More About Paul: Gone missing for 3 hours 1986

It's approximately 6 minutes walking from Pembroke Street to Holcombe Street & Holcombe Street to Pembroke Street and 1 minute walk from Pembroke Street to Thomaston Street & from Thomaston Street to Pembroke Street.

I was only 8 at the time and in the 2nd grade. I had gone to Rawson elementary school in Hartford. Elementary school can be boring sometimes when you are in school 8 hours a day and 5 days a week in one classroom. I remember a friend had talked me into going with him over to his Grandma's house. Now ordinarily I would go straight home after being in school 8 hours like that. I lived on Pembroke Street at the time, which is about a couple of blocks in walking distance from the school on Holcomb Street. My friend's grandma lived on Thomaston Street a block passing my street. I remember hanging with my friend and I had a chance to meet his grandma. Everything was going really well, my friend's grandma was really friendly and she offered me barbecue potato chips (Lays Potato chips to be exact) and apple juice. I am hanging out at my friend & his grandma's house and everything like I said was going really well.

Meanwhile, back home things were not going well because my family was worried about me & missed me. I was never known to run away from home before and it was not like me to not come straight home. In the 80's people didn't use cellphones because they didn't become available then (Thank God for that). I remember during that time children could always go to a neighbor's house and it was okay because parents didn't have to worry about their children being kidnapped. My mom tried calling the school and they informed my mom that I had left when school let out. My father had come by the house because he wanted to take me to the Park & and he wanted me to meet his girlfriend but he was informed by my mom and older brother that I was not home (my father was worried because he thought that I had run away from home). My mom wondered if what she did caused me to appear to have run away from home. I was thinking while I was at my friend's grandma's house that my family really cares a lot about me. I don't know if any of my readers who are reading understand what it is like being the baby of the family like I am in my family but you tend to think that your parent or parents are too over protective of you at times. Sometimes when children feel like that their parent or parents are too over protective their children sometimes think that what he or she is doing is never right in their parent or parents’ eyes because their parents are always fussing at him or her.

While I was spending time over at my friend's grandma's house I started to realize that I was putting myself as well as my friend at risk. For example, suppose my friend's grandma was a child abuser and she physically beat her Grandson? There is not a thing I could have done to stop it because although I knew the friend I was with I didn't know (or just met for the first time) his grandma. I was enjoying myself at my friend's grandma's house eating potato chips and drinking apple juice and it has been 3 hours and I was not at home, so it was time for me to call my mom and let her know where I was at and that I was okay. I asked my friend's grandma if I could use her phone to call my mom and she said "Yes." I called my mom and informed my mom that I'm a block up the street from my mom on Thomaston St. and that I'm with my friend at his grandma's house.

My mom: Paul where are you we have been worried about you!

Me: Ma, I am with my friend from school at his grandma's house.

My mom: Paul is you OK?

Me: Yes ma, my friend's grandma offered me some barbecue potato chips and some apple juice.

My mom: Paul, do you know that you could have been kidnapped?

Me: Ma, but she is really nice and my friend's grandma let me use her phone to call you.

My mom: Paul, please come on home your father was crying on the phone saying he missed you, your brother and me was worried about you because we didn't know where you were or what had happened to you.

Me: Okay I will ma. After I had gotten off of the phone with my mom, I told my friend and his grandma that I have to go home and they said, "Ok" and I walked on home and the moment I got home, my mom gave me a big hug and said, "Paul, Don't you worry me like that again!" After my family let me know how worried they were of me I never did anything like that again.