A Halloween Trick That was not a Treat

I awoke Friday morning, dressed the older two in their costumes (Princess Leah and Spiderman), gathered their things and sent them off to school. No babysitting that day, it was just AiAi and me.

Right after breakfast, AiAi polished off a Hostess cupcake (we had a stash of Hostess products for the trick-or-treaters). I started my daily routine of cleaning. We were having the missionaries over for dinner, and, since I would be spending the afternoon helping out with E-Man's class party, I decided to start early with chopping up veggies and browning the roast for the slow-cooker. AiAi was in and out of the kitchen, helping me with this and that. Then, he appeared brandishing a Twinkie. "Don't even think you're going to eat that mister," I said. A few minutes later, I was still involved in cooking and noticed it was unusually quiet. "That turkey is off eating a Twinkie," I said to myself, and turned my attention to investigate. I happened to notice the time on the clock just then (I was keeping an eye on the time to make sure I got everything done and made it to the party on time).

I did a quick sweep of the house calling his name. No answer. Nowhere to be found. I figured he must be hiding out with his loot, just like the other day when I found him and Izzy curled up in the dirty laundry baskets in my closet eating contraband chocolate bars they had stolen from Soph's fundraiser. I turned off the stove and began a more thorough search of the house. I was met only with silence.

Hmmm . . . I felt no need to panic just yet, though, in truth, it only takes me about 60-seconds of not knowing where my kids are before I have to beat back ugly thoughts of the worst. All of the lights downstairs were off, yet, I began at the furthest corner of the laundry room and did a thorough search of the entire basement before moving upstairs and doing the same. No closet or space under a bed was left un-turned. I looked. I called his name. I entered each room and listened quietly for his giggling. I found nothing. I had already made a quick sweep of the backyard. Now, I carefully searched every tunnel of the playland, I looked back by the garden, I walked all the way around the house, and checked inside the van four different times (once my kids freaked me out a little when they got in there and couldn't hear me calling to them and I couldn't see them). The garage door was closed. Nevertheless, I opened it and started searching in there. I was running out of places to look. I ran up and down the street in front of our house. I was starting to get frantic.

All the while, I kept thinking that he had to be inside the house. I hadn't heard a door open for him to go outside (though sometimes he does slip out without me hearing the door). And, the doors weren't ajar when I took my search outside (usually a tell-tale sign of his escape). I kept alternately re-entering the house and calling his name. Each time with a little more desperation until I was really panicking and starting to have a hard time breathing and crying a little.

I noticed the clock. I'd been searching for over 20-minutes. This couldn't be good. I ran outside again and enlisted a random jogger in the search. I ran to my friend's house a few doors down (I could fathom him wandering all the way to her house where my kids frequently play) and kept ringing her doorbell. I even searched her backyard. Then, I called her cellphone. She was on her way to the store (to buy treats for her daughter's Halloween party), but she said she'd be right there.

Then, I started knocking on neighbors' doors. Yes, that was the point I was at -- door knocking and enlisting perfect strangers in the hunt. I've lost my kids before, but never for this long and I've never gone to such extremes. My next door neighbors ran to my house. The husband grabbed a phone to call 9-1-1. My friend and another neighbor entered at the same time. I was completely losing it by this point, when, AiAi just appeared out of nowhere like nothing at all had happened.

My neighbors must have thought I was a complete freak for being such a basket case when my son was apparently just standing right in front of my eyes the whole time (ummm, he wasn't). Later in the day, he finally told me that he had hid behind the open door of my closet. You know, the tiny space between the door and the wall when the door is open. I had searched my closet several times, but, hadn't actually looked behind any open doors. How could he have stood there the whole time without making a peep? This, my son, who giggles constantly, didn't let out one sound all those times I searched my bedroom? I am completely at a loss for an explanation. FYI, he didn't even eat the Twinkie.

When it was finally over, I went into the bathroom and found that I had grown 7 new gray hairs, developed 3 more worry lines, and my mascara was smeared down to my chin. How will I ever raise this child to adulthood?