N and I went for a walk in the upper-class neighborhood across the road tonight. It was dark, and the streets were empty, so we were surprised to see a man carrying a child in his arms. The man looked unsure of where he was going but we didn’t think to interfere, which in hindsight turned out to be a mistake.
About half an hour later we came across a young man who told us his Dad had taken his little sister and disappeared with her. Now the brother, the mother and an elder sister were running around the neighborhood, looking for the child.
We pointed the young man in the direction where we’d last seen the father. It turned out that the man was a heavy drinker, which is why everybody was so worried about the little girl he’d taken away.
Now we feel guilty for failing to interfere when we first saw the man and the child.
Clarissa's Blog 
I sincerely hope the child is okay. But you didn’t know that anything was actually wrong until you came across the second man. I don’t see how you could have known, except in hindsight.
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I learned how to cry,
I learned how to cry,
but I didn’t learn how to live without you
I learned how to cry,
yes, I learned how to cryyyyyyy,
but I never once stopped thinking about you
(a little free – I was going for a singing rather than literal version)
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This is so sad. But you did nothing wrong. How would have you known to intervene? There was nothing particularly suspicious about what the first man did. I hope everyone is OK though. 😦
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As long as the man didn’t think to get into a car, I’m sure they were fine. He wasn’t walking very steadily but I thought that was because the child look big and heavy to be carried.
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With all due respect, I don’t think anyone short of an LEO or a trained expert on human body language would’ve thought anything was wrong.
I think the part of your brain recognizing when someone is under the influence of alcohol doesn’t get used as much since you came to this hemisphere. Don’t beat yourself up over it.
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Thank you for the support! I do tend to react slowly, and then it’s too late.
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At least you were able to give some information. I’m sure that they appreciated that!
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