Over the years I would gradually come to understand the turn of events a little better, but at age 5 I felt like the world as I knew it was coming to a senseless end. Just months earlier, my parents had started a business together. It was a Christian bookstore called The Lighhouse. My mother had been running it while my father worked his route on the trash truck each day. One of those days, while my dad was slaving away to support his family, a man with a thick Spanish accent asked my mother for assistance finding a Christian book. Pretty ironic that the married man who wound up stealing my mother from my dad was there allegedly seeking God.
So my father started sleeping in the basement, and my mother started looking for a real job while keeping The Lighthouse open. I continued to get into my usual mischief...pouring water into the TV, flushing screws and other random objects down the toilet, and rearranging merchandise on the shelves of The Lighthouse...and I added 'running away' to my repertoire. For my first disappearing act, as I was playing on the sidewalk with my sister in front of The Lighthouse, I convinced my sister that the place where Dad worked was close enough for us to walk to, and we embarked on a 2 mile journey to the center that the trash trucks worked out of. An hour or so later, my whiny sis and I finally arrived at our destination. I excitedly asked a man there if he knew where my dad was. With a puzzled look and half smile, he explained that Dad was out on his route and wouldn't be back for a while. I guess he must've called the cops as soon as we started back toward The Lighthouse, because we were just a few blocks away when a couple of cop cars pulled up behind us.
As soon as I saw them I started running and yelled at my sister, "Don't let'em catch you! Run!!!" She hesitantly started to walk a little faster, and then she asked "Why?" "Just run!" I said. She didn't, and within seconds a cop caught up with her and redirected her to his car. I ran as fast as I could, but another cop pulled ahead of me, and I was trapped. As he drove me back to The Lighthouse, he asked me why I ran. I said I didn't want to get in trouble. He laughed and said, "Don't you think you aleady were?"
I went solo on my next adventure. Didn't need a little sister slowing me down. My mother had left The Lighthouse to my dad and found a job at The Sweetshop on the college campus, making delicious baked goods which she sometimes brought home as a special treat. While she worked, she left my sis and me with the neighbor across the street after school each day. So, one day I got the idea that my school wasn't all that far away, and I decided to head back to school to see what my teacher was up to. I walked out of my neighborhood, cut through a couple of corn and potato fields, and eventually made it to my school. I walked in and found my teacher making copies of worksheets with a ditto machine. I stood fascinated as she showed me how the gadget worked and we waited for my mother to come pick me up. When she arrived, she asked me why on earth I went back to the school. I just said I was bored.
Not long after that, I went on the last escapade that I remember in that town. My father was now living with some friends, and he would sometimes pick us up on the weekends. When he would drop us back off at home, I'd jump on my Big Wheel with the worn out tires, and I'd follow my dad's car as he drove away, peddling as fast as I could. When his car would disappear around the corner at the end of my street, I'd stop and cry. I missed my dad, and my heart ached. With tears still flowing I'd slowly make my way back home.
So, one day after school I convinced my sis that Dad didn't live too far away and we should go see him. Thus we set out on the long journey through corn fields, potato fields, and God only knows how many other crops. While in the middle of a potato field, I just happened to recognize my mom's car as she was driving home from work. I yelled to my sis, "Quick! Get down!" She asked why, and I said, "Cause Mom will see us!" I crouched down in between the plants, and my sis reluctantly did the same while whining that she wanted Mom to see us. A while later we made it to the house where Dad was living, but the man there informed us that Dad was at work. He made a call and we were headed home again. Shortly after that Dad lovingly gave a little lecture about running away, and I don't think I did again until I was much older.
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