The Sunday of 30th
September 2012 was an easy Sunday. Since we woke up late, I ruled out us going
to church. I was mostly in the bedroom, perusing one reading material after
another in the comfort of the bedroom. Jnr was in the business of shuffling the
cartoon channels – for once he monopolized the TV set as Babu was away
attending a workshop on Children’s Assembly that weekend. Mercy our househelp
also opted not to go to church. Japs was up and about, one minute checking on me
in the bedroom, another minute watching TV in the sitting room.
It was sure an
easy Sunday morning until the panicky moment set in. At around noon, Mercy
burst in to the bedroom asking for Japs’ whereabouts, that she’d looked for him
all over the compound including the neighbours’ houses but couldn’t find him. My
heart sunk, my bowels twitched and my guts wretched – all those things you feel
when in shock and despair? My worst
nightmare had just begun. I didn’t know where to start looking. Our compound is
right adjacent to 4 busy roads in the Estate. My first instinct was to ask the bicycle
repair men working nearby but no, they hadn’t seen Japs, I thought of going to
the 2 churches nearby where the services were on-going or to the neighborhood
Public Service Club but my instincts told me to temporarily shelve that, I
instead ran towards the park that is between our compound and a Primary School.
I asked the
first person I met in the park if she had seen a 4-yr old boy on a navy blue
shirt and cream-coloured pairs of shorts and she nodded in affirmative, said
that the boy I had described passed him bare-feet 30 minutes ago. 30 Minutes
Ago? That scared me, I almost fainted, there is a 2nd gate to the
furthest of the park that opens to other roads including the main Highway and I
lost all hopes of finding him still in the park. 30 minutes is equivalent of
20kms stretch for an Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder boy, I didn’t for
one moment imagine that he would still be in our estate, I was already writing
a statement in my head on how to report a missing boy at the police station and
other media houses. I thought of calling my parents or his father or my aunts,
but rescinded that thought, I knew how they would react, didn’t want to stress
them on a sunday.
I prayed to God
to keep my son safe. I kept walking in a trance towards the 2nd
gate. Barely 5 minutes of walking, then I saw a bare-feet-happy-go-lucky-boy in
a navy blue shirt running towards me and for the 1st time in my 30
something years I felt a miracle. I hugged my son, carried him home, collapsed
and cried myself out.
The thought of Japs
someday disappearing continues to be my worst nightmare, I put that in every
prayer item that is available. Since he doesn’t talk, I am thinking of devising
a way that would make him traceable if ever he leaves home and doesn’t come
back one day.
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