Please, remember me, happily, by the rosebush laughing.

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Florence, Alabama, United States
Dancing in both directions at once so everyone won't notice that she's never heard this song before.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Pooh, you haven't any brains.

I have so much I want to tell you about, dear Reader, but I will have to prolong day-to-day activities post for a little bit longer, as I desperately need to write about the last hour of my life and perhaps rid myself of this stress and discontent.

I worked from 9 until 4 here at the Tomlinsons, and I planned to go Wal-mart after I got off. I went home first, where I found a little vagabond loitering on my front step. There was a three year old boy, half-naked, just standing there. I asked about his parents, and he said he was with his Nana, so I followed him to the apartment two doors down; the door was open and there was a woman asleep on the couch. I took the boy, who is named Christopher, in to my apartment and tried to figure out what to do. Before anything else, I dug out some old shorts with a drawstring. I think naked children are beautiful and innocent, but I had no plans of being caught in my house with an unclothed child I didn't know and who didn't know me. The shorts were green; he loves, he loves green, he told me. They looked baggy and ridiculous and sweet. Next I got him some chocolate milk and some Captain Crunch. I made him a few balloon animals and put on Fraggle Rock. I watched him for about an hour before I heard his Nana talking on the phone in the open apartment.
"Excuse me? Does Christopher belong to you?"

She had forgotten to put the chain on the door when she decided to take a nap, apparently. That is a Big Deal. He had no fear of the road or anything; after she came out to get him he ran around. He could have been hit by a car or he could have run very far away in the time he was out there (and I don't know how long he was out before I arrived). We don't live in a bad neighborhood by any means, but that doesn't mean there aren't bad people out and about. What if some creep had found him?

His grandmother seemed nice enough... I'm doing my best not to think bad thoughts about her, I really really and truly am. Should I have called someone? Leave me comments and make me feel better... everything is okay, but I have this residual panic that I can't seem to shake...

Me and my delayed emotional reactions...

2 comments:

continuitygirl said...

Well you found him so he was ok, and this "scare" will probably make his grandma more careful in the future!

Lindsey Jayne said...

I bet she was embarassed about him getting out like that, and maybe that's why she didn't make a big deal of it.

He sounds ko, it is really scary.

He'll probably remember you forever.