Escalator Eats Girl

My middle son visited us during the Christmas vacation. He came from Japan where he lives and works, so he thought that the safest way to carry his money was with traveler’s checks. Little did he know that the Dominican Republic is not set up to effectively handle traveler’s checks.



In fact, one day we walked for a half hour to a nearby mall for the purpose of trying to cash some of them in either of the two banks that were in that mall. One bank was closed and the other tried to explain in broken English that they could not cash them for one reason or another. We didn’t really quite understand but that was alright. This had simply become another typical DR dead-end that we have come to expect since living here for a year and a half now. Fortunately my son was technically a tourist so even the walk was enjoyable while we did some sightseeing and caught up on some father and son conversation.



While we were looking around the mall we rode up the escalator. In front of us was a young couple with their small daughter fashionably dressed in jeans. The pant leg on the right side was frayed at the bottom and when she reached the top, the escalator grabbed her pant leg and began to pull her into the machinery.

She began to scream as her jeans were being sucked in, and the parents were equally horrified as they saw what was happening. Fortunately we were far enough behind to keep from bumping into them while they frantically tore the pant leg free.



At the top of the stairs as we walked into the food court I instinctively grabbed my son’s hand and he grabbed mine. A couple of seconds later we simultaneously realized that we were two grown men who were holding hands as we walked. We quickly released at the same time as I said, “Oh, sorry, I was thinking that you were your mother.”

“That’s OK,” he replied. “I was thinking that you were my daughter.” It was a natural protective instinct, I suppose, after witnessing a potentially dangerous situation, but it still gave us a chuckle.