To Catch A Kid, You Have To Think Like A Kid

British Columbia, Canada, Children, Editors' Choice, Furniture Store, Strangers | Friendly | December 28, 2020

I’m wandering around the massive expanse of a Swedish furniture and home decor store with my partner when I hear this over the loudspeaker:

Loudspeaker: “Code Adam in kitchen section. Code Adam in kitchen section.”

We are in the kitchen section, so I look around to see a distraught woman surrounded by three employees. Ah, well, all seems to be handled, I figure, so my partner and I continue to the next section… where I see the toes of some little running shoes sticking out from behind a cabinet.

Me: *To my partner* “Hold on a second.”

I break away from him and find a young boy, maybe three years old, crouching behind the cabinet. He is grinning and he keeps peeking around the corner toward the kitchen section. I move beside him and slide down the cabinet to sit beside him — on the far side so I’m not blocking his view of the kitchen section.

Me: “Are you playing hide-and-seek?”

He looks at me excitedly and nods. I nod back.

Me: “With your mum?”

He nods again enthusiastically.

Me: “Does she know?”

The nod comes WAY slower and is very hesitant.

Me: “Okay. What say we go tell your mum that you’re playing? Then she’ll be ready to play and it’ll be more fun.”

Boy: “Okay!”

He leaps up and we walk side-by-side back into the kitchen section. When his Mum sees him, she breaks away from the group of employees and races to her boy. I nod at her and walk away, back to my partner, who’s flabbergasted.

Partner: “What happened?”

Me: “The mum lost her kid. I just brought him back.”

Partner: “What? How did you know?”

Me: “A freaked-out woman and some kid’s feet? I just figured that they’ve gotta be connected, you know?”

This story is part of our Best Of December 2020 roundup!