Debra, a five-year-old cousin of mine, often annoyed me. She wished me to stay with her, talk to her and teach her dancing. I hated it and never taught her to dance. That hot July afternoon, Debra annoyed me again.

Our big family all gathered together at a friend’s outdoor wedding. The children were running around and playing games. The afternoon couldn’t have been better. My friends and I gathered together and excitedly talked about our up-and-coming freshman year. Debra desired to join us, but what could a five-year-old kid contribute to our conversations?

I left the table where we were sitting, leaving behind my mother, my grandmother and Debra. I walked inside the house and greeted everyone inside before making my way to the bathroom. As I was washing my hands, there was a big knock and the bathroom door burst open. It was an older cousin of mine, Sylvia. With a look of fear, anxiety and shock, she rushed to find towels. I figured one of the kids was injured while playing. “There has been a bad accident outside,” she told me and rushed out.

What kind of accident? Was anyone hurt? I left the bathroom. A woman approached and told me that a guest who was leaving the party had lost control of his car. Then I heard a voice calling my name. It was my mother. She told me, “Debra has been badly hurt. Come and help rescue her!” My heart dropped to my feet. I was struck by the sudden thought that I might lose her.

I hurried outside. Tables and chairs were overturned everywhere by the runaway car. I was in shock. My mother quickly drove our car around and laid down the backseat. But where was Debra? I saw her parents running from a room with a piece of board, perfectly Debra’s size. I didn’t see my tiny cousin until she was put onto the board and laid in the car, crying. Her new white dress had blood, and on her left shoe was a tire (轮胎) mark.

Together, we hurried to drive towards the hospital.

“She’ll walk again as long as you take good care of her,” the doctor told us.

It was rush hour in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Timothy White, 38, was driving home from the nonprofit he and his mother run, called AMiracle4Sure. He noticed a gray Nissan four-door pickup on the opposite side of the two-lane street. It was hard to miss, since it was moving abnormally before correcting the course.

As the pickup drew closer, White got a good look at the problem: The driver appeared to be asleep. Pretty soon, this guy’s going to crash into a house and kill himself or somebody else, White thought.

While many people would have kept on driving, that’s not how White-whose girlfriend refers to him as Captain Harrisburg because of his perpetual instinct to help out-operates. He had to stop that vehicle.

White made his car a U-turn and was now facing in the same direction as the pickup, but there were four cars separating them. White honked his horn, hoping the cars in front would move aside. They didn’t. He tried to swing into the left lane and pass everyone, but oncoming traffic made it impossible.

Trapped, White pulled his car over, jumped out and ran up the sidewalk. The truck was going 10 to 15 miles per hour, White estimates.

He dived into the road, running around to the driver’s side. The window was down on this temperate autumn day. White grabbed the frame of the window-his legs moving in step with the pickup-and with a mighty strength, jumped in.

White was now inside the cab of the truck, waist deep, his legs dangling out the window. The man behind the wheel, 64-year-old Todd DeAngelis, was just a little conscious to be aware of a stranger jumping in, and he said in a weak voice that he had low blood sugar.

White worked quickly. They were coming up to a busy intersection, he recalls, “so I was trying to stop anything before it happened.”

White forced the pickup into a sudden stop.

DeAngelis woke up in the ambulance after a while.

Lionel, Fandi and Iskandar often got together to play football. They dreamt of one day growing up to be professional footballers. The empty field beside the block of neighbourhood was where they would meet for their football sessions.

One sunny afternoon, they were at the field as usual. They were in the thick of their game when Fandi aimed his foot at the ball and gave a heavy kick. He himself was surprised by his strength. The ball flew past the goalposts (门柱) breaking into a glass window of the house behind. The boys were too shocked for words. They were half expecting the annoyed home owner, Madam Leong, to storm out through the front door and give them a good tongue criticizing. They knew she was an ill-tempered old lady. Actually, she had scolded (责骂) them several times before for being too noisy.

When no one came out of the house after ten minutes, the boys were quite surprised. They had prepared themselves for a scolding and were ready to apologise to Madam Leong for breaking her window. Out of curiosity, Fandi adventured into Madam Leong’s yard. The gate was unlocked and he went in while the other two waited outside. Fandi knocked on the main door. No reply. Looking in through the broken window, Fandi let out a loud scream. Lying on the floor in a pool of blood was the old lady. There was a big cut on her forehead. She must have been cut by pieces of glass, flying across the living room.

In panic, Fandi immediately dialled ‘911’ for an ambulance. As they were unable to enter the house without a key, there was nothing they could do but wait for the ambulance to arrive. Although the ambulance arrived soon, to the boys, the annoying wait seemed like forever. The ambulance attendants forced open the door and rushed to Madam Leong. She was unconscious (昏迷), but still breathing. One of the ambulance attendants applied pressure on the wound and wrapped it. With its emergency lights flashing, the ambulance rushed off to the nearest hospital.

Three boys decided to stay behind to wait for Madam Leong’s son to return and explain to him about the accident.

To everyone’s relief, Madam Leong received immediate treatment.

With the late afternoon sun setting on his farm, Steve finished feeding his horses and decided to go home. His two sons, Danny, 6, and Claus, 3, followed behind.

As they headed for the house, the two boys ran ahead of their father, who stopped to close the gate. Danny paused at an old well. Unknown to him, the board covering the well had grown easily broken over time. When Danny stepped on it, it caved in. Steve had just finished locking the gate when he turned around and saw only his younger son.

“Where’s Danny?” he shouted. “He fell in the hole!” Claus said. Steve quickly realized what had happened. Danny could barely swim! He ran to the well and heard Danny screaming quite way below. Desperately, he jumped in .

Steve hit the freezing water at the bottom of the well. He lifted his head out of the water and grabbed Danny, who was panicked, trying to stay afloat in water that was too deep for either of them to stand.

Knowing they could float in the ice-cold water for only a short time, Steve pulled his son up onto his chest and tried all means to stand upright with two legs against the narrow well walls for support. His body was still partly submerged (淹没). “Dad, you can pull us out now,” Danny said.

If only it were that easy. There was no way he could climb out. Looking up to see Claus looking down at them from the top of the well, Steve shouted, “Claus, you’re going to have to be a big boy and save us. You have to go out to the road and get someone to help. OK?” “OK, Daddy.” Claus yelled and ran to the road.

About 15 minutes later, Edmen and Sam, their neighbors, were driving by Steve’s farm when they noticed Claus alone by the side of the road, waving.

Forty-some minutes after he’d jumped into the well to save his son, Steve came out, cold and wet.

One night, when I was in deep sleep, our neighbor from across the street fiercely knocked on our front door in a great hurry. She was screaming for us to open it. We ran to the door, and she said only one word as she took off running: “FIRE!”

Immediately we ran out just as the fire engines raced onto our street with their sirens(警报器) screaming. The fire was huge! Flames(火焰) were shooting wildly out of the windows and through the roof of the hundred-year-old, three-story house next door. The flames were so tall that they were visible a few miles away. Fire engines filled our entire street, from one end to the other, and even blocked the two cross streets.

My husband raced next door to be sure our neighbors had gotten out. All family members were outside and safe, including the dog. He ran to the houses on the other street that backed up to the house on fire and banged on those doors to be sure the neighbors were safe, too. They were. The air was thick with smoke, and it was hard to see and breathe as he came back down our street and arrived home.

We were almost grateful for COVID-19. Because of it, we were wearing our masks as we always did when we were outside. We sat outside watching the firefighters do the wonderful job that they did.

Our street was crowded with fire trucks, eleven in all. One engine had a monster light on it that made the street bright enough that it looked like it was high noon on a sunny day. The medical workers and ambulances also came in case they were needed. Thank goodness, they were not. Our house became kind of a “safe house” with our next-door neighbors coming and going, as needed. It was a safe place for their dog, too. We made sure she had plenty of water, and she stayed in the house with our dog.

After around two hours, the fire was completely controlled.

Things have settled down now.

“Dad,” whispered Tarig. “Are you awake?” Dad opened his eyes. “What’s the matter, son?” Tarig couldn’t sleep and he felt that it was too hot. Maybe there’s a storm coming. All day long he felt like something was about to happen. Dad whispered back to his son, “You could be right. Go back to bed, there’s a good boy.”

Tarig shook his head. “I’m going downstairs where it’s cooler. Why don’t you come with me?” Dad refused, saying that he would stay there. Tarig went down the landing. He and his father were alone in the house. His mother and sister had gone to visit relatives. He went into the kitchen and lay on the floor. He felt cooler and fell sleep at last.

Suddenly he awoke with a shock. In the distance he could hear a roar, like thunder. It seemed to be coming closer and closer. The storm must have arrived, just as they expected. But this was no ordinary storm. Within seconds the whole house began to shake. The vase fell off the shelves with a crash. Tarig could feel the floor moving beneath him. What on earth was happening? He jumped to his feet and tried to turn on the light. It didn’t work. He reached the back door, but just then came aloud cracking noise. Next moment a pile of bricks came down around him. A terrible choking(窒息的) smell filled the air.

At last the dust cleared. Tarig was amazed to find that he was still alive. The framework of the doorway must have saved him. He called out, “Dad? Dad, are you all right?”

No answer. But he heard a rescue dog barking. He struggled to know what was going on outside, but he couldn’t move. Maybe someone was approaching here. “Are they my family? Or my relatives?”