Killing time when I was 6 years old

Shelly at Generation Exhausted inspired me to write this post.

When I was 6 years old,we lived in an apartment complex. It was a huge complex just like the one I live in now. (Coincidentally,it was once owned by the same person so they are quite similar.) One day,Mom and I were planning to go into town to go shopping but before we did,she still had some things to do to get ready. She told me to go out and play. (Ahhhh...those were the days when you could actually send your child outside.)

I remember going downstairs to see if my friend Cheryl was around. No one was home. I went upstairs to Marcie's house. No answer.

There were five buildings in my part of the complex and then we crossed a little road and went into the second portion of the complex which is where the pool was located along with many more buildings.

I decided to check if my Dad's friend George was home. He lived 2 buildings away so I went over and rang the bell. He buzzed me up. His son,who was a couple of years older than me,was visiting and they were playing a game of pool in the living room. I watched for a while and then got bored so I left.

I crossed the little street and headed over to the bigger complex where my friend Judy lived. I rang the bell but no one answered. Somehow,I was let into the building and just roamed around until I reached the laundry room. There I found the washing machine repair man working on a machine. He talked with me for a while and then I must've got bored again and wandered out.

At some point,my frantic mother found me and screamed hysterically. I didn't see what the big deal was because I had just been trying to kill time until she was ready. What was her problem???????

When I told her where I had gone she yelled,"YOU WENT TO GEORGE'S APARTMENT????? ALONE??????" Uhm,ya.I had known George my whole life.I totally couldn't grasp her issue with this. Then she shrieked,"WHAT WERE YOU DOING TALKING TO THE REPAIR MAN?? HE COULD'VE KILLED YOU." When would he have found the time? He was busy fixing the broken machine. Why would he kill me?

Looking back,anything could've happened to me. As an adult,I realized that George was a pretty creepy guy.He said some inappropriate things to me when I was 24 years old which I have never forgotten. Had Mom known he couldn't be trusted? Parents didn't share this information with their kids back then like they do now.

As for the repair man,there is always something hideous happening in a laundry room in every scary movie. What does that tell ya? No wonder Mom was terrified.

The bottom line is that young children usually don't have the best judgment even if they seem to be very intelligent. Afterall,they are just children.