I watched the miracle:
The child on his mother’s arm, walking home,
The teacher leaping in a frenzy, shouting and calling,
Running across the crowded playground, middle-aged speed -
I watched the miracle,
Saw her chase and catch the boy,
Hold the Mum, return a toy,
And as I walked closer heard fragments of their breath.
I watched the miracle.
Moments later the car smashed where they should have been.
I watched the miracle -
She took a day’s rest.
6/10/99
I watched this miracle from start to finish, from the classroom with the reception teacher talking, to her suddenly leaping up for no apparent reason and running out at high speed, clutching a toy that the toddler had left behind; then walked past her near the school gate as she talked to the Mum and child; then walked out of the school just as some local yob on drugs careered onto the pavement and crashed his car into a lamp post where the mother and child would have been.
Only the Mum and child walked in that direction on that side of the road. I double-checked with the Mum.
The teacher took the next day off school. She was high-energy and intuitive and as far as I was concerned she’d had a direct word from Something.
