When I was a little girl, I would go into town with my dad for the weekly shop. We had a set routine from which we never wavered. First stop was the big department store where I would regularly wander off and get lost while dad browsed the book section. It didn't take me long to discover that this had its advantages as he always found me, surrounded by a circle of kind ladies plying me with sweeties.

That was a safe environment for a small girl to get lost in.  Not so, the large market which I visited with my youngest son some years ago during a visit to my in-laws. Before you start to worry, this tale has a happy ending.

While negotiating my way through the madly thronging crowds, tightly clutching my son's hand, I noticed a small girl wandering alone, crying in distress. I approached her, carefully, and asked if she were lost. She gulped and nodded in the affirmative but was rightly suspicious at being approached by a stranger. I managed to walk beside her, not wanting to alarm her by taking her hand, keeping a careful but vigilant distance. We passed a group of people taking a rest on a bench.  They laughed at the sight of the weeping child: "Look at that little girl, crying", they grinned. I wanted to slap them but focused on keeping her in sight and staying as close to her as possible.

Eventually I dared proffer my hand, which she took, and I managed to get her to tell me where she had last been with her mother. We headed in that direction and I called out her mother's name, which she had been able to stammer out after some gentle probing. People stared, but I didn't care.  I pushed my way through, flanked by the two children, yelling this woman's name at the top of my voice.

I was just about to give up and head for the local police station, when a highly distressed woman came flying towards me and swept her daughter into her arms. She was hugging me in gratitude when I heard a voice calling my name.  There stood an old friend who I hadn't seen for years. "Hang on a mo", I said. "Let me finish this embrace."

Hugs, tears and reunion over, I turned to greet Susanne. "This is amazing", she said. "I've been helping this woman look for her daughter."  "Amazing indeed," I replied.  Then she frowned: "But I wanted to be the one to find the little girl! Where did you spring from all of a sudden?"

She forgave me and we enjoyed a cup of coffee together before I announced that it was time for me to leave, reminding her that I had my duties to attend to: "Children to rescue, planets to save ... "  All in a day's work.