ADD / ADHD 2

Running away is not a sin. In itself it is a protest, a way of saying that freedom is the natural state of man. But this little man is only eleven years old and the police rang Mary at 10pm after picking Robbie up stealing at the local supermarket.

Her father had helped bring up Robbie after his violent father had shot himself. This left its scars, but fortunately Robbie was staying with Grandparents when it happened. Unfortunately Mary saw the whole thing and the scars it left on her psyche made it very hard on her when Robbie started to vanish from the house.

She had just got up from a deep sleep, dreaming of the sea and storms and ships, and pulling her robe around her, she realized her son was not in his bed. He was not in the house. He was not playing in the courtyard. His bicycle was missing. Her son was missing.

She waited all day, but did not hear anything. She wanted to leave the house in the car and go searching for him, but what if he came home?

She decided to wait by the phone, while she waited to start her day. By mid afternoon she felt very distracted. It was just not like Robbie to take off like that, he was a quiet boy who sat and watched TV when he wasn't on the Playstation she gave him for his birthday two years before. He loved going round the driving track again and again for hours. At least it kept him quiiet. Robbie was a nice boy, but seemed to have no friends, many "accidents" and did not do that well at school.

Mary felt that he took unnecessary risks. He seemed inattentive, and sometimes dull. She had caught him lying several times and he had been known to have extremely difiant moods, where nothing she could say would placate him.

But now it was dinner time and still no word. Mary was frantic and could do nothing. The day had been spent just about starting something and then she would look at the phone and that horrible feeling would wrap its slimey tentacles around her and she remained paralysed, stuck to the chair, uncertain of what to do.

The elation that the interruption of the phone ringing was shattered as a deep authoritative voice appears. If she could have pressed a rewind button at that point, she would have, but his was a man's voice.

A day of silence and some tears left her throat croakey. She cleared her voice and said "Can I help you."

"Mrs Adam?" the man started, "we picked up you son after he was observed stealing adult DVDs from a video shop.

"I will come right away." And she left immediately, forgetting to check the gas level in her car. She picked him up from the police and ran out of gas on the way home.