Tagalong

I ran away from home once.
A friend and I decided it was the right thing to do, the right time to do it
& by golly, we were going for it.

Actually, my life was fine and dandy.
She was mad at her parents about something or another though and said she had the perfect plan.
Friend's proposal must have sounded pretty darn brilliant because it took very little convincing for me to tag along.

I think we were 11 or 12 years old ... maybe.
I don't remember.
I do remember it was Summer
& we decided we should eat supper first.
We had priorities and full bellies were a must
so ...
We happily, heartily broke bread with our families, unbeknownst to them, they'd never see us again.
Afterwards, we packed a few things in her shiny red wagon and headed off to parts unknown.

Just like that.

No notes.
No mumbled farewells.
We simply started walking.

We trudged along with our wagon of goods
& fifteen minutes later, we were downtown.

ooooooo
That sounds so adventurous.

It wasn't.
It really, really wasn't.

But, there we were.
Downtown.
Friend and I stood in front of the Ben Franklin Dime Store and looked at each other.
Ok.
Now what do we do ?

We just turned ourselves around and walked back home is what we did.
The sun was going down and we didn't want to be out past dark.

When we made it back to Maple Drive, a neighbor lady informed my friend that she was in BIG trouble.
Her parents had been looking all over for her.

Did I mention she was an only child ?

Friend grumbled and complained but, had no choice.
She walked into her house to face that music
& I headed back to mine.

Mom greeted me at the door with a reminder, I needed to take a bath.
"Ok", I said
& that was that.

What happened at Friend's house that night ?
She was grounded.
For a week.

ouch.

But, it was just another night for me.
No one even realized I ran away.
I guess that's the difference between an only child's house and a house of six kids.
My parent's figured I was playing outside like I did every Summer evening
I came home when the streetlights came on
& my big runaway adventure ended with a kiss on my forehead, tucked into my nice, cozy bed.

Just as well.
My life really was very fine and dandy !

:)

I Am My Feelings