KERRE MCIVOR

AN UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER LEADS TO A DEBATE WITHIN KERRE’S FAMILY

It was early on Sunday morning. Mum was staying the weekend with us and I had made her coffee and toast to have in bed and was fetching the paper for her to read.

As I had just gotten up, I wasn’t dressed to go beyond the letterbox − I was still in my pyjamas, with hair and teeth unbrushed, and my boobs not yet wrangled into a bra.

I was especially not dressed for visitors and so was a little flustered when a voice called out, “Excuse me, miss. Have you got a phone charger I could use?”

I looked over the hedge and there was a young man, in his 20s, reasonably well dressed, and very polite.

“Sure,” I said, trying to cover my droopy boobs with one arm and reaching for his phone with the other. “It’s not a bother, is it?” he asked. “Not at all,” I assured him, and took the phone inside to charge.

These things happen. I told him some of the cafés should be open soon if he wanted to have a coffee while he waited, and he thanked me and walked away.

Mum was peering out the window from behind the curtain and had a clear view of the street. “He’s still there,” she hissed. “Just hanging around outside.” “Oh, Mum,” I

reassured her. “He’s fine. He just needs his phone charged.”

Turns out he needed a bit more than that. After 10 minutes or so, he knocked on the door and tried his phone but it still didn’t have enough juice.

I offered him my phone to use, and he took it and then asked for a glass of water. I was happy to give him a drink, but I didn’t invite him in. We were all in a state of undress and the husband was still sleeping.

He drank his water on the porch and made a call with my phone, but apparently his mates were still sleeping off their big night. He handed the phone back to me and then asked if he could use the loo. I said no to that request.

There’s a good, clean public toilet across the road and away he went. Mum, who had been reading a brilliant murder mystery novel I’d given her, came up with all sorts of lurid suggestions as to why my young man was lurking around.

Then, back he came to collect his phone. He thanked me again and I closed the door.

No harm done and although I wasn’t going to church that morning, surely my good deed has earned me Brownie points.

But Mum, and later the husband when we told him the tale, were having none of it.

Mum is a trusting, generous soul and has done many good turns, but her gut instinct said this stranger was a danger.

Tom is not at all trusting and regards all humans with deep suspicion and he’s been on high alert ever since our visitor.

When the newspaper had a story about strangers knocking on doors in the middle of the night, asking for help but really looking to rob homes, he pointed to the headline and said, “I’ll say nothing,” glowering at me with a look that said everything.

But my young man hadn’t come in the middle of the night. It was a Sunday morning with plenty of people around and, really, if he’d wanted to case the joint there wasn’t much to steal.

But it’s hard isn’t it, to be kind and helpful to strangers without coming across as a naïve fool? I’d have felt pretty silly coming home to find the place stripped – and even though things can be replaced, it’s never a nice feeling having people who wish you harm in your home.

But, so far so good. I really do feel this young man was just having a difficult Sunday. So I’ll keep on responding to requests for help until I’m proven wrong.