...I saw something that kind of bothered me today. It's another cool day, but it being a Saturday, kids are out of school. I noticed a boy of about ten walking towards the park, a fishing pole in his backpack. We have a big lagoon in the park where you can go for a paddleboat ride or fish off the side from the sidewalk. People bring lawn chairs or just sit on the ground, so I'd guess he was on his way there. Now this kid was not a scrawny runt, nor was he a heavy child. He looked like your average ten year old walking down the street. He was alone.
...I know of only two times that there have been missing children...one I believe they found in a box car (dead), and the other was never found at all (probably dead). A friend of mine lost her only son to a friend's (allegedly) knife...he stabbed him (also allegedly) over drugs, then left him in a field in the middle of July to die. It gets very hot here. He wasn't found until two weeks after he disappeared. Of course they can't prove it...Once a guy killed his girlfriend then tried to dump her body in the country...actually down the other side of the road that Nik used to live on. She said she saw the police cars and a commotion from her window.
...so why would some parent allow their child to walk down to the park alone? Even if he was outside his own front door when I saw him, he was still about four blocks away from the park. I'm assuming that, like all of us, this boy wasn't paying too much to what was around him. It's a Saturday, there's no school, and he's going fishing. If someone wanted him bad enough, he could esaily be taken off that street.
...you may say you can't smother kids too much...let them play and be kids. That doesn't mean you trust someone else to leave them alone. I read this back and it sounds like I'm paranoid. Hell, I don't even have kids...but working retail I also saw where parents "lost" their children.
...sometimes I would think about my friend's son in that field that hot July...two weeks...he probably heard cars go by...people talking...then the animals that must have come along and sniffed around...the bugs...how long did he feel all this?
...unfortunately some people don't realize until it's too late. I just hope there's no headline in the paper tomorrow...BOY MISSING...
posted by Wanting at 9:30 PM