My baby brother Harold went missing today, and we couldn’t find him. When he disappeared, I looked at my sister, Jeanne, who is two years younger than me. She looked like she was going to burst into tears any second. I put my arm around her and told her everything was going to be all right. Neither of us thought anything like this could happen. It all started when I asked my sister to come to the park with me.
Now, with the moon peeking through my bedroom window, and me trying to fall asleep, I think back on the things that happened earlier this morning when my sister and I decided to walk to the park. It was a very hot and humid day, and we couldn’t wait to get in the sprinklers. We didn’t want to take my baby brother Harold, but he was crying and begging to go so we decided to take him.
It was a long walk to the park, and we were tired and hot, but we kept thinking of how good we would feel when we got in the sprinklers. As soon as we saw them, we jumped in and got soaking wet. The three of us played and played in the water until our fingers were all wrinkly. Then we got out and played on the swings, monkey bars, seesaw and slide. As soon as we headed toward the park bench to take a rest, my baby brother said he wanted to go home. “What?” my sister and I screamed at him. We just got here a little while ago. We’re not going home yet! I dragged him by the hand and started our walk back to the sprinklers.
As soon as I let go of his hand and my back was turned, Harold was gone. “Well, there goes another turn playing in the sprinklers,” I thought. My sister Jeanne and I walked around the entire park at least five times and we could not find him. We decided to run home as fast as we could and tell our parents we lost our baby brother at the park.
I
was very surprised that my parents didn’t stop what they were doing and spank
us hard. Instead, my father put the keys in the ignition of the yellow taxi he
used for work and drove us all up to the police station. My mother was upset. You could see it in her eyes. My father was just MAD. My father walked up
to the counter and explained we were there because his child Harold was lost. My
father gave the officer all the details. The police officer started smiling and
said to us, “Follow me.” He took us to a
small office that had a closed door.
When the officer opened the door, there was my baby brother Harold sitting
on top of a desk, eating pork chops.
After the first initial shock of seeing him, we all started laughing in relief. “How did you get here?” “Who found you?” “How long were you lost?” “See how hungry you get when you’re lost and alone?” We all started asking baby brother questions at the same time.
My
mind stops thinking back on everything that happened on this hot summer day and
I think to myself, “I’m so happy they found my brother.” Just before I fell
asleep, I remembered something one of the police officers said, “Well, how old are the three of you, seven,
five and four? Maybe this wouldn’t have
happened if you went to the park with some grownups. We’re all very lucky this event had a happy
ending. Next time, wait till you’re all
much older before going to the park on your own.”
Ellen
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