Still, he didn't seem interested in leaving the sparse but happy confines of the Lost Children facility at Hershey Park. If she needed proof, I had pictures of him on my digital camera. He was probably recovered before we even reported him missing. We didn't think that our escape artist could disappear so quickly.
The show at the aquatheater had just completed. I gathered the baby and, with Kenny, claimed the stroller from the designated area. Jeff took charge of Tim and we joined them on the high bridge. They had just finished feeding corn to the ducks in the river below. I pointed out to Kenny the difference between male and female mallards and was distracted by the Canada geese. Then Jeff said, "Where's Tim? He was right here. He's gone."
Jeff and Kenny went ahead and I went back to where we had lunched and played skeetball. There were also kiddie rides, Convoy for instance, in the vicinity which Tim and I had ridden before lunch, in the rain. The crowd from the aquatheater was still breaking up and the area was somewhat busy. It was about 4pm and I knew that Tim was tired. Jeff and I were both concerned that he had found his way down to the river for a closer look at the ducks.
I passed a security guard but hadn't reached that point yet -- the point where I was ready to report it. Minutes later, the impossibility of finding him on my own dawned on me and I asked a nearby staffer to call it in.
A security guard met me almost instantly. When I saw Jeff doubling back to me empty handed, I gave the guard description and details on Tim. She said that she would look around briefly in the Minetown restaurant where we had eaten lunch, then call it in and get everyone looking for him.
I switched directions with Jeff: he went to the restaurant and skeetball area and I went with Kenny and the baby past the bridge and into the area with the lady bugs ride and the swings. Tim had been very interested in riding the swings, I remember. And he had ridden on the lady bugs the night before.
I returned to the bridge and connected with the security guard again who told me that Tim had been found and was waiting at the Lost Children building across from The Claw. She would double back and locate Jeff and tell him to meet us there.
Jeff showed up almost immediately after we arrived. And Timmy was happy to climb into daddy's arms. In all, it lasted about 15 minutes, the searching and walking to recovery. The only thing that I was worried about was him curling up somewhere and falling asleep. As long as he was still walking around, I figured that someone would turn him in. I wasn't worried about anyone intentionally hurting him because it's a family place. It's just difficult these days to recognize when a child needs help. Speaking for myself, I'm not always sensitive to that because I have my own worries.
Truth is, he got pretty far in a short amount of time. They said that he practically walked to the Lost Children building by himself. Not on purpose, I assure you. And they said that he refused to talk to anyone or to give his name. If that was intended to surprise me, it didn't. He's not shy but he's not talkative either.
This morning I tried to ask him what happened, where he was going, why he walked off. He said that he had to catch up to me.
So, in the crowd of people exiting the aquatheater, he thought that we had left. Jeff remembers another family standing next to us on the bridge feeding the ducks. Then they left. He thinks that Tim walked off with them.
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