Open Writing

"If I run away that will make him sorry." I was fairly young when I acted on those thoughts. I was eleven.

My parents had gone away for a small break and my seventeen year old brother, Dick was in charge. I don't remember why I was angry with him; but I knew I was angry enough to leave home. I had a lot of stuff to pack before I could leave because when I left I knew I'd have to take the youngest, but he was asleep in the baby carriage and the carriage would be great for hauling stuff.

I also decided to take my twin brothers. They'd just trail along behind me anyway, curious as to where I was off to; besides they considered going anywhere a great adventure.

David was a year older than the twins and the most lovable kid you'll ever meet, so I figured I'd take him with me too. I was so thoroughly aggravated with my big brother and he'd likely get into big trouble if all the kids suddenly vanished and so I ran away with four little kids in tow.

I don't think I told the others that we were running away that day, but it was so long ago and I can't remember that part.

My mom and dad had nine of us. There were three that were older than me. My earliest recollection of life was helping my mom take care of the twins, Tom and Gerry. When they were crawlers, I'd pull them back on the bed by their legs and then let them go. As soon as I did off they went heading for the edge of the bed. I think it's strange when babies want to crawl over and hurl themselves into space. It's not like they had a huge amount of space to move in during their first nine months so you'd think they'd be content to just stay in one place.

I love Dick. In fact today he is my optometrist, but he and I sure managed to have some spats while we were growing up.

I do not remember what we fought over that day but I do remember wanting to make him regret being so harsh. I guess that is why I suddenly decided I should run away, and since I had been mothering my brothers since they were all in diapers, it seemed only right to take them along. Besides, as I mentioned, Dick might really get shook up if he suddenly discovered all the kids he was supposed to be responsible for had suddenly disappeared.

I packed up the baby carriage with food and drinks and of course diapers. We only had cloth diapers in those days. Then we headed out. I felt full of adventure. The others just loved going anywhere so they were happy. We headed out in a westerly direction. In the first four blocks we came to the main highway, crossed that, then the railway tracks and then we were in the north part of town.

The town had a huge community centre in the north west and we ended up walking around it. As luck would grant us I discovered that we could slip through a giant sliding door to give us access to a huge arena. There we were in our own private place, where no one else could see us, and no one would be able to discover our whereabouts.

The boys started playing cowboys while I fed Don his bottle. Likely we were only there for some 90 minutes but it seemed like a long time then. I didn't own a watch so I couldn’t really say. In fact it was common only for adults to have watches in those days. The three boys got restless and bored so we finished off all the food, oranges and crackers.

I was certain that Dick would be frantic by now and probably searching the entire neighborhood. I knew he’d be feeling sorry for his actions so I figured we'd better get on home before serious worrying set in.

To this day I can not remember what kind of a welcome we got when we arrived home that day so long ago, so while I was writing this I phoned Dick to ask him how it affected him. I figured now that we were all grown up and with grandchildren we could discuss the whole matter without any flare ups. I really wanted to know if he had missed us and was sorry for being a meany.

He was puzzled at first about the incident and then he remembered that long ago summer when he was in charge. He had not even realized that the quiet house meant that five little kids in his charge had disappeared. He laughed and laughed as I told him about that day.

"Didn't you know we were gone, Dick? Didn't you miss us?" I asked my brother

"This is the first I've heard of it." he said, forty five years later.

Ellie Braun-Haley
shaley@telusplanet.net

Ellie teaches creative movement and dance for young children. She has two books published on the subject, Casey Caterpillar and Other Movement Rhymes and Muttering Moths. She is also the co author of two books with her husband Shawn.