Thursday Dance Against The Dark

The season of darkness is upon us, and with it the impulse to huddle indoors and ignore people. This is something I accept in myself and do not so much fight as subvert - and always with good results.
Today I had some bogus excuse for skipping Zumba, and I was making up excuses as I went. Class was fun as usual and I assume I was getting the health benefit of an hour of excercise when suddenly - right at the midpoint - I was seized with a bout of intestinal distress that demanded attention.
I grabbed my stuff and ran to the bathroom. Afterwards, as I washed my hands I reflected that, well, I had made an effort and come to the gym, so I should head home and skip the rest of class. I actually had my coat on when I realized that this was just the dark weather talking, and that I would enjoy and benefit from the rest of class.
I headed back and had a great time, chatting briefly with a friend. But that's not the best part.
As I walked to my car in the very light rain, I encountered a woman with a dog. The dog eyed me and I stopped politely. I prefer to let dogs set the terms of the meeting. The woman apologized, and I said it's all right, I like dog, and then she started talking with a man sitting down next to a small handrailling. I had not noticed him! He was obviously in distress - cleanly dressed with no obvious injury but he was sitting on the ground in the dark, in the wet, slurring his words. We helped him stand and asked if he was ok. He replied not very coherently and stood not very stabley. There was no smell of alcohol but the woman later told me she thought he fell and hit his head on the railing or something. We suggested we go inside and he didn't seem to process that. I asked the woman to go get help at the front desk while I stayed with him.
After a minute or two, he blurrily asked for help walking so I put his arm over my shoulder and helped him walk inside. We were met by someone on the staff who came with the woman. When the man sat down inside, she put on plastic gloves and started asking him questions. The woman and I left; she told me they were getting a lifeguard to check him out.
I suppose this is the best result that we could have gotten.
If I had skipped class I don't know how they would have gotten the man into the building.
So life wins again!