Aiden Kyle was just 11 years old when he noticed that something was wrong.
It had rained heavily that May afternoon in Jackson, Missouri, and Hubble Creek had risen dangerously. Kinsley Stuart, 5, was playing near a low bridge when the current swept her toward a covered culvert. It was Aiden who saw her hand barely sticking out above the water and jumped in without thinking. The current was too strong for him to pull her out alone, so Isaiah Randol, 15, got into the water to help him. When Aiden also began to be swept away, his brother Eli Kyle and Alex Niedbalski, both 15, went in as well. The four of them managed to pull Kinsley out and get her safely to shore.
The girl spent the night under observation at Saint Francis Medical Center and was discharged the next day without injuries. Casey Stuart, her mother and owner of the family restaurant Kenny’s Flippin’ Burgers, couldn’t find a way to repay them with money for what they had done. So she promised them something better: free food at her restaurant for the rest of their lives.