If only/ Neighbors

Come with me, I will take you on a visit to the far away land of "If Only", it is a nice place to visit, but I hope I never have to live there. We are going to take a look in the window of someone who does.
Early afternoon on a warm, sunny day in the middle of May. The type of day when you would least expect something bad to happen. The woman we see is pretty, probably in her early thirties, we can see her taking care of her kids and her housework, she seems to be pretty good at both. The two small children are clean, they are laughing and playing, there is an older child as well who is now at school. The house is also clean, the woman seems to take care of her things, she has nice things, a nice house, nice family.
The kids want to go outside and play, the mother lets them go by themselves because she wants to finish her housework and then perhaps she will start that book she's been wanting to read. She can see them and hear them trough the open window, just as we can see her. We see her check on them every so often as she finishes her daily chores. They are playing in the sand where the grass won't grow, they are fine and having fun.
Now we see her sit down with her book and a cup of steaming tea. She has earned this little rest. She checks on the children again, still fine.
How much time has passed? My watch does not run right in this place. It must have been a while because I don't see any steam from her tea anymore. I don't see or hear the children either. The woman has not noticed that yet. One of the kids is coming now, running from behind the house where the swing set is. He goes in the house and we can see him say something to his mother, we are not able to hear them because to hear the voices of "If Only" would be to much to bear. She is in the kitchen, getting him something to drink and starting to make her supper. Watch her turn to him and see him shrug, this will be the moment to remember because look at her face, do you see the concern there? She goes to the door he forgot to close and we know that she is calling the name of the other child, the little girl that is not in the yard to answer her mother. The little girl is gone and the mother will not find her because the mother has no idea where her children play when they leave her pretty house.
We will follow her as she goes through the neighborhood and asks anyone who will answer, if they have seen her child, we can see that all of these neighbors are really just strangers to each other, and that no one even knows who her child was.
We will watch when the police finally come to ask the questions she can not answer. We can see that all the other mothers here seem to have that same look in their eyes. We could watch the little boy go to places where he and his sister have spent time playing, we could watch him talk to the playmates his mother never met. We could follow the mother as she wanders aimlessly down the many streets here in this place that really is not so far away. If only she had kept them inside, if only she had gone outside with them, if only she had checked one more time, if only the kids had stayed in the yard, if only she had known their friends and the other parents, if only..., if only...
We don't have to stay and watch the pretty family come completely apart. Do you want to take a look in the window of where the child went to play that day, when she was alone? I don't, because I can see too much in my own worst fears for my own children.

Every day my door is knocked upon by children that my children do not know, my yard is visited by small children whose parents I have never met. It makes me afraid, not of these children but for them. My little ones are 3 and 4, my oldest is 14 and I do not allow her go to a friends house unless I have met at least one of the friends parents in person. The thought of sending my younger children out to play and then not knowing where they are or who they are playing with chills my very soul. I know that I am not a child predator, but the parents of these visiting kids do not.
I stopped watching the news on TV because I could not look at one more face of a missing or murdered child, perhaps I am just over protective, I believe I am just realistic. I keep one eye on my children when they play outside and the other on any person who approaches them. When kids come and ask to play with my girls, I send them home with a note giving their parents my phone number and name and a request that they call. Most of them don't. The child just returns and tells me that "it's OK if I play", but it isn't, not with me.
The world is not the same as when I was a child, when parents all knew each other and neighborhoods were close and safe. Of all the families on my street, only one has introduced themselves to mine. When I try to meet my other neighbors, they barely respond. Only one mother has stood and spoken with me while our children played together.
I can not help but wish that I knew my "neighbors" better, I can not help but wish that my kids could play outside without me sometimes, I can not help but wish that the world had not changed so much from when I was a child. But the world has changed, neighbors don't know each other, my kids do not leave their own yard without me, and I will never have to someday wish that I had known where my children had gone to play.

When your little kids play outside, someone should be with them

Make your children aware of your rules about going to other peoples houses, or playing with kids you don't know

Never let children leave without telling you where they are going

Always make sure they are where they say they will be

Introduce your self and your children to your neighbors

Ask for names, parents names, phone numbers and addresses of your kids playmates

At least meet or get to know the parents of your kids friends

Story ID:	730
Written by:	Catherine AimeeRuth Grainger (bio, link, contact, other stories)
Story type:	Musings, Essays and Such
Location:	Mauston Wisconsin United States
Year:	2006
Person:	Everyone