Christopher, Chapter One

In spring, 1976, my dad, brother, who was three or four at the time,
and mom who was pregnant with me, took a memorable excursion to
Harvard Square .
If you have never been to Harvard Square, there is a center to the
area, the square, where multiple streets come together with a subway
stop which burps-up people regularly. It is a very crowded area.

At the height of the crowding that day, my parents linked together via
their tiny toe-headed son, and crossed the street with the huge mob.
When they reached the other side, there was no Christopher. Dad had
thought Mom had him when he let go and Mom thought Dad had him when he
let go.

"I knew he was gone." Mom said, telling he story with Dad to me on the
way down to Cape Cod this weekend, pointing out that she was pregnant
and probably not emotionally all there as a result. "I just knew deep
down, this was the time he was not coming back. I knew someone had
taken him".

Mom and Dad went back across the street - to the center of the square,
where Mom grabbed onto a street pole in an effort to keep herself
upright, and burst into tears.

"I'm going to find him" my dad told her, and took off.
Mom told me how amazed she was with how people came to her. They asked
her what was wrong, she explained to them, "Describe him to me" they
would say, taking off in search as soon as they knew what they were
looking for.

Dad returned with no son, "I'm going to go report him to the police"
my Dad told my mother, disappearing again into the mob of strangers.
A full half hour had passed since Christopher first disappeared.
Three blocks from where they had lost him, Dad found a cop and told
him the situation. He started to describe Christopher and the
policeman interrupted, "Does he look like this?" he said, stepping
aside, revealing their little one.
"Hi, Daddy!" Christopher said, rocking back and forth on his heels,
looking up at our Dad, "You got lost!"
Christopher, at three-and-a-half or four, actually had the
intelligence to go to the police.
Mom said she still remembers the sight of him, floating towards her
above the sea of people because Dad had put Christopher on his
shoulders so he could be seen from afar.
"I've never been so happy to see someone in my entire life!"