What Would You Have Done?

Posted on Jan 09, 2009 - 3:02pm by Diane Sontag in General

Setting: Fountain Square, downtown Cincinnati, Ohio on a warm Saturday in December, so warm the ice in outdoor ice skating rink next to the fountain is melting

Characters: Father, Mother, Daughter, Son, hundreds of downtown visitors and one mysterious stranger

Scene: Father has taken Daughter, Son and their submarine sandwiches outside to eat on the fountain wall. Mother is still inside the restaurant, paying for the lunch. Unbeknownst to Mother, a mysterious stranger has approached the two children and handed them each a package wrapped in Christmas paper. When Mother approaches them, the children cry out in joy and show their newest Christmas presents to her. When Mother asks the children where they got the packages, they point to a man in a blue jacket and navy ski hat who is walking away from the fountain and heading toward the street. Mother sits down slowly next to children and verifies that the man who gave them the nice Christmas packages is the man wearing a blue jacket and navy ski hat. Mother then pastes a smile on her face, takes one of the packages and…

A True Look Inside Mother’s Mind

“Oh no! Why did this have to happen to our family? Nobody else here at the fountain has just been handed a wrapped package by a stranger. Why us? Goodness, what do I do? Do I panic? The package is so light. What could it be. Stop thinking bomb, just stop it! What’s wrong with you? It’s Christmas, for goodness sakes! Nobody would make two bombs, put each in a box, wrap them in Christmas paper, travel to Fountain Square and hand each package wrapped in Christmas paper to a random child in the middle of a public place like this, say “Merry Christmas!” and then just walk away. He would be running away, right? Right, right, he would have been running away or at the very least walking real fast. He wasn’t walking fast. Relax, Mother, relax. No bombs in there.”

“But what if I am wrong? A lot of innocent people are going to be dead or injured if I am wrong, not just my family. What do I do? What do I do? I want to believe in the goodness of humanity real bad right now. I want to be the trusting soul I used to be. Can I be that way again?”

Mother asks Daughter, “Honey, can I hold your Christmas present for you while you eat your sandwich? I wouldn’t want anything to happen to it while you were eating.”

Daughter hands package to Mother. Mother says, “I wonder what is in this package, don’t you?” Mother shakes package. No movement. Mother puts package to ear. “I don’t hear anything moving in here, I wonder what it could be!”

Sandwiches are eaten and it is time to open the gifts. Mother holds her breath and is ready to run at the first sign of something strange inside the boxes. The children open up their packages to find sets of wrapped candy canes. Mother is relieved.