turned into an awful spectacle of falling, crawling, squealing, and struggling grab anything as the machine continued to move. Of course, it was really only a few seconds, but it seemed like forever! Since I grew up with escalators, I knew I had to push an emergency button to stop it. Thankfully, locating it took just a second, and I pushed my way in front of other rescuers to stop the escalator. Poor Nay was screaming hysterically, but the move allowed the woman's husband to pick her up. Amazingly enough, she stood up with grace (and even a smile on her face!) and proceeded to climb the staircase to the next floor as though nothing had happened.

While the rescue seemed dramatic, the funniest part was watching the locals try to figure out how to get those stairs moving again. They repeatedly pushed the emergency button, telling each other, "You have to push that, it's the 'On' button." When I couldn't stand it anymore, I told them in the local language, "You need a key." And then, everyone reassured their neighbor, "Yes, you need a key." Only here... : )