I was leaving my home to go on a sales call one evening just before dusk. As I drove in front of the security mail boxes I heard a voice loudly and clearly in my right ear say "You do not want Mark and Donna to have to come back because you hit a kid".

I was perplexed by the strange comment, My husband and our friend had just left the neighborhood minutes before me in two separate cars. I slowed down to five mph and I turned the corner onto the main street into the subdivision.

There were often kids playing on this street and as I turned the corner I saw a large group seated at the bottom of the driveway to my left. I was relieved to see the street empty but continued to go 5 mph wondering about the strange message.

I am the parent of a child that was hit by a car and nearly killed fourteen years ago. I just kept thinking that inconveniencing others would be the least of my troubles if I weere to have hit a child.

As I passed the kids playing on the left, a ball came rolling from behind a parked truck into the street in front of me. Immediately followed by a child about five years old. I slammed the brakes and stopped my truck not more than a foot in front of this child. I can recall his big brown eyes and the look on his face to this day.

I immediately looked up and said thank you please feel free to deliver any strange message you would like in the future.

Once the boy moved I drove onto my appointment. The next week I saw his father outside and stopped to tell him about the incident. I am not sure if he thought that I was crazy, I really did not care what anyone thought, I was so grateful to have been spared this horrible fate.