A woman knelt on the sidewalk near the corner. She was talking to her small son while her slightly older daughter stood nearby. Their bikes were next to them. The mom pointed at the flashing ambulance as it turned into the hospital drive. 

She explained to him what an ambulance is in the simplest words possible. 

“Someone is sick,” the daughter said, jumping into the explanation. 

“Someone is driving the sick person?” The young boy looked at his sister.

Mom stepped in before the daughter said something clever. “Yes. And there are people riding in the back helping the sick person until they get to the hospital.”

(I was waiting for the little girl to say something precocious, such as, “No, he gets a discount if he does the driving.)

The boy repeated the word “ambulance,” but it came out sounding only slightly recognizable. 

I stood a few feet away, waiting to cross. The mom smiled at me. “I like to explain things to them. You never know what sticks.”

I smiled. “Do you know why old ambulances used to be long and odd-shaped?”

“No, I don’t,” the mom said.

“Because the first ambulances were driven by funeral homes. Up to 50% of them.” 

I wish you could have seen the mom’s eyes widen. “Really? Is that true?”

“Yes, it is. That’s wild, isn’t it?”

“Now I’m going to have to go home and look all this up. How did I not know that?” 

“Because of Bridgerton.” (A popular TV show popped into my head, so of course, I said it.)

“On Netflix? I love that show!”

She didn’t get the implication of my comment. I laughed and said, “See y’all later,” to them all. 

Given the way she took the time to explain things to her kids, I’m convinced that she did look it up when she went home. What’s certain is that both kids will grow up to be ridiculously smart.