I was passing through Berrylands (just passing the Berrylands Pub, in fact) on my morning ride when I came across them. They were a young couple; she pregnant and in stretchy maternity clothing, he in a pair of sweats and trainers. They had apparently been pushing their kid on a walk, when they stopped.
As I approached down the hill toward the roundabout, I saw them standing in the road with their pram-bound child sitting on the walk (occasionally throwing a toy or two out of the pram). I slowed to a stop to suss-out why they were standing in the road.
The answer was there at her feet. A small hedgehog, scared, possibly hurting, was sitting on the pavement. They were trying to block its progress onto the street with their shoes.
"You don't have a pair of gloves or something to pick it up with, do you?" she asked as I pulled to a stop.
Spotting the animal, one that I have never actually seen before just then - except in children's story books, I asked, "Is that a hedgehog?"
"Yes." He replied.
"We're trying to get it back off the road and into the gardens."I considered the option of making the obvious joke, all we need are some over-sized playing cards and a flamingo to move a hedgehog… but with their kid looking on, I thought perhaps that would be impolitic. "I could probably scoop it up with the edge of my bike tire…" I offered.
A short while later, the hedgehog, who had taken the relocation with no sign of trauma, lay curled at the base of a wall, under a shrub, and appeared to be sleeping. I suppose that I had done my good deed.
Wherever you are today, I hope you have a chance to do a good deed.
Don Bergquist - 12 August 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
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