Oh, so Friday evening we had a scare at the playground.
Posted by
Don Homer (aka DonHomer)
Sep 27 '10, 09:29
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Right after we get there I put Alex into one of the baby swings, and before I start to push this little girl maybe 3 or 4 years old runs up and stands right in front of his swing. I say "hi" and wait for her to move out of the way. Normally parents are fairly vigilant about letting their kids run in front of the swings, but nobody comes by to lead her away. She stands around for a few moments and then finally moves, so I start pushing Alex.
Then a half-minute later the girl runs down the hill from the playground toward a lake (maybe 75-100 yards away) - one in which a little kid drowned at about 3 years ago. Still no sign of a parent, so my wife runs down towards her and then walks her back up to the playground. Still no parent. Oh, and there seemed to be something developmentally wrong with the girl and she didn't talk or make any sounds or motions at all.
Wife called the police. A cop shows up a minute later. Nobody had called any lost child in so he sits down and waits while the girl plays in the sandbox with Andrew and a few other kids. Half an hour later still nobody had called in.
Somebody else at the playground had apparently maybe seen the girl walk there from one direction (towards some townhouses, and also a small shopping center) so the cop walked the girl away and we didn't see her again.
15 minutes (45 minutes after we arrived) after that a guy shows up looking kind of frantic. Wife noticed and asked if he was looking for a girl. He was. It was his daughter he didn't say much but did say she had some disorder where she couldn't talk or communicate (wife googled it later, and apparently it's a rare genetic disorder and she'll never be able to talk or sign or anything like that - very sad).
The guy walked off a bit and I assume called the police (finally). And then I assume they were reunited shortly after, but still quite scary.
Hope the heck it never happens to me.
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