Scary stuff

So we ran into a guy at the hardware store today who i had a rather strange experience with recently, and zieak reminded me i needed to blog it.

A few weeks ago i was on a delivery run to the hospital. Upon pulling up and parking in front of the building, i see a small child wandering down the street about a block away. This toddler is wearing a tank-top and shorts, and it was one of the coldest weeks in february. I run over to her and scoop her up, and she is not able to speak yet except for some vowel sounds. I say "where's your mommy?" and she just says "aa ee oo," no pointing or anything to give me a clue. I begin to walk with her in the direction she was waddling from, and the street is bare. She looks to be native to me, but i was in a neighborhood where i wasnt that familar with what residents lived in what house. I've made it about a block, the little girl doesnt seem scared or frightened (luckily, if she had freaked out i may have also.) A car slowly approaches, and i flag down the female driver. "Do you know whose child this is?" She says "i think that is kara, she lives just there." I am standing directly in front of the house she motions to. So i go up the stairs, knock on the door while saying "hello?" at a decible i consider loud. No answer. At this point i start getting scared, and some horrible thoughts enter my head. What if the babysitter is dead? What am i going to find in this house? What if someone is being held hostage and i end up as well? Of course they were all just silly, unbelievable situations. The tv was on - playing a cartoon. By this point i am saying hello as loud as i can without screaming it. Finally, i am at the bottom of the stairs, about to ascend them, still thinking i'm going to come across a body. A man comes around the corner at the top of the stairs, hands full of papers, head down reading whatever words are printed on them. Totally oblivious that i am standing there with his cold daughter in my arms. I recognize him, and well, lets just say it seemed he was not concerned in the least that his daughter was wandering the streets barely dressed. He took her from my arms and walked me to the door mumbling about this being the first time he's had to watch her all winter, and how his wife was supposed to have locked the door when she left for work. Ok dude, why were you upstairs leaving her in the charge of the television? Leaving i was relieved that an irresponsible father was all that i found.

When i saw him today, he apologized, saying he was so embarrassed at the time that he forgot to say thank you. Man, there's something a lot more important i hope you never forget again.