Being the older sister, I was most of the time given the responsibility of looking after my two younger brothers. Of course with ten years difference in our ages, I was probably mostly interested in what I was doing at the time, not giving quite the attention I should have to the youngest child. Well, I mean it wasn't hard to watch him as he played on the beach and entertained himself for hours on end. Of course I was on the beach with my own friends and didn't pay a lot of attention to the time or much else either.
One day I looked around and didn't see him, as I laid in the sun to better my tan, feeling sleepy and content from the warmth of the sun. Oh well, he probably went to the house to get a drink or something. My parents were there and they would help him with that, so I didn't move from my contented place on the sand. As I turned over to better my position, I noticed that the car was gone, thinking that my parents must have gone to the store and taken him with them. After a short time, a couple of friends from next door came down to the beach and joined me. I asked them if they had seen my little brother up at the house. They told me that they had seen him on the road as they were driving in. I jerked myself up from my comfy position and shielded my eyes from the sun, taking a better look up at the house.
Suddenly I realized that my parents might not have taken my brother with them after all. I headed toward the house at a run, leaving my friends to wonder what in the world was going on. They quickly followed. Tearing through the house calling out his name, I search frantically for the four year old child that I was responsible for. My friends now understand what's happened and they join me in calling out his name and head over to the neighbors house. The child loved to go visiting and had no problem at all enjoying the neighbors hospitality just any old time.
No one had seen him since earlier in the morning and I was at a loss for places to look. Given no choice now, we head down the road. I thought that if he had gone in search of my parents, he wouldn't go far. The sandy road close to the house was shaded by tall pine trees and gave us some relief to the heat that was now rising, as the sun got higher in the sky. Of course we soon reached the paved part of the road and our bare feet had to skip along faster, in order to not feel the hot tar sticking to the bottoms. None of us had taken the time to find shoes or flip flops in our fervor to find my little brother.
Every few minutes we would run into someone from our little community, out walking their dog or heading toward the beach for the day. We would ask if they had seen him, of course they had not. Reaching the end of the road now, we were really getting scared. Our safe place had taken on a new aura as we wondered and speculated on what could have happened to him, where could he be?
Having no choice we turned and headed back up the road. No one said a word as we hurried back toward the cottage. Several cars passed us with folks we didn't know. We looked at each other and wondered where they were going and who they were, heading toward our little tight knit community of neighbors that all knew one another. Our imagination was beginning to take hold of us now. Could someone have taken him? Someone we didn't know? We started to run now, more worried than before as time was not being kind to us in our search.
We decided to split up and head back out to the beach. We would each go a different way and meet back at the house as soon as we had covered the beach as far as we could go. As far as we could go meant, without swimming across the canals that had been dug out for boats to come in. This thought was really scary, because the four year old we were searching for couldn't swim at all. If he had gotten to that point and decided to try to cross it on his own, it could have grave results. We were more aware of this now than ever before, as we thought about him tagging along with us. We would take turns carrying him on our backs as we swam across the deep water.
Heading back to the cottage with a heavy feeling among us, we talked about other places he could have gone, not wanting to think about the other possibilities, we came up with all kinds of things. We reached the beach in front of the cottage and realized that the car was back. That meant that my parents were home now and I had to tell them my brother was nowhere to be found. My breathing became somewhat heavy as I neared the door. I could hear my parents talking in very normal tones, so I knew that no one had come to the door with bad news, yet. I reached out for the handle on the door as my friends stayed on the steps, not wanting to witness what I had to tell my parents. Their heads were down and they kicked at the pine needles under their feet, needing something to do.
Finally, I jerked open the door and walked in, prepared to tell the worst news my parents could face. I had lost my brother. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, I spy my little brother happily sitting at the table with a small bag of candy in front of him and his cheeks full. His hazel eyes shining with delight. My mouth stays open, but nothing comes out. My friends are peering in the door now, seeing him sitting there, grinning and chewing the sweet treats he had acquired somehow. I look at my parents with a giant question on my face and they laughed. What? How could they be laughing! There was nothing at all funny about the last hour of searching in vane for this little brat that was as happy as a lark, especially with my now tar covered feet sticking to the rug as I wait for an explanation.
I begin to question him about where he had been and telling them all at the same time, we had been searching all over from him. My parents were somehow not the least bit disturbed that I had lost him. Now that was really strange. How could they be so calm, when I have sweat running into my eyes, from my distress over losing him and the worry about what my parents would say to me as well. I am totally confused and just stand there waiting for someone to explain what had happened to my family. Because the people standing in front of me with no concern or anger at my lack of responsibility, could not possibly be my mom and dad.
By this time, my friends had come into the house and were staring at my brother as if he were an illusion and couldn't possibly just be sitting there enjoying himself, as they stood close to me, a little afraid. Finally, my dad decided I had suffered enough. I think the fact that my friends were as surprised as I was and were waiting for an answer too, helped my dad to go ahead and tell me what had happened.
When my little brother had noticed the car leaving from his spot on the beach, he knew they could be only be going to the little store about two miles away. Now, we weren't the type of family that got to have anything we wanted all the time, we were frugal and candy was not often a treat we received. Unless we were at the cottage on the island. At this little store, we could get penny candy and my little brother wasn't going to miss an opportunity for that penny candy, no matter what he had to do.
He had run after the car as fast as he could go, bare feet flying on the hot pavement of the road. Hoping for my dad to stop the car and pick him up the whole way there, but my dad never seeing him, as the car quickly went out of sight and around the bend. He never stopped running in his quest for that penny candy. He ran the whole way and shocked my folks, as he walked into the little store and looked around for them. Out of breath and red as a beet with no shoes or shirt, he managed to tell them he had wanted to go with them and they had left him, with tears in his eyes now. The struggle of getting there was over and he was overcome with the thought of not getting any candy after all. Of course, with one look at him they melted and bought him a whole bag of penny candy, more than he had ever had in his little life at one time before.
Looking over at his sweet face, still red from his ordeal, I had to smile. Actually, we were all amazed at the strength it had taken to run as far as he had. My friends sat at the table with him and looked over his horde of penny candy. He was delighted to offer them a piece too, because he had enough to share. My friends laughed and patted him on the head, relieved that he was safe.
That day took place over forty years ago. As I traveled down that same road recently, with the tall pines above it, even taller now, that day was the picture that came to mind. The memory still as fresh as the day that it happened. The sweet little boy so determined to not be left out, that he just ran and ran toward his goal, never giving up. That little boy grew into a man, still just as sweet and with the same determination to reach his goals, never giving up. He has his own family now and they are grown.
We laughed together, as we drove along that long straight road shaded with pine trees, remembering...and smiling together over the shared memory.
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