Oh my gosh, I'm a little tense right now. Sprout and I were at the park, but had to head back home when it started thundering. I am so glad we did! About a half a block away, there was a small boy of about 5 wandering in the street, stopping traffic. There were some people calling out to him, and one man stopped his SUV and plucked him out of the street to the relative safety of the sidewalk. (Thank heavens for this, as that task would have been pretty impossible for me while pushing the stroller.) The boy was unresponsive and clearly extremely distressed. He was also banging his head, which made me quite concerned about approaching him (lest I freak him out). I followed him along the street, but he was determined to lose me - and all the other adults around basically decided, somehow, that it was no longer their concern, which was a bit bizarre. Finally, he wandered down a slope behind a building, and I hollered to some ladies out smoking on their balconies to call 911. Once they realized he was not my son, they responded very quickly. So did the police. Well, about 50 minutes later, the cop and the boy and I (with an extremely patient Sprout in his stroller) were going up and down on the street seeing if anyone recognized him. He wouldn't (couldn't?) talk very much, and I suspect his English was not very good. Some of the ways he repeated my words (in a whisper) sounded a little like Hindi, i.e. saying "ghool" when I asked him if he went to school. By the end, he might have said his name was "Anandy," but I can't be certain.
Finally, after a long search, the cop's dispatcher called to say that a boy fitting the description had been called in as missing - quite a distance away! I didn't even recognize the name of the street they said. Anyway, the cop took him home, I assume, but it broke my heart - as they walked the opposite direction back to the squad car, the little boy was clearly distressed to leave me. But, by this time Sprout was crying, so I had to get back home. But I miss that little guy - at least I got to give him a hug and to wish him well. I really hope he gets home safe, and that this was just a freak occurrence of his parents dropping their guard for a moment. The cop was very complimentary of me for stopping, but I am horrified to think that a lot of people wouldn't have. I also shudder to think of the type of people who might have...
I have two new great moments in my life's worth of good moments: the moment he first took my hand, and the moment that dispatcher called with his description.
One issue I had, though: the LE asked me my name, number and address, but did not ask for ID. I could have so easily given them a false name. I actually had to show them my ID on my own accord. This, I think, was a bit of a lapse. Otherwise, the police officer was very good with the boy, and I trust that the situation will end happily. (I am mostly just blogging this out, as I just stepped inside and want to catch the details before I forget them.)
Now it is time to take Sprout to bed, and feel grateful that it wasn't my little boy running down the center of a busy street today. So scary!
EDIT: I just used google maps to see where they said the boy reported missing was from, and it is literally all the way across the city - 11km away, near a highway! How on earth did he get down here?
Does anyone know if it would be ok for me to call tomorrow to see if they'd tell me how it turned out? I think I will - I still worry about the little guy.
