Lost Child Returned

Yesterday as I went out to walk Max at about 5:00, I ran onto a nice young man on a bike with a small child. The guy asked me if I knew who this boy was as he had just found him wandering down the street. I had no idea, but said I’d look around as I walked the dog and see if I could find a searching family member wandering the streets. He had found the boy a block away wandering off the walking path on to a very busy street and he sort of said he lived down this way. The young man had already called the police and was waiting for help.

I walked Max a bit and found no one. I grew concerned myself and came back, put Max in the house and waited with them for the police.

We gathered a bit of a following as people came by and were equally concerned.

The boy was about 2 or 3 years old and spoke a bit, but probably not all in English. He was (we guessed) speaking Arabic, but we weren’t sure. He also had no shoes on so we knew he probably had wandered from a park or a home.

We waited, and considered that of all of the things one expects they may find on the street in their life; a child is not one of them.

After 30 minutes (this was not considered an emergency by the 911 operator) two police cars arrived. We drew a bigger crowd as onlookers considered something was happening. The police were lovely and worked well with the child and we (my wife and two daughters were part of the crowd now) knew they didn’t want to take the child in but simply wanted to find his home.

There had been no reported missing children as yet, so it was a mystery but we all figured he must have walked away and no one knew it as yet.

The people (including us) went home and the police took the boy. They walked him back the way he had come (we can watch from our kitchen window) and after a while the police returned empty handed. My wife went out to ask what had happened, and it seemed the boy was able, when walked back, to identify were he came from and the police were able to knock on doors in the neighbourhood and find his Grandmother, who was “watching” him.

The whole thing was frightening but the end was fantastic! We were all relieved, and the Grandmother, who ever she is and where ever she lives will probably watch a little harder the next time.

I had informed the young man on the bike that if the child's family were not found after 30 days, he was given the child to keep. He didn't believe me.

This was a very happy ending.