My Ride Home

 

 

I was a 6 year old who grew up on a farm in the country.  I was so excited because my friend had invited me to her house and we  walked home from school !  That was so cool.  We had so much fun playing together at her house. My mom was supposed to pick me up at an agreed upon time, but was late - very late.  For some reason, my friend's parents were not home.  Their housekeeper was there and after a while she decided to go to her own home.  She instructed my friend to wait with me on the porch.  When I left, my friend was going to walk to the housekeeper's house.  (This was in the days before "stranger danger".  It was safe for a 6 year old to walk alone in a neighborhood.)  We sat on her steps and waited for my mom. . .and waited. . . and waited.  At age six, loyalties are not very deep and my friend decided to leave me on her porch waiting for my mother.  She headed to the housekeeper's house.  I waited. . .and waited. . .and waited. . . and decided that my mother had forgotten me.

 

What would any six year old do in that circumstance?  Not sure, but I decided to walk home.  Never mind that I lived three miles out in the country and had never, ever walked anywhere alone.  I started off, amazingly in the right direction.  I got within one mile of my home and a car pulled up beside me.  There were 2 men in the car.  I remember they were dirty, the car was dirty.  They asked where I lived and I pointed up the road.  They said they would give me a ride home.  And they did.

 

As we pulled into the driveway, my mother came flying up the lane behind us.  She had been to a doctor appointment which had gone very late.  When she arrived at my friend's house to get me, I wasn't there, my friend wasn't there, nobody was there.  She was in a panic!  She rushed home to find me getting out of a strange car with strange men.  Fortunately, I was unharmed.

 

An unusual ride home.