She was walking past the park, on her way home when she heard it. A scream. A woman’s scream. Loud, shrill and long. It stopped her in her tracks. She looked around to see if there was anyone behind her but there was no one. The street was almost deserted and the few people about did not seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. But, she was sure she had heard a woman scream and she knew she had to help if she could. Times were bad and a woman screaming in the middle of the afternoon was hardly a good sign. She figured she was closer to the sound, which explained why she had heard while others around hadn’t. She knew that the scream had come from a little way inside the park and she headed in that direction as fast as she could.

She was a tough girl. She had grown up in a rough neighbourhood and had only recently shifted her family and herself to a more upscale locality. She had her own business and it was doing rather well lately. That was why she could afford to live in an area of town decent enough to have a park! She didn’t have that luxury growing up. As she walked towards where she guessed she had heard the scream come from, she planned her move depending on what she found. She was well-equipped with pepper spray, so she figured she could be of some assistance. She felt no fear, only a sense of purpose as she hurried along.

Very shortly, she reached what she believed was the approximate location. She found that she was staring at a thick and high bush. Maybe whoever had screamed was behind the bush, she reasoned. She peered through the bush from where she was standing, to see if she could spot anyone on the other side. She could vaguely make out the figure of a woman standing immobile. Was she hurt? Was her assailant armed? Was she being threatened? Questions flooded her mind. She listened closely but could hear no voices. Without further delay, she rounded the bush, her can of pepper spray at the ready in her hand held out in front of her. She didn’t utter a word as she stepped into sight of whoever was behind the bush.

The sight before her shocked her! Simply because it was nothing like what she had expected. Admittedly, she had not known what to expect but she was certain it was not what she was looking at. Ahead of her own outstretched arm, she saw a small, petite woman standing with her hands on her mouth. Eyes wide open and a look of – surprise? Or was it shock? She couldn’t tell. It was however, obvious that the woman was neither hurt nor scared. In front of said woman, on the ground was a man. But he wasn’t doing anything even remotely threatening. He wasn’t armed with anything as fancy as a knife or gun. No one seemed to be threatening anyone here. Quite on the contrary, the man seemed to be kneeling in front of the woman – a small jewelry box in his hands held out towards her, a bright smile on his face!

It was all she could do not to burst into laughter as she realized that the man was making a very romantic proposal to the woman and the ‘scream’ she had heard had been the woman’s exclamation of delighted surprise!

She had very “bravely” stumbled onto the scene of a proposal!

–END–