Wednesday, August 18, 2010

"It Was Only For A Minute!"

I went to the mall today. I love going to the mall. It's a dying art now, being a Mall Rat. Leaving us are the days when you could spend whole summer afternoons hanging out at the mall, people watching and sipping and Italian Soda.

At least we'll always have Wal-Mart for our cheap entertainment.

Anyway, it's August. It's HOT in August, although today, it wasn't as bad as it's been earlier this summer. We've had some pretty humid days, and while today wasn't the worst, it still wasn't what I'd call comfortable.

I was walking a couple friends to their car so another friend and I could keep hanging out. My friends informed me that when they had arrived ten-fifteen minutes previously, there had been a minivan full of kids left in the sun.

"Did you call the police?"
"No," they looked at me, aghast.
"Is there even a window cracked?"
"Kind of?"

We approached the mini van, which was parked directly next to my friend's car. Sure enough, there is a car load of kids, one small enough to be in a car seat. While there wasn't a "window cracked" the back door for the trunk part was left wide open. Ventilation, right?

"Should we call someone? I'm really tempted. I think I should." I pulled out my cell phone, because, good grief, who leaves their kids in the car, in the heat, and leaves the trunk open!?!? This is screaming TERRIBLE IDEA to me!

Suddenly, coming rushing from behind me, was a tall woman, very well put together, with hair matching that of all the children. They all cried out with joy and called her Mommy, so I guess she was their mother. She glared at me as I said my goodbyes and headed back into the mall.

Well, Jesus lady, I'm sorry you didn't want to drag five kids into the mall, but they could have been A) kidnapped B) hit by a car when they decide to climb out of that trunk door C) had the heat take them if it had been too much hotter out.

I'm not a parent, and there is a SHIT TON I don't know. BUT WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? I later saw her hauling them all through Wal-Mart, giving me pointed looks. Okay, so you're doing what a mother does. What, you want a cookie to go with that?

I realize I seem really indignant here, but I always hear at least one story a summer of a child left in the car who dies, and I don't want to have be responsible for that. I also know when I was a kid and my mom left me in the car (AND SHE DID!) I *hated* it. I would sit and cry because I was so frustrated with waiting and thinking she'd forgotten me. So maybe I'm projecting all those feelings. And maybe she had just taken longer than she'd expected, and maybe she had to go inside because there was something she absolutely needed. There could be a million and one explanations that lady could give me.

...But really. Her kids. In the van. Trunk open. Seriously?

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