A STROKE OF LUCK

I was sitting quietly at my table waiting for my meal to arrive, when my attention was drawn to the couple being seated close by. One of them looked like someone I knew, but I couldn’t think of who. He didn‘t seem to recognize me when he looked at me looking at him.

 

We were seated so closely, that I couldn‘t help overhearing some of their conversations. Not long after I had received my meal, did I overhear him talking about a friend of his. What actually caught my attention though was that he was sometimes slurring his speech.

 

I looked over at him to see if he was drunk and I noticed that when he was smiling at his date, the left side of his mouth hung down a bit and it looked rather strange.

 

I didn’t think much about it at the time, and I returned to eating my salad. The waiter came by and filled my water and then left. I started thinking about where I had seen that guy before, when my mind then shifted, and I flashed on an E-mail I recently received from my sister-in-law.

 

It was something about warning signs that people exhibit before they are about to have a stroke. I don’t know why she sent it to me, but for some reason I started thinking about it.

 

Then it all made sense to me, and I suddenly felt a wave of anxiety wash over me.

 

I didn’t even stop to think when I rose from my chair and approached the guy at the next table. “Sir?” I said. “I’m sorry to bother you, and I know this is going to sound kinda weird, but I need to ask you to repeat a sentence that I say to you, ok?”

 

By the look on his face, I had obviously made him feel uncomfortable, but I persisted. “Please sir, just repeat after me, I am sitting in a restaurant and a man is talking to me.” His face flushed and he began to protest when I said, “Sir, please, just repeat, I am sitting in a restaurant and a man is talking to me.”         

 

He looked at me and began to speak. “I’m in a man… Say that again?” He asked me. “That’s ok sir, that’s close enough,” I said. I turned and walked away heading for the front door.

 

I was embarrassed and feeling sort of silly, but I knew that I was about to finish this out. The front door opened and more people entered the restaurant. I slipped out the door before it closed and pulled out my cell phone. I hesitated briefly, took a deep breath of the cold night air, and thought about how I could be mistaken and cause a scene, but I called 911 anyway.

 

It turned out that I probably saved his life.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc25EOu4hyw&feature=related