The girl, the dog and questions

I am usually lost in thought or talking to Pete while on the way home from work each day. Yesterday was no different. I spent the time thinking and listening to low music. I was just about home when I saw a little girl running down the road after a dog. I kept going, thinking that there was nothing I could do. A second later I was turning my truck around. I had a mental image of the girl seeing the dog hit by a car and it wasn't a good thing.

By the time I turned around to go back, the girl was laying on the ground crying and the dog was several hundred feet ahead of her. I pulled the truck up in front of the dog to cut it off and slow it down. When I got out I whistled the best I could, called and bent down low. The dog came over to me and got close, but not close enough for me to grab it. I stayed low hoping it would stick around me and rather than do that it took off again in the same direction.

I got up and walked aorund the truck to where the girl was running and I could tell she was scared. She was crying and upset. I asked her if she lived near there and she said that she lived in the same complex that I did. I asked if there was someone home who could help her and she was noncommital. As we were talking I watched the traffic and made sure that the dog crossed the busy street safely.

I turned back to the girl and asked if she wanted me to drive her to her house to get a parent to help her. She said no and I relized that I was asking a child to get in my vehicle, something that I wanted her to do, but that she shouldn't do. I asked her if she wanted to use my cell phone to call for help and she said no. She said that she was afraid per parents would be mad at her. I told her that they would be worried about her and that she was far from home.

She was insistant that she catch the dog by herself. I watched her cross the street so that she did so safely and told her that if she didn't catch the dog in the next 15 minutes she should probably go home and ask for help. I reminded her that it would getting dark soon and that she didn't want to be out on the busy road in the dark chasing a dog. She promised she would and ran to the house where the dog had taken off to.

I watched her for a short time and then got in my truck and drove home. I wonder if she caught the dog? I wonder if her parents were worried about her. Then I think that I should have figured out a way to get her to contact her parents to make sure that she was ok. Was she just a stubborn child who was determined to do this on her own or was I lacking in my ability to persuade her to do what I thought was best?