As they were speed walking across the train station terminal, the little boy--who looked to be on the small side of 5 or 6 years of age--glanced up at the older woman, two steps ahead of him.
There was enough of a similarity in their facial features to support the conjecture that they were related-- either as Mother and son, older sister and little brother, or maybe even Aunt and young nephew.
Trying to keep up, he moved quickly, exaggerating the swinging of both arms as if to help in propelling him farther than his little legs could carry him.
Already in the lead, and showing no signs of slowing down, the woman seemed to pay him no mind. But it also occurred to me that, perhaps, she was just confident that he wasn't too far behind and therefore felt no need to check in on him.
Now, a few feet ahead of the boy was a display that had a square opening just wide enough, high enough, and tempting enough for him to want to climb through. And so, unable to resist, he slowed his pace and satisfied the pull for exploration.
As this was unfolding, the female paused mid stride and happened to look back at her young charge at the exact moment he was climbing through the fixture's opening. And to my pleasant surprise, despite the fact she had to pause, and despite the fact that he had taken a brief detour, she didn't appear to be upset. She didn't scold him. She didn't silently judge him via facial expression or physical demeanor. It felt almost as if she had allowed him the space to be a kid while trusting they would be able to make up the time spent.
From my vantage point, it was easy to see how appealing the opening had been. But I'm relatively certain that those responsible for setting up the display, had never envisioned that it would call out to a specific group of society in the manner in which non realistic structures found on playgrounds call out for exploration by those same aforementioned members of society.
I liked that he had felt comfortable enough in her company to indulge in his own mini adventure and I very much appreciated bearing witness to the calm with which she responded.
When he climbed out the other end of the display, he promptly broke into a run, caught up to her, and together, made their quick exit out of the station.