Little Girl Lost

I spent the first seven years of my life living on a five-acre piece of property in rural Southern California. We had horses, a goat or two, chickens, ducks, a dog who turned on the porch faucet and dozens (or so it seemed to me) of cats.

My sister is quite a bit older than me. When I was a pre-schooler, she was in middle-school, then high school. So quite often, I wandered around alone, playing with the animals and my imaginary friends. On weekends, Jacki occasionally would take pity on me and let me tag along with her exploring the area.

On a  fine spring day, she took me with her to a vernal pond up at the top of the hill behind our house. I was asounded that this fairyland oasis existed so close to where we mortals lived. And when Jacki told me that the pond would dry up and disappear as summer approached, I became even more intrigued by it.

One day, bored and alone I was just hanging out on the porch, petting the dog and it hit me: I could go back to the pond! Alone! I knew the way there and back and it wasn’t like anyone would miss me. So, off I went.

I found the little pond and I played with the tiny frogs that had just made their way to dry land after weeks of being tadpoles. I watched dragonflies zoom past like the Huey helicopters that would occasionally fly over from Miramar Naval Airstation. I lay on my back in the grass and watched the clouds. It was glorious. Then, I started getting hungry and a little thirsty. Jacki had warned me about drinking pond water and I had no desire to ingest an amoeba, so I set off for home.

Some minutes later, I wandered into our yard, only to be greeted by a dozen sheriff’s deputies, neighbors on horseback and my parents and sister frantic.

It seems I was missed more than I’d anticipated and after searching closeby, a call went out on the neighborhood partyline for everyone to start searching for me.

I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. But I sure understood the paddling I got for worrying my family.

Tags: cats, chickens, dogs, dragonflies, ducks, frogs, goats, horses, Huey helicopters, Southern California, tadpoles

posted Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 | filed under A Day in the Life...

About the author

Cinthia Hamer | Novelist pursuing publication. Active PRO member of Romance Writers of America and Georgia Romance Writers. You can find me on Facebook listed as Cinthia Hamer.

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16 Responses to “Little Girl Lost”

1. #Tamara DeStefano
   May 11th, 2010 at 6:39 am
   

   Cinthia,
   I know I shouldn’t be laughing. A little girl lost is no giggling matter. But that is the cutest story ever.
   I visualized you and the fairy pond completely(mark of a good writer and story teller)
   What a great tale to go along with this months theme.
   PS: I used to get paddled too. My father’s weapon of choice, a pizza paddle, wide surface area. Ouch!
   Have a brilliant day,
   Tamara
2. #1Cinthia Hamer
   May 11th, 2010 at 6:45 am
   

   Glad you enjoyed the story, Tamara. I haven’t really thought about that day much, or given it any significance, until recently, during a conversation with Jacki.

   My mother’s weapon of choice was whatever was closer, her hand, a flyswatter or even a dog leash. They all terrified me!
3. #2Cinthia Hamer
   May 11th, 2010 at 7:01 am
   

   I hate to run out on everyone, but I have to drive up to Commerce and be there by 9:30. I’ll take my laptop and if there are any wireless services I can hitchhike on, I’ll pop and and see what’s cooking.

   If not, I’ll comment when I get home tonight.

   So sorry for the post and run.
4. #3Tammy Schubert
   May 11th, 2010 at 7:26 am
   

   Love the description of your special place. I used to wander off alone, too. However, I never had the sheriff and a search party come looking for me. Consider putting this in one of your books.
5. #4Marilyn Baron
   May 11th, 2010 at 7:48 am
   

   I loved reading about your fairyland oasis, your own secret garden. I didn’t find the story funny like Tamara. Instead I thought it was suspenseful. I was worried about a possible drowning, although if I’d used my brain, I would have realized that you were telling the story, and you were still alive. But I can imagine how worried your parents were. Very vivid description and great storytelling sense.

   Marilyn Baron
6. #5Linsey Lanier
   May 11th, 2010 at 7:54 am
   

   I thought the story was nostalgic. I loved the description of your hideaway, too. My father took me to a couple of farms like that when I was little. They always held a magical mystique. Something we never quite get back in adulthood, I think.
7. #6Susan
   May 11th, 2010 at 8:41 am
   

   Cinthia,
   Neat story. My daddy was a forester so I use to go out with him and wonder around in the woods. We’d come across glades at I’d want to stay in forever or fine a creek that was prettey. Nothing scarier for a parent than a lost child.
8. #7Debbie Kaufman
   May 11th, 2010 at 9:15 am
   

   Cinthia: This brings back so many memories of my aunt’s farm where I spent part of my childhood. No pond that I ever discovered, but a good creek and a spring where I had to go and draw the daily drinking water. Thanks for the nostalgia!
9. #8Tami Brothers
   May 11th, 2010 at 9:29 am
   

   This was great, Cinthia! I loved it and it brought back so many memories. We never think anyone will miss us until we get back and realize how wrong we were. I remember doing the same thing when going to a park near my house. I also remember that the weapon of choice was a belt…grin…

   I didn’t do that again (for a while anyway…hehehe…).

   Thanks for sharing a fun story.

   Tami
10. #9Sally Kilpatrick
    May 11th, 2010 at 9:40 am
    

    Cinthia–thanks for the reminder. I grew up on a large far, too. I remember wandering off on to the back forty just to see the little dump area and all of the mattresses and ruined wheelbarrows and what not. I wandered through all of the little fields marveling at the thin lines of trees tat separated them.

    Then I came home and got totally reamed out. I don’t think I got a whipping that time, but I did get scared to death that I would be ripped limb from limb by coyotes.

    Thanks for sharing…
11. #10Darcy Crowder
    May 11th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
    

    Cinthia – loved the story. My favorite line was: I watched dragonflies zoom past like the Huey helicopters that would occasionally fly over from Miramar Naval Airstation.

    What a great way to inform the reader about the larger “place” of the story.
12. #11Sandra Elzie
    May 11th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
    

    Great story. A child’s imagination magnified, but the overall tone of authority intruding into a magical time.

    Like Darcy, I loved your dragonflies and helicopters. I love reading things that conjure up pictures in my mind. Good job.

    We lived on 40-acres in northern California and had cows, chickens, horses, dogs & yes, a ton of cats. We also had a pond and I loved this ancient bull-frog that would come out at night to call out his lonely croak.

    Sandy
13. #12Cinthia Hamer
    May 11th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
    

    Thanks everyone, for all the comments! Glad you liked my little story.

    Tammy, I’m sure this *will* end up in a book, sometime, somewhere.

    Marilyn, the minute I read the word suspenseful in your comment, I started giggling. The suspense angle never occurred to me.

    Linsey, I always liked going to the “real” farms nearby. The ones that had cows and pigs. LOL!

    Susan, I have so many pictures in my mind of places I’ve seen over the last almost 50 years. The quiet volcanic lake in the Oregon Cascades and the little stream trickling over rocks with shooting stars and owl’s clover blooming nearby in rural San Diego county. Sweet memories.

    Debbie, did you all boil the water from the stream first, or was it pure enough to drink right from the source?

    Tami, Ouch! No, as children, we don’t think of things like that, and as parents, we tend not to think of anything else!

    Sally, my favorite Sunday outings were with my dad when we’d go to the county dump. Weird, I know, but I had such a good time looking for “treasures”.

    Darcy, thanks, so much. This incident occurred during the early days of Vietnam, so Miramar was quite the happening place back then. I’d sometimes lay on my back in the field and watch all the planes fly over and see how many different types there were.

    Sandy, love the bullfrog! I used to go fishing with my mom and when I got bored, I’d try to catch bullfrogs…as long as they didn’t hop into the slimy areas. LOL!
14. #13anna
    May 11th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
    

    Enchanting story! I truly enjoyed reading it. The most I ever got lost was in one of the first malls in the U.S.
15. #14Cinthia Hamer
    May 11th, 2010 at 11:54 pm
    

    Thank you, Anna. Ironically, as I grew older, I lost my sense of direction. Now, I could get lost inside a phone booth. Thank God for GPS
16. #15Ana Aragon
    May 12th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
    

    Cinthia,

    What a cute story…it has to make it into a book, don’t you think?

    We wandered the neighborhood when I was little. As long as we were home by dinnertime, no one seemed to notice. Of course, I had an aunt, uncle or grandparent on just about every street in the neighborhood. Perhaps they were watching out for us without our knowing!

    Thanks for sharing a slice of your life with us!

    Ana