I know I did the right thing tonight, but "What The..."

After work tonight I got on the 16th Street Mall bus to go to my bus stop tonight as usual. This free bus runs the length of Downtown Denver, along it's "main drag", and tons of people get on and off of it at every stop along the way. I get on one end and go about halfway down before I get to my stop.

Right after I got on, a couple of little kids got on, ALONE. They had to be 6 & 7 years old, respectively. TOO small to be alone, don't you think?

They look like they do it every day, only about halfway through, one of them looks like he wants to jump off, but doesn't. People on the bus are staring at these kids wondering "Who are they with?"

I stood up from the seat I was in, and the two kids take it. I can tell people think the kids are with me, and the busload of people seem to relax.

Since I'm not sure if they're lost, I ask them where they're going, and the little boy says "to the end of the line. We're going to see X (I couldn't make it out), then we're going to meet our Mom."

I ask if they've done this before, and the boy says yes. Neither kid looks worried, only that they're having fun on the bus.

As I got off the bus, I told them that if they're supposed to go to the end of the line, they have 5 more stops. I'm sure some people on the bus must have freaked watching me leave without these children that aren't mine anyway.

Well, it took me about 5 seconds to realize they shouldn't be alone, so I went to the payphone across the street, dialed 911, and reported it.

I realized that out of all the drunks I've had to avoid on that bus now and then, etc...children that little just SHOULD NOT be there by themselves. I feel bad for not having stuck with them and followed them just to make sure they got where they were going.

The 911 dispatcher said they'd get some cops looking for them, and I was able to give a good description of them.

OMG -- I'm still fuming.

Somebody, tell me...WHO ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH leaves two small children in a city of 2 MILLION people to travel alone in downtown????