a new friend

Something really funny happened to me today, and I need to tell some people about it. This afternoon, I was lacing up my running shoes, ready to hit the road, when I looked up and saw a small boy, not a day over three (he later told me he is exactly "threeyewsold"), standing in my front yard.

He was walking slowly from one part of the yard to another, moving the small distance ever so carefully. I thought he must be on a walk with his mom, as I see moms and small children walking often where I live. So I went on about my business of tying my shoes.

Well, turns out, I stepped outside and the boy is still there, just hanging out in the yard, walking around. There is no adult in sight - anywhere. "Hey buddy. What are you doing?"

"jhdhagsdeftrfehsbdhsgfsdgs" is what he might as well have replied with, because I understood none of it. "Where is your mommy?"

"Somewhere."

"Somewhere? Is she at your house?"

"Yes."

"Where is your house?"

"That way." (he points down a deserted alleyway)

"Come walk with me. We'll find your mommy. I bet she doesn't know where you are."

We head down the street, me and this child. I know he probably couldn't have gone too far. He had his little flip flops on the wrong feet. It was adorable. I asked him his name. "Greg."

"Greg, what's your last name?"

"Greg."

"What about your mommy? What's her name?"

"Greg."

Getting no where. Greg is a lone ranger, all by himself. And he doesn't know his last name or where he lives. But dog gone it, he wants to go on a walk, climb trees, and watch trucks pass by. He dragged me along for awhile, and when I realized we'd gone farther than he'd probably originally wandered from his house, we turned around. I alternated between chasing him down the street and trying to keep him out of the MIDDLE of the street and carrying him. I tried everything to get him to tell me his mom's name or where he lived, and he just didn't seem to understand why that mattered. I even tried tickling him until he told me where mommy was.

We knocked on the doors of three houses, all of which he said were his. No one answered at any of them. He kept asking me to play and go for walk "that way" and to climb a tree. I told him we weren't going to play until we found mommy, because she was probably very sad not knowing where he was, and did he want his mommy to be sad?

He giggled and ran from me. I chased him and called to him, but he wouldn't listen. When I finally caught him, he wasn't interested in anything I had to say until I got very serious - like I was about to tell him the most important secret in the world.

"Greg. I need to talk to you." I said it in a very serious, adult like manner. Then I had his complete, undivided attention - this happened several times, and every time, this worked. It was hilarious.

I walked with/carried Greg up and down the street for ABOUT 45 minutes and had no idea who he belonged to or what to do with him. As hot as it was outside, I didn't feel ok taking him inside my house -- I wasn't in the mood to be charged with kidnapping. But the kid was getting heavy.

There really is no climax to this story. His mom finally came out of their house, which was diagonally across the street from me. She gave me an odd look as I started walking toward her from down the street, carrying her son.

"Does he belong to you?"

She didn't seem as worried as I would have expected her to be (seemed like she'd even been asleep), but shoot, maybe Greg takes frequent adventurous hikes through the hood. Anyway, he is safe and sound back at his house with his mom and dad. I made sure to tell her that he was in MY yard, lest my face be plastered on next week's PEOPLE magazine for child abduction. I can picture it now.

Seriously, what would I have done if his mom hadn't eventually come outside? Called the police?

I thought this was a funny/random afternoon. Just thought I'd share.