In The Perfume And Makeup Area Of The Mall

Back when I was 8 years old, I had a pretty traumatic experience (well it was probably traumatic because I was only 8 years old). I was in a shopping mall with my parents and we were on the escalator, and as we approached the bottom, I saw a fish tank on my right. I was immediately drawn to its colorful presence, and stopped to take a look. Wide-eyed, I cupped my hands around my face and peered into the fish tank. I saw blue stripes, red scales and yellow fins. It felt like only 5 minutes had gone by, but when I turned around my parents had disappeared. ‘They couldn’t have gone very far,’ I thought to myself, but every passing second felt like an eternity. I started to panic and ran towards the middle of the aisle and stood there, frantically searching through the crowd. Images flashed in my mind of everything I had learned from school about what to do when you get lost. And suddenly, I knew exactly what to do. I trusted those images in my mind and I stood there, calming myself down. Rule #1: Stay where you are so they know where to find you. Rule #2: Figure out where you are so you know what to do in order to get where you want to go. I stood there, and turned in all directions: North, South, East and West. I realized I was in the perfume and makeup area of the mall. I was just starting to look for someone who could help, when a lady walked up to me and asked me what my name was and why I was alone. I told her I couldn’t find my parents, and she told me she would help me and took my hand. At that very moment, I heard my mom call my name from behind. I turned around and there she was. I realized in that moment, that if I hadn’t figured out where I was, I wouldn’t have known what to do, and we all would have probably run around frantically for the next hour trying to find each other.

By John Francis

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