?????; TEXT

[acrostic]

A riddle!

You come to a stop, in your newly purchased sports car, in front of a bus stop with four people who desperately need any transportation a soul can give them to drop them to their desired destinations. The problem is, the next bus scheduled to pass by will not be until the morning. It's also pouring rain.

The first person there is a heavily pregnant woman who looks as if she is in excruciating pain and on the verge of giving birth. She's pleading to be sent to any hospital or to at least be given assistance should she end up having to deliver on the sidewalk. Not an ideal situation.

The second person is a very young and very lost child crying and screaming at high volumes because they wandered away from their home. The child doesn't know where their home address is, but knows the full name of their parents.

Next to them is a surgeon. This doctor has with him his briefcase that contains all of his medical tools. He impatiently shares the time on his watch - drawing far too close for comfort. He needs to go to his hospital as soon as possible in order to perform a critical surgery.

The final person is someone who just wants to go home. But! It so happens that you know them. To you, that person is a dear close friend and the love of your life. Your desired future spouse. You adore this person. It's been a long time since you have both seen each other. You've wanted to reconnect and rebuild your relationship since your last meeting. You can't find a better opportunity to do that. If you don't take it, the chances are that you may not have that opportunity again.

Now! Keep in mind that the only helpful tool you can use in this situation is your leased highly attractive sports car in what you consider a striking color. It has the driver's seat, a single empty passenger seat and nothing else. It is poorly designed in that it doesn't have a functioning trunk for a human body. There are no communication devices on any of you and none within reach. The bus stop is located away from any public facilities and residences.

There is no one else on the road to help them but you.
What do you do?

Comments

[acrostic]

A well thought out response! Everything is accounted for and your car remains intact.

[unhappy]

Not even close to the right answer though, huh?

[acrostic]

Morally speaking, that answer is certainly not the best. And you failed to get everyone to their destinations.

Not entirely incorrect, however.

[unhappy]

I'll count it as a win for people with alternative moral scales.

[acrostic]

As the most intelligent response so far, you may end up winning on behalf of those with the standard morality scale as well.

[unhappy]

True. Besides, what if I'm a murderer in this hypothetical scenario? Mine would be the moral decision in that case since they all might be safer staying desperate.

[acrostic]

How right you are. From the perspective of a killer, the riddle becomes a conundrum of which victim to choose or how to manage getting them all.

[unhappy]

Oh nooooo I lost control of my crappy sports car.

[acrostic]

Oh dear. Those go so fast. That could end in tragedy.

[unhappy]

Total accident. Insurance money. Suing the people who made the road for it being too slick and causing my trauma for having killed so many people.

[acrostic]

Do you come out unscathed? Injuries receive further compensation.
Everyone at the stop reached the same destination in this version.

[unhappy]

Yeah, but that's a pain and gets your name in legal files on a bigger scale, so if you want to do things past that people are more likely to pick up a pattern. Small crimes are less likely to get noticed than large ones.