Stop That Man!

Amber ended up beating Nathan at nearly every game they tried and he found himself carrying the mountain of stuffed animals she won. After a while a game vendor felt sorry for him and gave him a large plastic bag to make things easier, which he greatly appreciated.

They sat on a bench eating ice cream cones and she was getting chocolate all over her face. No matter how old she got, she remained a messy eater. It was endearing though. He couldn't help but take a picture.

"Nate, can we try the ladder game next?" she asked between licks of her ice cream.

He inwardly groaned. He was terrible at that. The stupid ladders always flipped too easily but he couldn't say no to that face.

"Sure."

Amber beamed at him and he couldn't entirely regret agreeing to it. At least until he actually got on the ladder and fell off in less than five seconds, landing face first on the inflatable beneath. Was it possible to get a rug-burn from an inflatable? Because he was fairly certain he just got one on his nose.

She managed to make it almost all the way across but fell when she was two rungs away. She pouted adorably.

"Aww, I was so close!"

The game vendor took pity on her and gave her a prize anyway, which immediately made her light up like a Christmas tree. "Thanks, mister!"

"No problem," he said, a bit dazed from the force of her smile.

Amber's lovability knew no bounds. This had happened three separate times today. She couldn't win every game but she usually ended up getting a prize anyway. This sort of thing happened with her a lot.

Nathan had gotten used to it at this point. He added the stuffed animal to the bag as someone in a hood zoomed passed him and mowed over a toddler who began to cry in pain as the person who hit him continued running away.

"Stop that man! He has my purse!" a feminine voice yelled as the woman it belonged to stopped and panted with her hands on her knees.

People began crowding around the injured toddler when the vision ended and the thief started running by again. This time Nathan was ready for him. He tripped the thief and grabbed the purse in midair as it flew out of his arms.

The toddler made it to his mother without injury and the woman whose purse had been stolen managed to catch up in time to see the thief groaning as he tried to get his bearings. Amber watched the whole thing with shining eyes.

Nathan handed the purse off to her and pulled nylon rope out of his pocket to tie the thief's wrists and ankles together until the police arrived. This sort of thing had happened more than once so he knew to come prepared by now.

"That was amazing, Nate!" Amber cried gleefully. "I wish I had gotten that on video."

He was very glad she hadn't. He didn't need further proof he was a freak. At least there was one person who thought his inability to ignore someone else's distress was a good thing rather than a problem.

"Did you stop him all by yourself?" the owner of the purse asked in disbelief.

Nathan looked up and his eyes widened in surprise. That was the woman from the pancake house! The one he had forgotten. What were the odds of running into her here, let alone having her be involved in another one of his visions?

She recognized him the same moment he recognized her. "Hey, you're that guy that stopped me from slipping on Thursday!"

"…yeah. Hi. I believe this is yours," he said as he nodded toward the purse in Amber's hands.

She held it out to the woman with a bright smile. "Here you go!"

"Thank you," the woman replied warmly before looking down at the thief in confusion. "I have to ask though…why did you happen to have rope on you? That's kind of a random thing to have."

It wasn't the only random thing he had on hand. He also had a 33-piece survival kit in a can that could easily fit in his pocket, a rain poncho, an emergency blanket, a Swiss army knife with fifteen functions, a small flashlight, and a pocket-sized first aid kit. Cargo shorts had plenty of pockets so it all fit easily.

Nathan pushed his glasses up his nose, feeling a bit sheepish. "…I believe in being prepared."

Amber nodded emphatically. "Yeah, he has all sorts of emergency stuff on him. He taught me how to use all of it too. It's super cool. If I ever end up in any sort of emergency with my friends, I can totally save everybody."

The woman blinked at her in surprise before her face broke into a gentle smile. Amber's enthusiasm was endearing to everyone that met her. "That is pretty cool. You're lucky to have a dad like him."

She laughed. "He's not my dad! He's my big brother."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize," the woman replied with a blush. "The two of you look a lot alike."

Nathan shrugged. This sort of thing happened frequently when they were out together alone. "She was born when I was almost seventeen; it's an easy mistake to make. Don't worry about it."

"Well, thanks again for helping me out. I should probably stay here until the police come, shouldn't I?"

"I think we both need to since we were both involved. Sorry, Amber," he apologized as he looked at his little sister. There was no telling how long they would be here since a bystander who saw the whole thing barely called them.

She didn't seem bothered by it in the slightest. "Are you kidding? This is the most interesting thing that's happened to me in weeks. I don't mind at all!"

They ended up having to wait about fifteen minutes for someone to show up and ask what happened. The woman who called the police stuck around as a witness too and they all had to give their statements, including Amber, who seemed to think it was the most exciting thing ever.

Nathan groaned internally. He was going to have to explain this to her parents, wasn't he? He really didn't want to do that. They might be less enthusiastic about letting him take her out alone.

He was a responsible adult, okay? Things to this extreme normally didn't happen when his sister was with him! It was usually a lot less dramatic like preventing a kid from hurting themselves doing something dumb.