The Rescue
Posted by Robert on March 24, 2022 at 03:17:41
Hi everyone.
I haven't posted in a while since there haven't been many interesting "wet" happenings worth posting lately with all the cold weather we've been having (I think Robbie actually was cold from those previous ones, and didn't want to admit it at the time - but has just avoided them in the meantime). But rest assured, Robbie was still taking the occasional shower in clothes for fun. Sam, not so much. Well, all this changed last week, and it was completely unplanned and very spontaneous.
We've had some outright balmy weather (in the teens Celsius) lately and while there is still "snow", it's basically gone in all the important areas (just the snowplow-created piles are still around). Last Saturday, Robbie had gone out by bus to spend the day in the big-ish city nearby with some friends (they were planning on seeing a movie and go to the mall). There is a bus stop in our town's centre, so my wife drove him and Derrick (the one from earlier stories) to the bus stop and I was planning on picking them up in the evening. They were meeting two other friends, I'll call one Evan and the other Zach, in that city (I will just refer to it as "Big City" from now on, even though it's not really THAT big...). Evan and Zach were friends that they each knew from their club volleyball team, who didn't go to the same school as Derrick and Robbie - their volleyball club team is based out of Big City.
Robbie has really grown in the past year, and is now 6 feet tall - which for a volleyball player can be an advantage just like in basketball. Evan and Zach are both pretty tall too, but Derrick is shorter than them.
I told Robbie to text me at least once while he was out in the middle of the day so I knew he was still ok, and to not complain if I texted him if I hadn't received a text before 1 PM. He did text (he's a good kid) and said they were at the mall already. He said "getting the 4:30 bus", to which I replied that was fine. To note, because it is of interest later, the previous bus was 2:30 and the text came at about 12:45. So I assumed they knew that and were going to mess around for a bit until the 4:30 bus. Fine by me.
So, I went into town to the bus stop and waited for the 4:30 bus - there is a GPS tracker on the buses, so the general public can see where the buses are at. I had been following it all the way into town. It typically takes ~1 hour and a bit for that bus to come from Big City into our town. I was in town by 5:30 and waiting. Bus was right on time and getting close. I didn't bother to text Robbie again, so I didn't anticipate what was about to happen.
The bus came, dropped people off, and left. No sign of Robbie nor Derrick. So I texted Robbie.
"Hey, the bus just came and you weren't on it. You ok?" I texted.
No response after a few minutes.
"Robbie?" I texted again.
Still no response.
So, I texted my wife and said I'm going to drive into Big City and see if something's up. I connected my cell phone to my car so I could see texts and call if needed, and got onto the road into Big City. I made a call to Robbie's phone while about 1/4 of the way there - no answer.
Once I was about halfway there, I got a call from Derrick's mom.
"Robert, I just heard from your wife that the boys haven't come back yet," she said.
"Yeah, I'm on the way now into Big City in case they missed the bus. Knowing Robbie, he's probably panicking a bit and ashamed to phone me that he missed it," I said.
"Derrick's not answering his cell phone," said his Mom.
"Neither is Robbie. I'll keep you in the loop when I get to Big City. Don't do any worrying yet - I'll let you know when you can start worrying," I said with a bit of a laugh.
We ended the call as I continued on the road into Big City.
As I was just approaching the outskirts/city limits of Big City, I received a phone call from an unknown number that didn't have call display. I decided to answer in case it was Robbie.
"Hello?" I said.
"Dad! I'm so sorry!" said Robbie.
"Robbie! Where are you?" I asked, quite frankly, relieved.
"The bus driver wouldn't let us on the bus and our phones won't work," said Robbie, with a clear vibration in his voice indicating to me that he was worried sick.
"Robbie, calm down," I said as I pulled into a strip mall parking lot to pay more attention to the call. "Where are you, I'm in Big City now."
"We're at < "Uh, is that Evan's house?" I asked. "No it's some lady who saw we were lost," said Robbie. "Oh, so you got lost," I said. "I thought the bus driver wouldn't let you on?" "Uh, sorta both," said Robbie. "I'm on my way. Please, please stay there," I said. I put the address into my GPS and noticed that it was nowhere near the movie theatre nor the mall. But it was near a ravine. I figured they must've gone hiking, then I figured that maybe something happened to them, hence their phones being damaged. I started to think up what could be the story and before getting there I came to the conclusion that they tried to get on the bus and their fare cards wouldn't work - and since their phones had died they couldn't reload them. Then, they tried to walk and got lost. I couldn't have been further from the truth. Well, part of it I was kinda right... I pulled into the driveway of the massive mansion and immediately wondered if I was at the right place. What the heck were they doing in this part of Big City? As I pulled up the driveway, and old lady came outside. "You must be Mr. T," she said. "Yes, call me Robert," I said. "Are Robbie and Derrick ok?" "Fine. Soaking wet, but fine," she said as they emerged from the house along with Evan. As they were walking towards my car, I could see that all of them were dejected and really didn't think they wanted to face me. Not sure where they got that impression since I've never been a 'strict' parent. "Evan!?" I said. "I didn't know you were still with the boys." "We got lost, Mr. T. I'm sorry," said Evan. "I can see that. But were you waiting for the bus with them?" I asked as I stepped out of the car to hug Robbie, who didn't resist like he normally does when in front of his friends. Yes, he was still very wet, but not shiny-wet, just damp-wet. His white long-sleeved shirt, skinny faded blue jeans, both fully wet. I assumed their shoes were too, but didn't check nor ask at that moment. "It's a long story," said Robbie. "Can you drop me home, Mr. T?" asked Evan. "Of course," I said. Robbie got into the car right away but neither Derrick nor Evan did. "Come on, get it," I said. "Won't we make the seats wet?" asked Evan just as the old lady spoke up too, offering a couple of towels. "Thanks anyway, I have some in the trunk," I said as I signalled for Robbie to get out for a sec as I got a big beach towel out of the trunk and a smaller one for the front seat. I thanked the lady who I later found out had fed them supper, but didn't have clothes for them as none of her grandkids were their ages, etc. So she just gave them towels to dry off as best they could as none of them wanted to be shirtless or pantsless in front of a stranger just to have their clothes dried... Robbie sat in the front seat and Derrick and Evan got in the back. None of them said anything as we headed back out - to the other side of Big City to drop off Evan. I had never heard Derrick nor Robbie this quiet, ever. I didn't know Evan well-enough, but figured he was keeping his mouth shut too. "So, tell me a bit about what happened. And don't make it up because I can check out your stories, you know," I said to Robbie. Suddenly, he broke down in tears. I almost drove into the ditch when I got distracted and worried about that, so I stopped the car and put my hand on him. "What on earth happened, Robbie?" I asked, very softly and concerned. "We kinda had an accident," said Derrick. "What kind of accident?" I asked. "Well it wasn't really our accident, it was someone else's accident," said Evan. "Come on, you can tell me. You're not in trouble so you can tell me," I said, as I started driving again intending to get to a parking lot at the end of the street. "We were out hiking along the trail and saw someone that had fallen into the river. So we went in and helped her out," said Evan. "Oh, so that's how you got wet," I said. "Yes, Dad," said Robbie. "Is she ok?" I asked. "Yeah, she's fine. Her Mom had just come back over and there we all were, pulling her daughter out of the water," said Derrick. "Phew. So you're all heroes," I said. "Nah, just doing our civic duty," said Robbie, smirking. "Is that why your phones don't work?" I asked, assuming they had them in their pockets when they went in the water. "Yes," said Robbie. "Mine turns on but won't send any texts or make any calls," he continued, showing me the screen. "Well let's get you all home. Evan, where do you live?" I asked. He provided his address, which was all the way on the opposite side of Big City. But they did a good deed, so I'm gonna do a good deed too and drop him home. While we were going, the boys were all visibly cold, so I cranked the heat. Remember, there was still a bunch of snow, but the temperature had gone into the mid-teens for a bit, and they're teenagers, so they don't like to admit they are cold, but I could see them shivering. The only thing about the story to this point that I couldn't figure out is how they got lost. "So, how'd you get lost, then? Or was that a little fib to not make me worry?" I asked. "That's not a fib, Dad!" said Robbie, a bit surprised. "We did get lost. We got to the bus stop and the driver saw we were soaked and wouldn't let us on the bus. I tried to call you but it wouldn't go through, so we tried to walk. But we got lost when we tried to take a short cut through the residential area there [where the old lady lived]," said Robbie. "I see," I said. I should note here that the bus didn't stop on the 'main' road in Big City - it had many stops in many other areas, and some were winding streets that were easy to get lost in. "We saw this lady out walking her dog and we asked her how to get back to the main road, and she saw we were soaked and invited us in," said Robbie. "But the bus stops many blocks from her house," I said. "Exactly. We were trying to walk over to the main road and got stuck in the subdivision," said Robbie. I finally figured it out. I honestly thought they were fibbing a bit, but I did figure it out. Anyway, we dropped off Evan and I decided to take the highway part-way back to bypass the traffic in Big City. We got back into our town, dropped off Derrick, then got back home to a bit of fanfare from Sam - he had written up a sign when he heard that his big brother had saved a young girl from drowning. "This only calls for one thing to celebrate!" said Robbie. "What?" asked Sam. "A fully clothed shower!" said Robbie. So Robbie re-soaked everything, including his shoes, took everything downstairs and genuinely seemed satisfied.
For those interested, Robbie was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt (forget a jacket at this age...), faded skinny blue jeans, and those (now older) black Air Maxes. Derrick, if I recall correctly, had on a black hoodie, black jeans and white shoes. While Evan was wearing a grey hoodie, grey sweatpants, and red basketball shoes.
More "boring" things have happened since this story, so maybe I'll try to post them soon.