Tracy

Our little town made national news today - the teenager who allegedly escaped from his captors and walked into a gym begging to be rescued was in our town The gym he 'escaped' to was the gym B. goes to daily - just a few miles from our home. The neighborhood this happened in is a typical middle class neighborhood. Wow. You just never know...we all commented 'they look so familiar' (looking at their booking photos online) and we commented 'perhaps because we've seen them at the grocery store, or Target, or the pizza place'. Who knows? In our little town, something so horrible could go unnoticed for some time. That poor young man. I am so glad he made it into the gym to get help. And it's a lesson for all of us - don't be afraid to wonder. To question. If you see a child who doesn't interact in some way - who doesn't respond to you when you try to engage him/her, etc. - don't be afraid to try harder. Don't be afraid to keep trying and when you've tried over and over and get a weird 'vibe' about it, call the police and ask them to do a home check. Tell the police why you feel uncomfortable and insist they make a visit. I don't know what interactions this young man had with the outside world in the time he's been held in that home, but the news reports indicate he was outside now and then. So listen to your gut - and don't be afraid to get involved. I'm not in any way implying that people in the neighborhood are responsible - they most certainly are not. But it just goes to show that you really never know. You can live next door to people for a long time and never really know what's going on in the house. What a strange event. There are news teams all over our town - at the gym, at city hall, at the police station. Our own little slice of 'media frenzy' right here in our town. I never would have imagined.

It is hard to know. When we first moved here, one of H's new little friends (they were 7 at the time) arrived at our door in tears one night saying he'd lost his scooter and he was hoping it was in our garage. It wasn't. He said, crying 'my dad is going to be so mad at me. I have to find that scooter'. He was so scared, so frantic. And we reassured him 'we're sorry we don't have it but it will probably turn up. We'll keep our eyes out for it'. He left crying. And J. and I both sort of looked at each other - and then I said 'how do we know his dad isn't about to beat the crap out of him for losing his scooter?' And we didn't - we didn't have any knowledge what the parents were like, really. That young man is fine - in a fine home, with great parents who discipline him the way we discipline ours: actions have consequences. Don't screw up! - but they would not hurt him. They did not hurt him. I was thinking of that today as the story unfolded - 'cuz we really weren't sure what we should do that night many years ago. Now, I'd probably go over to the house with the child and say 'he was checking with us to see if we have his scooter - we don't, but we'll keep an eye out for it'. Just to get a sense of how the dad was reacting. I wouldn't want to just 'assume' anymore. I'd try to at least talk to the parent myself....at least I think I would. Still, abusers are very adept at hiding their abuse...and as evidenced by the raucous in our little corner of the world today, you never know until all heck breaks loose.

I have prayers for that young man tonight. I am thankful he made his way to people that helped him - and he's safe and healing. And extremely thankful that the other children in that home have been removed. Thank God for that. Now, we wait for the rest of the story.....