(81) Escaped

One evening I was holding the hand of Kenneth while walking into a local supermarket. Suddenly he flung off my hand and ran into a lift which door was closing. I called him and started to race after him. Alas, the lift door closed just after he slipped in.

Without hesitation I ran to the information desk and reported the loss of my toddler. Spurts of walkie-talkie communication later, the lady in charged of the counter assured me that all lifts were locked down, all exits were watched. No young children under the age of four would be allowed to leave.


As I paced in front of the banks of elevators, a pair of security guards, one male and one female, used the fire lift to check floor by floor. They found Kenneth standing in the lobby area on the eighth floor, which is almost pitch dark. He was not scared, in fact, he told the lady guard that his mummy would go and look for him. He was just confidently waiting for me to turn up.


After the entire incident, everyone heaved a sigh of relief. The security chief admitted that he was concerned about the open car park on the fourth floor. He was worried that a young boy might be agile enough to climb the barrier and jump.


The rascal was punished. For many months after that, public buildings with lifts were out of bounds until he learned to obey and stay close.

* bcfoodart20.jpg from toxel.com