Saturday, August 11, 2012

Story #2 The Day I Disappeared

Some are going to be long and some short. This one is short.

Then there was the day I disappeared. Remember this was Wisconsin, America’s Dairyland, in the 1950’s and things like that just didn’t happen. We roamed the streets at all hours of the day and night. A summer evening was spent playing “kick the can”. If you don’t know this game, it’s like hide and seek except you get in free by running into the middle of the street (no traffic problems in rural American in those days) and kicking the big juice can before the person who was “it” tagged you. 
  
The biggest crime that occurred, in my entire nine years of life, was Johnny Meisner’s dad got robbed and beat up in his driveway. The Meisner’s lived down the street about six houses and around the corner. We didn’t have CNN or CNBC covering every killing, mugging, or protest like we do now. In fact, television was so new that we were one of the few in the neighborhood that had one. Big blond cabinet with a picture about twelve inches in diameter, black and white of course.

As I recall it was a sunny and I’m thinking it could have been on a weekend day. Dinner time came and went and I never missed dinner. It was the rule. My parents wondered where I was. They searched the house and then they combed the neighborhood, talked to the neighbors; they talked to my friends, and contacted the police. Nobody could find me anywhere. Darkness was closed in and still they couldn’t find me. They were frantic. 

When I woke up, I noticed it was dark. My first thought was “boy I’m in trouble now”. I rolled out of the hammock and stumbled up the basement stairs to find out what all the commotion was about. I guess nobody bothered to look for me in the basement.  

Mark

5 comments:

  1. Hi Mark...my wife and I were watching her sister's son maybe 20 years ago and we had a similiar experience.

    We called his name and he didn't answer us so we panicked. I ran around the house, then outside and then around the house. I came back 20 minutes later
    and he came out from under the bed (pre-cell phones).

    If I wasn't so relieved that he wasn't lost, then I would have pulled a Homer Simpson on him.

    Good story.

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  2. I remember doing this myself when I was quite a bit younger. Thanks for the memory.

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  3. Mark
    Our daughter pulled this stunt when she was in the first grade, my wife and went crazy, called the police and comb the neighborhood only to find her hiding in one of the bedroom closets behind a bunch of clothes. Thanks for bringing a frantic memory back

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  4. Tv is way too overrated, its kinda sad how far away this generations children are away from the simpler things in life such as kick the can

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