A Bit Slow

A woman wakes up from an afternoon nap and glances at the clock. Her world turns to panic as she realizes her 6 year old son was let out of school half an hour ago. She leaps to her feet, runs to her car and races to the grade school.

She arrives to find the parking lot empty. She knows that any kids not picked up by their parents are escorted to the school office. She runs to the office and finds the door locked. She peers into the window and sees all of the lights off.

Now she realizes her son has been kidnapped or maybe he wandered off into the surrounding neighborhood. She frantically dials 911 and reports her son's kidnapping.

Police race to the school to find her hysterically crying and yelling about her missing son. I tell her to sit down and try to relax. I need to get some information from her to begin a search. She tells me she's been feeling sick lately and overslept. She is convinced he is kidnapped since the office never called her to ask why she didn't pick up her son.

She then tells me, "Maybe I already picked him up. I can't remember. No, I definitely didn't pick him up I would have remembered it."

I ask if she checked her house for him before leaving. She tells me, "No, I saw the time and just ran out of the house."

I take her house key off the key ring and send another officer back to her house to check it.

Mom keeps mumbling, "Did I already pick him up? No, I couldn't have. I'm sure he's missing"

A few minutes later my fellow officer reports over the radio that she has found the kid sitting in his room.

Mom can't believe it but somehow forgot she had picked him up. We drive her home and reunite her with her "missing" son. The boy's father shows up and to our relief, agrees to take him home with him for the weekend.