The Boy @ Taipei Main Station

You probably saw the previous post where I listed all the things that my sister and I did in our first 3 days in Taiwan. Last night, we decided to "loiter" a bit in Taipei Main Station (MRT) to rest our legs from all the walking done yesterday.

We were seated on a stone bench where a couple of people were also seated. Very noticeable was the impatient-looking boy seated behind us because he's been sitting on the bench for a long time. I'd say he's 6-10 years old. (No, I don't know how to approximate the ages.)

After around 5-10 minutes, he asked to borrow my mobile phone to call someone. I got a bit iffy about the idea. In the Philippines, this doesn't usually happen; and some kid would probably take off with my mobile if I lent my phone to him.

After a long pause, we finally decided to let him use my phone. I taught him the basic mechanics of my English display phone, and then he was off to call 2-3 people from my phone!

I'd normally make side comments to let the kid know how annoyed I was with all the calls he's been making, but I'm in a foreign country and can't really think of many Chinese snide things to say. (Hahaha!) Anyway, he finally returned my phone back to me after making a lot of calls.

After a few minutes, he borrowed my phone again. By then, I was sure that the kid wasn't going to run off with my phone; but he will probably use up all the money I have credited inside it.

He borrowed my phone a few more times until we finally decided to go home. (because it's starting to get a bit late and his borrowing is getting a bit annoying.) I un-eloquently told the kid that we were going home and that he should probably do the same. He gave us a weak smile, and we were off.

A few minutes after we got home, my phone started ringing. The parents of the boy called up and asked to talk to him. I told them that we were already home and that we left the kid on Taipei Main. We then found out that the boy didn't know how to go home! Apparently, he lost his phone; and his parents are trying to find him!

I told them all the details that I can think of. (I'm sure they were more confused than helped by my bad Chinese.) Finally, the mom begged us to help her; my sister and I decided to hurry back to the station where we last saw the kid.

When we got there, the kid wasn't sitting on the bench anymore! I'd say that was 30-45 minutes since we left him to go home. We called up his mom to tell her that we didn't see the boy, and the mom said that she was also headed for Taipei Main.

We ran around the station and even asked a staff on post if he noticed the seated boy earlier - he didn't. We called the mom a few times to check if she had found her kid. After about 30 minutes of looking for the kid, we called again and the kid is now safely with the mom.

Whew! With a big sigh of relief, we headed back home.

There is a lesson to be learned here somewhere, but I'm not sure what it is yet. :D