Hi my name is Tony and I am 21 years of age. I was an only child and my mother died recently, my father had passed away several years previously. So now I am an orphan. I have just finished my apprenticeship as a motor mechanic, and next week I am starting work at the local Ford dealer's service department. But I guess in some ways I am rather lucky because I have a nice home which is fully paid for and which was left to me by my mother. I also have some money in the bank and a good job waiting for me. But I must admit I am lonely. I don't like going out drinking with mates just for the sake of getting drunk and I don't have a girl friend. Perhaps I am too fussy!

I spend a lot of time just standing in my kitchen watching people walking past the house. I like watching people, and in the summer I sometimes go into the local park and sit by the lake and I watch people having fun and I try to guess what they are really like if I got to know them properly. I like to watch people when they are happy. In particular, I love to watch young children playing and being happy. Their whole life being very absorbed in the game they are playing at the time. I suppose if you wanted to describe me, you could say I am a people watcher.

For some time I had noticed a young girl walk past the house about the same time every day when the local schools had finished. She was nothing special, just a young girl, looking a little sad at times, but never with any friends. I did notice that she seemed to be rather poorly dressed and I came to the conclusion that she came from a poor family. When it was raining she never seemed to have a raincoat, and when it was cold she seemed to lack warm clothing.

One rainy day she had already gone past my house to go home, to my surprise she returned a few moments later in a hurry going in the opposite direction towards the supermarket at the bottom of the hill. I was about to turn away to start cooking my evening meal when I saw her slip and fall on the pavement. I heard her cry out.

When she sat up I could see that her leg was bleeding badly and she was crying as she frantically searched the area where she had fallen. I ran out of the house and helped her up.

I said. "Come with me and I will put a dressing on your leg for you"

"I can't I've lost my money. I must find it please."

"How much was it?" I asked...

"I had two one pound coins and I've dropped them." As she spoke she burst into tears.

"That's all our food money." She said through her tears.

"Don't worry, let us get out of the rain and get your leg dressed. We will worry about the money later."

I lifted her up and helped her into the house and sat her on a chair in the kitchen while I fetched the First Aid box.

Now I could see her properly close up, I could see that she was in her own way a quite pretty girl of about sixteen. She was quite slim with sort of pixyish features and nice blue eyes. Her shoulder length hair was the colour that is frequently referred to as 'dirty blonde. 'She did not wear any make-up, or nail varnish or anything like that. Which I thought was a little unusual for a young girl of that age.

I busied myself cleaning and dressing her knee and as I worked I said. "My name is Tony, what is yours?"

She did not answer me. When I looked up at her, she was crying quite hard. The tears were running down her face.

I felt so sorry for her, I was sure that her crying was from despair, not from the soreness of her knee. I could not help myself I just took her in my arms and hugged her close...

"What is the matter?" I asked.