SOMEONE WENT MISSING

Just as my older son gave me my most embarrassing moment (s), so did my younger son give me my most terrifying ones. He and I shared one major talent – getting lost, although he grew out of it……..

Let me give a smidgeon of background first.

My father was a tip-rat. Weekends always found him meandering around the Sunshine Coast hinterland looking for whatever treasures he could find at the local tips between Landsborough, Maroochydore, Nambour and the Maleny Range sites. He came home with “all sorts of useful stuff” which my mother promptly loaded into the bins to send back once he was out of sight and mind. One treasure he brought home though was Lassie, a beautiful half-grown Border collie pup. His story was that she jumped into the car as he was leaving and he couldn’t get her out – well, that was his story and he stuck to it. She grew into a beautiful dog and rapidly became an important part of our family. My children loved her as much as she loved us all. Where they went, she went and she killed more than one snake keeping them safe.

More background – my father drove a school bus and being the ultimate handy man and self-taught expert, he did all his own maintenance on everything from my irons and toasters to heavy mechanics and carpentry (his trade before he became a farmer as a young man).

The incident…… He was doing some routine maintenance on the school bus one Saturday morning, ably assisted by two helpful grandsons, Sean 4 and Seamus 2.

When the work was done to his satisfaction and the engine running smoothly again, my father came inside for a cuppa closely followed by Sean. Seamus was nowhere to be seen but nobody panicked because Lassie was also missing and the two often went walkabout together down the driveway, or up the pathway through the neighbouring small park to play with two other little friends. Nobody worried for about another half hour, then my mother saw the other children getting into their parents car, but no Seamus. Then the panic hit. Where was he?

We walked and called, called and walked all to no avail. Neither he nor Lassie responded. My father was firm friends with the local Police Superintendent, Duncan McNaught, so a call was made and a number of police joined the search. The wife of the local radio station manager was a friend and so the announcement went out over 4NA with updates every fifteen minutes or so and that sent other people to join the search. Neighbours were interviewed and consequently added themselves to the searchers until there were more than a hundred there looking for this little lost boy and his dog. …….

They searched all the nooks and crannies of the house and the adjoining park and beat their way through the thick blady-grass of the paddock next door followed constantly by the curious cows that seemed to wonder why their domain was so popular all of a sudden. The dam at the bottom of the hill led to much speculation, but no footprints were found in the muddy borders which alleviated one major worry. The other major worry was the brown snakes that were plentiful in the area.

Back to the house to regroup………

With no sign of Lassie, Duncan decided to bring in a retired tracker dog, owned by one of his friends at the Buderim Police Station. Bruno was brought down and the police went to Lassie’s kennel to give him her scent to follow. It was the first and only time I ever heard my father drop the f-bomb.

In the very back of the kennel, constructed from an upturned trailer body some galvanised iron sheeting and a sheet of plywood, was Lassie – gently waving her tail as she guarded her precious bounty……. 13 fat, furry little bundles and one dusty, grubby child – all curled up together sound asleep. A curl of her lip stopped a police officer going in to pick up Seamus, so we all just stood and looked as she nudged him closer in among her babies.

Photos were taken for the police report and personal records then everyone quietly went upstairs to be filled up with tea and scones and talk about the happy outcome before heading home all smiles and with guaranteed homes for 13 puppies when they were old enough.

An hour after discovery, Lassie barked a few times and my father and Duncan went down to find Seamus now awake and cuddling a couple of puppies.

That was the first of many incidents involving Seamus and his penchant for getting lost – I drilled into him that, if he couldn’t see me, he was to find a policeman. He carried those instructions out to perfection leading to many lectures for me about the need to keep an eye on my child.

The clothing style of those few years was brown slacks, and being just a short little person, he sometimes followed the wrong brown legs and when he found the wrong body on top, he looked around until he found a policeman. Once found, he would march confidently up to the officer, inform him that “my mother’s lost. Can I have an ice cream please?” and give himself into the care of the police, knowing that his recalcitrant mother would soon be found. Many times I was tempted to buy a collar and leash but I think that would have led to even more embarrassing problems.

It was not the last time “Someone Went Missing” but it was the scariest by far.