My first little Adventure

When i was around 4 Years Old my Mom told me to take my little sister and go down with her to the inner yard of the Block we were living in and wait there, while she was getting the other Kids ready.
Back then my Mom used to be a Childminder and was talking care of a bunch of other kids at home while raising us at the same time. So i took my little sister by the hand and walked all four floors down to wait for my mom. But as a kid ur usually not really patient , and a few minutes may seem like forever. So naturally i got bored, when suddenly an idea popped into my tiny head. I took my sister by her hand for the second time and started walking. 

We walked out of the safetyness of our inner yard onto the big Street infront of our block. I thought my mom would take so long , i would have plenty of time to stroll around the Neighborhood for a while and i would be back before she even notices. And so we started walking. My sister, who is 1 year and 8 month younger than me, already knew how to walk back then but didn’t really speak. I had my little pink see-through suitcase with me and i was ready to go for an adventure. I think i always had an urge to explore the world, a craving for adventures, a feeling that the greatest things will await me somewhere out there. And this was only the beginning.

As soon as we crossed the first street i could feel a sense of freedom. I was electrified. I was excited. I was feeling amazing! We had walked our neighborhood many times so i knew where i was going. First we stopped in a local Drugstore where they had wonderful colorful headbands for kids. The cashiers were looking over the counter tables with astonishment, wondering what the hell we were doing in their store without parental supervision. Me and my sister were just looking at those marvelous headbands when one of the cashiers, an old chubby lady with short curled brown hair, kneeled down in front of us with a smile.
My sister started giggling and pointed at her with her petty hands. „ Where is your mom?“ she asked. They all knew my mom. Everyone in my Area seemed to know my mom back then. I guess it was because she was helping out a lot at the local church. I looked at her and said : „ She’s outside with the other kids“  big broad lie right there . The lady looked at me with skepticism. „ She’ll probably come in here in a minute with the other kids.“ i said and the Lady nodded mollified while starring out of the window to look for my mom. „ okay..“ she said and stood up and went back to her counter while not leaving her eyes on us. As soon as she was back at the counter me and my sister went  behind one of the big shelves out of the reach of her eagle eyes.
When all the sudden my little sister spotted two little green purses laying on ground. They were those kind of littlish purses that you could hang on your key chain and that would only fit a few coins. They must have fallen off one of the shelves. My sister picked them up and i looked at them with big eyes. We smiled at each other. At that time i had the understanding that everything that lays on the ground is lost and whoever finds it can keep it. A big grin grew on my face and i whispered to my sister ( cause i didn’t want the cashier to know in which Aisle we were) „ Isn’t that perfect? There is one for you and one for me!“ Overjoyed by the little „treasure“ we just found i opened my suitcase and stuck the two purses between my other toys. I closed it with that wonderful clicking noise and we kept on strolling trough the store. But not for two long, cause i still had plenty planned for our great first trip.
When we passed the counters the chashiers were looking at us with that typical „ ohh, aren’t they the cutest little beings in the world?“-Look. And off we went.

Thank god they didn’t had anti-theft devices back then. We took the Right and went further and further away from our starting point. I remembered that to that time there was this awesome Funfair pretty close to where we lived so i started walking towards the sound of fun rides and the smell of roasted caramelised Almonds. The Funfair always happened annually around May when the Spring had turned our Street into a Sea of Cherry Blossom Trees .
I couldn’t wait to get there and started dragging my sister, who was walking way to slow. In my Head my imagination ran wild. Like a movie in my head i could already see me and my sister riding fun rides while the lovely guards would wave at us and smile and sweet old Ladys would hand us a big paper bags covered with red hearts , full of delicious roasted Almonds. 

But i had forgotten how big it was and how many people would attend it. And as soon as we reached the little hill that would lead us down to Happiness and Joy i got scared. There were so many people. And a lot of the Grown-Ups would walk weirdly with big Mugs full of something that looked a bit like Applejuice in their hands. My sister looked at me with big wondering eyes as to what my next move would be.
So i grabbed her and started heading back home.

When we entered the inner yard of our block i could already see my mom sitting on a park bench with our Neighbor looking extremly worried while our Neighbor, a Women with thick black hair that felt like horsehair, would pet her back trying to comfort her. She might have cried even, but i can’t tell if that’s a Memories or just something i would have wished. I walked up to her with a smile, proud of my own fearlessness of taking my sister on our first great trip and with a great feeling of independence. I had already forgotten how scared i was at the funfair.

As soon as my Mom spotted me her worried face turned red in Anger. She screamed at us asking where we have been and what i was thinking , taking my younger sister with me. I started crying and so did my sister. My Mom must have been worried sick at the time and she told us later , that she was about to call the police at the time if we wouldn’t have appeared just minutes later. I actually have no idea where the other children where at that time, i guess a Neighbor must have taken care of them. Our Mom draged me and my crying sister into the House and as soon as we were out of the Neighbors sight she gave us a hefty whooping on our bums. We cried more and she told us to stop crying and that this was our punishment for running away. When i was 4 i had always though that if i would ever go away, that if i would return my mom would welcome us with wide open arms and lots of love and kisses, happy to have us back. Just like in the Children’s TV shows or Movies i was watching at that time.

I was shocked about my moms anger and i couldn’t understand why she would be so mean to us. That evening i defiantly decided that i would run away for good so that my mom and my dad would realize what precious child they have lost. I mean when i was strolling around with my sister i wasn’t trying to run away , i just wanted to explore our Neighborhood . But at this Point i was really angry at my Parents and especially my mom. So i screamed trough our apartment that i would leave for good now and would never come back , slamming the door on my way out.

Next thing i did was sitting on the steps in the Hallway crying my eyes out. How could she be so heartless to not even care that i left? I cried for a while until i didn’t had any tears left to cry. Then i started thinking about how i would survive on my own out there. I was pretty convinced i would make it on my own. I mean Kindergarden had taught me a lot. For example that i could eat earthworms and certain flowers and oh there were those amazing Cherry Trees in the bigger inner yard near by !
If i would get thirsty i would just go to a lake near by and drink from the Well. And if i would get tired i would sleep in the little houses on one of the many playgrounds in our Area. And then i realized that i didn’t take my favorite Doll with me. What a bummer. How could i leave without her ?

Of course i couldn’t and so i waited for my mom to let me back in so i could get my Doll and finally leave for good. But when the door opened a couple of hours later , my mom had cooked delicious spaghetti ,the way only she does it and she wasn’t angry anymore , so i thought it couldn’t hurt to have one last meal before i leave. Over the meal however my anger vanished and i completely forgot about my plan of running away from home.

A couple of days later my mom found the two purses in our room. She asked us how we got them and i told her with a big grin on my face that i found them. My mom looked at the purses, which still had their price tags on, and then looked at me. She asked where i found them and i told her that we had found them on the Playground.
Another big lie right there. She looked at me with skepticism and told me in a calm voice that it is okay, but if i had found them in a store it wouldn’t be okay, that i would be stealing. And that stealing was a very bad thing to do. I nodded, took the purses and continued playing with my sister in our room.

As soon as she was gone my sister and me looked at  each other and although my sister wasn’t talking much then , she very well understood what my mom said and what it meant. We felt horribly guilty and ashamed. We didn’t want to be thieves!
Full of regret i climbed up to the window on self build stairs out of tiny tables and chairs and and threw my purse out of the half open window. And don’t worry, my mom always left the window open half way for fresh air, none of us kids could have possibly fit through the little gap and fall down.
My sister followed my example and climbed up the stairs to the window to trow her purse out. Her, trowing the purse out of the window, looked super adorable and cute with her clumsy throw. As soon as we got rid of the purses of shame we immediately started feeling a bit better.
And we decided unspoken , that we would never do that again. I could tell by my sisters eyes. Well and thats how i learned what stealing was.