Once upon a time, at a Walmart super center somewhere in Louisiana, someone…was left behind.
It started out as any other normal day in the Allen’s bus. We had spent the night in a Walmart parking lot -a rather convenient place to stay the night- and that morning as most of us were still in bed, our parents went in to do some shopping before we hit the road again.
I reluctantly got up and went out front to find that Josh was already up and was getting his shoes on. He turned to me and, in my somewhere-between-awake-and-asleep state, I vaguely remembered him saying, “I’m going into Walmart to walk around. Don’t let them leave without me.”
I suppose I must have given some sign of acknowledgement to his words, so he left and I went about my regular morning routine.
Finally fully awake when mom and dad returned, I was sitting on the couch reading or listening to music or something as we drove out of the parking lot. Now, I hadn’t been in the front of the bus when my parents got back, and since everyone else was in the back as we drove away, I just assumed Josh had already returned, (because it had been a while since he left the bus), and was doing something in the back of the bus.
Well, five or ten minutes after we left the parking lot, mom’s phone rang. Her caller-ID said it was Josh, and, since she thought Josh was still in bed, she ignored it. I mean, he was in the bus, right? So if he had something to say to her, he could get out of bed and come out here to talk to her.
Her phone rang again, and again it was Josh. Now this was just a little ridiculous. So she yelled toward the back of the bus, “Josh, why do you keep calling my phone? If you want to talk to me, get up and come out here.”
He didn’t answer and she didn’t give anymore thought to it. Well, then he called Dad’s phone. Dad didn’t answer either. So he called Mom again. Finally, mom answered her phone. I don’t quite remember all the details of the ensuing conversation, however, I imagine it went something like this:
“Josh, get off your bed.”
“I’m not on my bed. I’m at Walmart.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell us that?”
“I tried. You wouldn’t answer your phone!”
“Josh, why didn’t you tell someone you were going into Walmart. All of your siblings were out here.”
“I did tell someone. I told Abby.”
You can imagine how well received that statement was. I was sitting on the couch across from her as this whole conversation was taking place, and when she turned to look at me, I suddenly remembered that I wasn’t supposed to let them leave Walmart without Josh.
So I was sitting there thinking, ‘I’m in trouble now’, as Mom turned to Dad and said, “Todd, Josh is at Walmart. We have to go get him.”
Dad, of course, was being Dad as he said, “He can walk.”
We were already about ten, fifteen miles away from that Walmart and I was thinking, ‘right Dad. He can just walk. Why didn’t we think of that sooner?”
Anyway, long story short, we drove back to get Josh and we made him pay for the diesel; no not really.
Josh gets left behind a lot, but one or two of us are bound to be left at one place or another. My wonderful getting-lost moment was at Disney World when I was seven or eight. Yeah, not the best place in the world to get lost. Zach, Danielle and Josh were left at a Cracker Barrel once, but rarely do that many of us get left. After all, it’s a lot more noticeable when three people are missing than just one person. But everyday is an adventure when you have nine people on a bus.
Trivia Question- Of all the Allens, which is the most accident prone?
Answer- to be continued in next post.
-Abby