he had been gone “Since before lunch,” I was told. “You mean that he has been missing for possibly more than three hours and you are only now letting me know?” I exclaimed. “What have you done about it?” “Well, we sent a couple of children to look around outside and they didn't see him,” was the reply. “Have you notified the police?” I demanded. No, they hadn't. I was angry and very worried as I felt that he was in their care and being so young they should have notified me earlier and told the police. “Have you any idea why he might have wandered off?” I asked, “because it’s not at all like him to do this,” I said. I was told that the teacher had no idea what had upset him. “I will come at once - please notify the police,” I said. Before leaving home I had phoned Kimble's father who said he was sure Kimble would be alright. “We need your help,” I said, “the school is a long distance from here and there are two ways of getting there that Kimble would know. So I will search one way, Alf will stay here in case there is a message from the school or the police, and I suggest you might search the other way.” When I arrived at the school I saw the Headmaster who seemed very unconcerned. I saw some of Kimble’s class mates and they said that Kimble had been told to "sit on the rug" with another boy because he had been talking. Then they saw Kimble get up, collect his coat and his lunch box which were hanging on a peg along one side of the classroom, and walk out. The teacher said she saw none of this. Between the school and our home were several quarries which I searched and asked people there if they had seen a little boy. I also asked various shopkeepers. All with no result. Eventually I decided to drive home and see if there was any news. Sylvia kept coming into my mind and I was pleased that she knew nothing of all this as she would have been so worried. When I turned into our driveway I saw Kimble climbing up to sit on top of a concrete pillar which stood at our drive entrance. “Hello Nana,” he said cheerfully. Oh the relief to see him safe and well! I hugged him and asked, “Where have you been?” “Well, the teacher said I had been talking when I hadn't. It wasn’t fair because she made me sit on the rug so I came home.” “But you have been missing for hours,” I said. “Yes. Well, it was a long walk and a dog jumped out at me near the quarry, but I was alright. Then I stopped at our house and sat on the doorstep to eat my lunch before I came back here,” he said quite matter-of-factly. That night we were all going to visit Sylvia in the hospital, so before we got to her room I said, “Mum will be very upset to know that you were missing for so long, so I think it would be better if we don't tell her Kimble, don’t you?” He nodded and went running in to see his Mum. “Mum, mum. Do you know mum that the police have been looking for me?!” Well of course I hadn’t told him not to mention the police. We all laughed and were all happy that it had all had a happy ending. |
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