Breath of Life

Timmy and Steven charged up a steep grade and stepped onto the railroad tracks. Speckled variations of tan color rocks covered the tracks and wedged the railroad ties together into the ground. Timmy grabbed some of the rocks and squeezed them like a golden prize. He started throwing the rocks in the air with indifference about where they landed. There were plenty of the neat rocks to play with so he squandered them lavishly. Steve came up beside Timmy. Feeling mischievous, he suddenly told Timmy, “I think we're lost, I don't know how to get back home.” Timmy was brought back to reality from his goldfield of rocks but he did not panic because he knew his address. “Well let's just ask someone to tell us,” Timmy rationalized, “There are lots of people around.” Timmy left Steve and went down off the tracks into an adjacent softball field. He saw two long haired teenagers playing softball. “Hey, you know where 5101 N. Lawndale is?” Timmy asked sheepishly, “I'm lost.” Timmy never had a reason to be afraid of people, so asking someone seemed perfectly natural. They laughed a little and looked puzzled. “No, kid, we don't know where that's at.” As Timmy walked away, he was feeling a little scared. Steve had wandered off somewhere to do his own thing. Anxiety began to overwhelm Timmy. He needed to be at home with his mom where he felt safe. Next, he walked up to some people picnicking, “Hey, do you know where I live?” repeating himself, “I'm lost.” “No, we don't know where you live,” they replied with a little bit of astonishment. They must think I am joking, Timmy thought. How could they believe a little boy would get into the woods all by himself? Timmy decided to get Steve and try to find their way back together. He looked for him back on the tracks, but did not see him. “Steve!” Timmy called out. But no one answered. Now he was really scared. He saw some other kids on the tracks, and decided to ask them if they had seen another boy, bigger than him, and with brown hair. “He went down under the bridge,” they said.  Timmy ran to the bridge and down the trail. He was pulled by the steepness of the hill toward the bottom and almost fell. Steve was there wrestling with a man and a few other boys. Steve was giggling, but he was trying to break loose because the man was tickling Steve. Timmy ran over and helped Steve pry free. They both ran up the hill and back on the tracks, with the man following them. They stepped up there and felt safe because there were other people around. The man walked up and came over to them. Timmy was saying to Steve, “Let's start making our way home,” but Steve's reply was interrupted by the man asking, “Hey, do you want to go down there by the railroad station with me and check it out?” “NO!” screamed Steve instantly, but Timmy thought maybe this man might know where he lived. “Hey, do you know where I live? 5101 N. Lawndale.” Timmy asked. “No, but I can take you down to the station and we can ask them,” replied the man. The man had glasses like his dad and had a lean build. He had been taken home by a stranger before, and now he was desperate to get back home with his mother. “Okay,” Timmy consented, “Come on Steve, let's go,” Timmy said. But Steve vehemently said, “No Timmy, come with me. I know the way back home, I was just fooling.” Now Timmy wasn't sure what to do. Steve could be tricking him again. If he went with this man, he was sure to get home again, but if he went with Steve, he could get even more lost. “Come on, I'll take you,” said the man as he put his hands on both of their shoulders. Steve pulled away and ran down off the tracks back toward the trail home. “Timmy come on!” he pleaded, “I'll take you home.” The man grabbed Timmy’s arm at that moment, and Steve’s persuasion faded away while the pull of the man's arm tightened. The man started walking with Timmy whom he held firmly by the arm. When they were far enough away from Steven's sight, the man let go of Timmy. There were people all around as Timmy hesitantly walked with this stranger toward his car. Nobody else said they would help, so he decided to leave with the man with crew cut hair and glasses because he said he would help Timmy get home. Yet, Timmy felt uneasy about this man but he did not know what else to do. When they got to his car, Timmy stared at it a moment, and looked around for one last option, but no one seemed to notice. The man opened the door, and Timmy slid into the seat Timmy had never known not to obey an adult. Adult teachers, store keepers, friends, parents, he always was taught to listen to them. Nobody explained to him that there were bad people in the world. Timmy was told to be fearful of strangers and he always told his sisters not to go with anyone. However, it was never explained to Timmy why he should feel and act this way toward strangers nor what a stranger looked like. The Little Red Riding Hood story was never elaborated to the extent that he could be fooled just like the big bad wolf had tried to do. He always thought a stranger would physically carry him away and that he should not let that happen. The only thing he was taught to fear was a big bad wolf not another human being. Timmy thought a stranger would be big and ugly. He never thought strangers looked like everyone else.