Lost in the Mall

kent

Stranger Danger was all he could remember. What was the rest of it? It was like some kind of secret code, something about when it was okay to ask a stranger for help. He wasn’t about to start crying again like some little kid. He would be brave this time.

He stood on a bench, tried to find her in the crowd. When he walked around all he saw was a forest of legs. He couldn’t even remember what she was wearing. And what was her name? Her last was the same as his, but what was the other one?

 

19 comments

Add Yours
  1. Lynda

    Getting lost in the crowd has to be the ultimate fear for a child. I can think of very few of my preschoolers who actually knew their mother’s first name. Well written, J Hardy!

  2. mjlstories

    A lovely point of view. Those rules are tricky. I thought you might take this somewhere dreadful – thank you for not doing so!
    I did teach my son to shout my name if he got lost (instead of Mummy) and he enjoyed practising very loudly a few times in shops – it was very effective.

    • J Hardy Carroll

      I wouldn’t do that. Too many of these stories use the easy out of cartoonish violence. Seems cheap to do something like that with so few words. That said, I think my last post was about somebody dumping a body over a balcony ;-)

  3. gahlearner

    Poor kid. I guess saying she looks nice, smells good and I love her won’t be enogh for identification. I find it remarkable that the kid remembers danger, stranger, and the last name, that’s very good. Great take on the prompt.

  4. Amy Reese

    Oh, my heart breaks! I hope the child practices “safe side.” Being lost is an awful feeling. I can remember being lost in K-mart as a child. I was devastated.

Don't just stand there.