This is a story a friend of mine told me:

She was walking back to work after lunch, through the underpass, and a mother pushing a buggy with two screaming kids was coming the other way. Now, when I say screaming, I mean enough to make you want to rip your own ears off. The mother was trying to quieten them but not having much luck.

A policeman also entered the subway, and spotting the commotion, beckoned the children towards him. They immediately hushed, and walked over to him.

“It’s not nice for little girls and boys to make so much noise, is it?” he asked.

They stared at him.

“Do you know what happens to girls and boys who make a lot of noise in the subway?”

They shook their heads.

“They get taken to prison. You don’t want that, do you?”

They looked at each other, doubtfully, attention wavering.

Right on cue, a police car went flying past them on the road above, sirens blazing. The children’s eyes bulged and they ran back to their mother, subdued.

My friend continued her path back to work and when she passed the policeman said:

“That was very impressive.”

“No,” he replied. “That was very lucky.”