Slavik was finally heading home after a long, exhausting day at the construction site.
The summer heat felt suffocating, pressing down on him like an invisible weight.
His clothes clung to his body, soaked with sweat.
As he turned down a quiet alley behind an old supermarket, hoping to shave a few minutes off his walk, a faint sound stopped him—a fragile, broken sob.
It was the sound of a child crying.
He paused, scanning his surroundings.
The crying was coming from inside a parked vehicle—a sleek, expensive car with heavily tinted windows.
As he approached, Slavik peered inside and saw a baby in the back seat.
The child could not have been more than a year old, with flushed cheeks, cracked lips, and glassy, half-closed eyes.
He looked dangerously close to losing consciousness.
Slavik instinctively grabbed the door handle, trying each one, but they were all locked.
The interior of the car must have been like an oven.
Panic surged in his chest.
He hesitated, torn—breaking a car window could mean serious consequences.
But then his eyes locked onto the baby again, barely conscious and clearly in distress.
Without another thought, Slavik grabbed a large rock from the edge of the curb and smashed it against the car window.
The first strike left a crack.
The second impact created a dent in the glass.
On the third blow, the window shattered, sending shards flying.
He quickly reached in, unfastened the child from the car seat, and scooped the limp little body into his arms.
Without wasting a second, Slavik ran.
He sprinted through the sticky heat, covering two blocks to reach the nearest medical clinic.
His lungs burned and legs ached, but he did not stop until he burst through the clinic doors, shouting for help.
Within moments, a doctor rushed out, her expression tense but professional.
She quickly assessed the baby and carried him inside.
A few minutes later, she returned and looked at Slavik with deep relief.
“You were just in time,” she said.
“Five more minutes, and we wouldn’t have been able to save him.”
About fifteen minutes later, a young woman stormed into the clinic.
Dressed in stylish clothes with expensive sunglasses perched on her head, she looked more annoyed than worried.
Her eyes landed on Slavik.
“You!” she screamed.
“You broke into my car?
Are you out of your mind?
I left my number under the windshield wiper!
I was in the store for only a minute!”
Slavik looked at her, stunned.
“Your baby almost died,” he said quietly.
“That’s not your concern!” she snapped.
“You had no right!
You’re paying for the damages—I’m calling the police!”
The officers arrived quickly.
One of them approached Slavik and asked calmly, “Sir, is it true?
Did you break the car window?”
Before Slavik could answer, a nurse appeared, followed by the same doctor.
She stood firmly between Slavik and the officers.
“This man saved that child’s life,” she said clearly.
English