The other night, after picking up my friend at the airport, I was driving home at around 10:30pm. I pulled onto the street that led to my small cul-de-sac and, in the gloom, spotted something in the road, causing my to slam on my brakes.

It was a child. More specifically, it was probably a 4 year old. He was playing in literally the exact center of the street, at night. Of course I wasn’t going too fast to begin with, and after seeing him I was in no danger of hitting him. He saw me and immediately ran to the side of the road to get out of my way. But as I drove past I checked the house he’d moved towards and didn’t see any adults out there watching him. Probably should have called the police, in retrospect.

I’m reminded to mention it now because this morning I drove past the same house and noticed a small bowl in the road (not quite in the middle), which I assume the kid had left sometime yesterday and the adults neglected to notice.

Key word, that. Neglect.