Where's the Baby? text

Story 2: Where's the Baby?

Where's the Baby by Beth Sheppard 

Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep, Dad was thinking. But two year old Tommy wanted another book, another stuffed animal, another song.

“Rest quietly now Tommy,” said Dad, “and when you wake up we’ll go shopping at the market.”

“The market?” Tommy said, with a sparkle in his eye. Tommy sometimes gets a piece of chocolate at the market.

“Not now Sweet Pea.¹ Later we’ll go.” Maybe I’m keeping him up, Dad thought. If he doesn’t fall asleep in a minute here, I’m going to go downstairs and let him fall asleep alone.

A few minutes later, Dad gave Tommy two kisses and went downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs is the kitchen, with a door to the garage. On the other side of the kitchen is the living room, where Dad set up his computer and started his work.

Now, Dad is hard of hearing,² but still Tommy must have been quite silent³ as came down the stairs in his socks. He remembered that Daddy was going shopping, so he thought the market would be the best place to find him. The shortest way to the neighborhood grocery story is through the garage, across the yard, up an alley, and over the parking lot. That must be how Tommy went, over dirt and gravel in his little striped socks.

A few minutes later, Dad went upstairs to see if Tommy was asleep yet. He was surprised to see Tommy’s empty bed, but not worried.⁴ He thought the baby was probably somewhere else in the house. Was he in the bedroom? No… The bathroom? Not there either. He wasn’t in the den or the guest room. Dad went to big brother’s room, and Tommy wasn’t there either. Big brother was playing a computer game, but he stopped when Dad asked him to help find Tommy. They looked in every room of the house.

Where was the baby?

Meanwhile, Tommy was standing in his dirty socks on the clean floor of the market, a tiny boy with round baby cheeks, all by himself. As people walked by him, they looked around for his mother or father.

A woman stopped and asked, “Where are your parents, buddy?”

“My daddy is shopping at the market,” Tommy replied, because he thought it was true.

The woman looked around, but there was no Daddy in sight. The store manager made an announcement⁵ asking for Tommy’s daddy, but no one answered.

One of the cashiers,⁶ a tall man with long grey hair named Dan, had recently moved into the neighborhood. Tommy’s family had invited Dan to dinner, so he knew the baby and knew where he belonged.

“Hi Tommy,” Dan said. “How about I bring you home?”

“Okay,” said Tommy. Dan carried him back across the parking lot and down the alley.

Daddy and big brother had been getting more worried as they searched the house, the yard, and the neighborhood. They were in the back yard when Dan and Tommy approached.

“Daddy!”

“Tommy!”

“Dan, many thanks!”

What a relief⁷ for everyone! If you have a neighborhood grocery store, make friends with a kindly cashier. You never know when you might need his help.

 Glossary

1. Sweet Pea (noun) - something you say to people you love, a term of endearment
2. hard of hearing (adjective) - not able to hear well because something is wrong with the ears
3. silent (adjective) - very quiet
4. worried (adjective) - feeling fear because you think something bad has happened or might happen
5. announcement (noun) - a public statement
6. cashier (noun) - a person who takes money at a store
7. relief (adjective) - A feeling of comfort when something frightening or worrying ends or does not happen