Short Stories (acutally I'm lengthy)

I hesitate to share this story with you all but I think I will be safe. The unnamed boy of the story does not read the blog so I won't worry about upsetting him.

There is a boy who lives close to his school. His mom lets him walk home from school everyday and asks him to call her at work to let her know he has gotten home. Usually he calls around 3:45 pm and asks to go play in the neighborhood or something. A time is agreed upon that he will be home and off he goes. Within the last week the boy starts coming home unusually late. The first few days he was calling his mom after 4 pm. His excuse was that he was hanging around at school. That's normal, ok.

Then one day he doesn't call at all. The mom calls the house and the phone rings and rings and no one answers. Hmm. The mom doesn't worry too much because the boy is prone to playing outside and his big sister is hanging out across the street. If anything major happened she would be aware. When she got home that evening the boy was home and she asked him what happened? He said he came home, forgot to call, and was outside for a bit. The mom fussed at him but he assured her he was just in the yard.

The next day the same thing happened. The boy didn't call after school. The mom called home and it rang and rang and she never got a hold of him. When she got home he wasn't there either so she starts calling around and verifies that he did make it home and he was somewhere in the neighborhood (2 block radius). She yells outside for him but gets no response and decides that he'll come in when it gets dark and goes on about her business. Pretty soon it is dark and there is still no boy. Hmm. She does not think of foul play but thinks he is flat breaking the rules (as he has been the past few days). Another phone call and a neighborhood parent informs her that he took her boy to the skating rink with his son for the schools skate night. She is fuming but he will be home soon and boy was she going to let him have it!

Finally, the boy comes home at around 8 pm. The mom accosts him and really fusses at the boy. The boys acts like this is no big deal and swears that he called and called and the mom did not answer so he went ahead and went skating. The mom at this point puts him on lock down. She says, "I will pick you up from school and you will come to my office until I'm finished working. You aren't acting responsible so you will not be allowed to stay home."

The next day the mom goes to pick up the son from school. She waits and waits. Waves to the boys friends as they walk by wondering how much longer the boy will be. Soon everyone has cleared out and gone home. The mom realizes that the boy has either slipped past her or is still in the building. She drives on down past the school and lo and behold there is the boy standing with a group of kids. He sees her and runs over to the car. When she asks what he was doing he says he is getting ready to walk home and he forgot she was coming. She fusses at him AGAIN and proceeds to take him back to the office with her.

Day three into our story the mom and her boy talk about the school pick up before he heads out. The mom has an appointment at 3 pm but will come and get him from their house as soon as she is done. If it is raining the boy says that he will ride with neighbors. Good all is agreed. Before long it is 3 pm and raining. The mom's appointment doesn't show so she decides to go get the boy. She parks in the usual spot and waits. The boy's friend come by and ask for a lift and she obliges. The boy's friend says that he doesn't think the boy is coming this way. He said that he saw him going out from school the other way. "Oh really!" the mom says and she drives her car in the direction the other boy says her boy went. Not a block and a half away from the school there is the boy. Walking home with some kids in a direction that is the super long way home. As they pull up the mom realizes what has been going on! The boy, her boy was walking a girl home. He was carrying her books and everything! The mom was aware of the boy liking this girl. They had talked about her in passing but at that moment everything clicked. The boy had been walking the girl home everyday after school and in turn making himself late! The boy wanted to go skating because the girl was going and if he was lucky he'd get to hold her hand while skating.

Now the mom got it. His weird behavior was all over a girl. Once they dropped off the boy's friend the mom and son drove to the mom's office. They chatted about what the boy had been doing and came to an agreement. The boy could take the long way home, call the mom and then she would come and get him and take him to the office. He wouldn't be allowed to be home alone but she would let him walk the girl home. What made the mom become so soft?? He was carrying the girl's books. That sight was enough to make the mom's heart swell.

Edit:: 4:00 pm on the dot got a call saying, "Hi mom I'm home." We're back on track.