A Lost Child

It was the worst experience of my life. It taught me a lesson I shall never forget. It will not happen again.

Kim was only one, pretty as a picture with laughing brown eyes. People would stop and smile, bend over her pram and tickle her under the chin whenever I pushed her along the pavement to the supermarket.

On a terrible day though, I was in a hurry, so we took the car shopping. It is a modern blue Ford and Kim’s little cot fits neatly into the back. I parked it in the multi-level car park in the supermarket complex.

Should I carry her into the store? She couldn’t walk very far yet. I knew I should, but then I thought of the great load of shopping I would have to carry back. I wavered. Then I thought I would take a chance. After all, Kim would be all right if I left her for half an hour. I locked the car, leaving a window a little open. She was smiling and playing with a fluffy little ball as I hurried to the store entrance. It’s no use denying that I was worried about leaving Kim even though she was obviously in no danger. All the same, I almost ran from shelf to shelf, filling my trolley with the groceries we would need for that week.

The store was busy that day. There was a crowd at the butter, cheese, and bacon counter and I had to wait ten minutes before I could be served. In the end, I pushed the trolley to the end of the shortest of several long check-out queues. I glanced at my watch. I had already been in the store for half an hour.

Finally, I was through. I snapped my purse shut and loaded my groceries into six plastic bags which I had brought with me. Then, heavily weighted, I left the store and walked across to the stacking car park. The lift was out of order, as usual, so it meant climbing the stairs.

It seemed an age before I spotted the blue Ford. There was nobody about. Eventually, I reached the car. It was just as I had left it. A rear window slightly open. Doors locked. But there was one difference. The back seat was empty. No cot. No Kim.

Suddenly life became unreal. I remember screaming out ‘Kim !Kim ! where are you, darling ?’ I remember fighting to open the car doors, forgetting they were locked. I remember shouting ‘Help! My baby has been stolen !’

Then there running feet. It was a security guard. ‘Now calm down, miss’, he said, ‘let’s see what we can do’. As he spoke, an elderly gentleman carrying a shopping bag walked up to us. He stopped a puzzled look on his face.

‘How can I help you ?’ he asked, and I blurted out my sad story.

‘But you do realize that this is my car’, he said. Then he took a bunch of keys out of his pocket and opened the driver’s door.