And they just keep on coming...
What happened the other day was a child riding on the escalator in town had a terrible accident. Apparently, while riding on the escalator, the kid's rubber shoe had somehow gotten caught at the side and the escalator had dragged her shoe along with her big toe right into its machinery, ripped it right off.
It was on the news. They showed the poor kid, face wet from crying probably, her leg in a cast, bloody end where the big toe would have been. Doctors had done her a graft, since she has to have a big toe. You need your big toe mainly as a pivot for balancing while walking.
They never said it but there was some hint that the kid was probably not being watched carefully. Her parents said they took their eyes off for a minute and then when they heard her scream, they turned saw her feet being eaten by the machine. The father said he still couldn't get that horrible image out of his head.
It's a nightmare.
When I was a child, I was very fearful of those mecha monster escalators in a mall. All those metal teeth coming out flat at first, then turning into steps with all their teeth showing and then coming down like jaws, and then sliding off back into the machine at the end.
And they just keep on coming.
I was very careful to keep my feet within the yellow markings that mark the edge of the metal steps.
It didn't help calm my fears that father was constantly telling horror stories of how shoe laces can get caught and get dragged in. "The teeth will chomp up your legs." Father was into scare tactics for discipline. I made sure my shoe laces were falling within the "yellow box".
When I would see other kids running up and down escalators, dashing against the flow of those teeth, I would be horrified at their daring stunts. Today, I still get that hair raising feeling when I see kids do that.
Sometimes, you have old escalators that rattle as they move along. I will just take the lift or the stairs. Didn't you hear the one about a step collapsing in and taking a victim with it? Talk about blending.
Next time, dear readers, when you're in the mall, shop safe and watch out for those monsters.