Have you seen David

Sally stood droopy shouldered, half leaning onto her shopping trolley. Her bottom lip protruding and curling downward. As she stood in the queue for the checkout at her local supermarket, her mind had begun to wander.



Two days prior, she had been driving home from work, just as she had done without mishap for the last 3 years when out of nowhere, a blue blur caught her eye. She was just turning to look as she was suddenly thrown sideways against the door of her car. She shrieked a silent scream as her head bounced sharply off of the side window. As soon as it had started, it was over. Sally now sat as deflated as the now sagging air bag that hung in front of her.



As her senses started to gather, the drivers door of her beloved car was pulled open. “Are you okay lady” came the concerned voice of PC Bailey. Sally turned, opening her mouth, but nothing came out. She nodded, “I think so” she finally managed to mutter.



The blue blur had been another car. it was being chased through the town by the police after being used as a getaway vehicle in a local robbery. In a bid to avoid traffic waiting at a pedestrian crossing, the car had swerved, lost control and collided with Sally's knocking it sideways across the pedestrian barrier and onto the footpath.



“Excuse me” was the disgruntled voice that brought Sally back to the living. “Excuse me”. Sally turned to see an elderly lady standing behind her, beckoning her on. “Oh, I am sorry” Sally said, realizing that 'she' was now the person holding everybody up at the checkout. She proceeded to bag, pay and escape her embarrassment as quickly as possible.



As she walked out of the supermarket, she started across the car park towards  where she usually parked her car, when it dawned on her that she had on this occasion walked into town as her car was still awaiting damage assessment at the garage. Pushing the trolley into the bay and picking out her bags, Sally was wishing that she had left some of the heavier items for another time.



The walk home took Sally alongside the same road as Wednesday's incident and when she reached the area of the bent over railing, she had to shuffle along sideways through a temporary barrier-ed footpath that went onto the road and around.



“May I help you with your bags miss?”. came the voice from beside her. Sally turned to see a kind looking man, maybe in his late twenties, “Ooh, about my age” she thought to herself. “Erm, No thank you, I can manage” she replied. “I know miss, I just wanted too” the stranger came back. Totally unsuspecting a reply anything like this, Sally found that she was smiling, the first time since her ordeal. “Are you going my way then?" Said Sally. “I am miss, but only for a short while”. “Well," Sally began, she was somewhat taken with this surprisingly attractive and friendly sounding man. “You can walk with me for that short while then, if you like”.



It was not many steps before Sally had found his name to be David, he used to live locally, but has had to leave for something or other beyond his control. He has made himself a pact to help at least 10 people each day and has been doing this for as long as he can remember. “How many have you helped today then?” Sally asked. David turned and smiled, it was the smile of a trophy winner, The broadest she had ever seen. Sally could see that for whatever reason it was, David  was totally overwhelmed with excitement. “67” He blurted out, “I've helped 67 people so far today” and with that he started laughing. “Sorry” he eventually added. David explained that since he had stopped living in Kings Lynn he had been able to pursue his ideal to its fullest. Sally hesitated before deciding not to follow this line of conversation just yet as they were approaching the off license at the top of her road, and she was gasping for something to drink.



“Can you hold that thought for a minute please David, I just want to pop into this shop to get a bottle of water”. David smiled, he turned to look back along the way that they had come and then very slowly turned back again. His face did not look as smitten as it had done only a few seconds ago. There was now a look of deep concern spread right across his face. “I will have to go back now Sally, if you don't mind”. “Don't you dare” demanded Sally, “I'm not finished with you yet” she added wanting very much to quiz him on his last statement.



David asked once more if he could do something/anything to help. Sally again declined, insisting that she would not accept help from somebody that she hardly knew. “Something, Please, please let me do something for you”. he came back. Sally, immediately shrunk slightly away, his obsession to help made her feel a little uncomfortable to say the least. “What if I pick your lottery numbers for you? Let me do that, and I will go on my way a happy spirit”. This remark from David finally unsettled Sally, now  she was suddenly wondering what she was thinking of by allowing him to walk with her in the first place.



“OK” she started “You can come in and I will buy a ticket, you can pick my numbers, and then you can go about your stuff, but next time I see you” Sally felt confused, there was something about David that she warmed too, something comforting, but there was also this fixation on helping, and she wondered if this was why he had not mentioned a girl friend, 'Maybe he is lacking something up top' she thought to herself. “I want some answers” she finished saying with a big smile, hoping he would not see how uncomfortable she had now become.

David smiled in return, they entered the shop. Sally went firstly to the fridge a picked out a bottle of strawberry flavoured water. She then went to where David was standing, next to the lottery ticket stand. She pulled out a slip. Grabbed the end chewed pen that was fixed to the stand with what looked like a boot lace and sellotape. “OK, fire away, and if these aren't the winning numbers, you are for it” Sally said, she was trying to sound jovial and friendly in a bid to cover her concerns about the change that she had seen in David, 'who' she was now thinking 'is really nothing more than a total stranger'.

As David reeled off the numbers, Sally crossed them out, he did this without hesitation, it was as if he was calling these numbers out every week for years. “Thank you” David finished, “I will be on my way now”. “Just like that” Sally blurted, she was shocked at his change in character. “I have to go, I can't explain now, but you will see, soon, you will see”. “So I should expect to see you again should I?” she was partly annoyed, partly worried and partly hoping that she would see him again. The last few minutes of his behavior was worrying, but before that, and even now, there was something refreshing about David, something intriguing, and she knew truth be known, that she would very much like to see David again.



He had that huge smile on his face again as he slowly walked backwards toward the door. His eyes moved sideways and he fixed his focus on the assistant standing at the register. Sally was getting all wrapped up in David's smile when she noticed his gaze shift. Her eyes followed his, and came to rest on the assistant also. The assistant was staring at Sally and had the most puzzling expression on her face. “Is there a problem?” Sally said, trying not to laugh at yet another stranger acting strangely. "None what so ever, Mam" came the reply.The assistant definitely sounding polite.



It had been two whole days before Sally had needed to walk that route again and to her utter surprise, there she came face to face with David again. "Can I help you with your bags miss" he said with nothing but intrigue written across his face.