My wife and I had a rather unpleasent experience last night. We had just gone to bed, at 10 o'clock, when we heard a child screaming. Our immediate reaction was that it was one of ours. However, it quickly became evident that the noise was outside. We sleep in the roof with a poor sonic insolation, so we hear everything that goes on outside. I opened the window and realised it was our neighbours four year old. I jumped into a pair of running trousers and took the stairs two at a time, while my wife reassured him from the window.
He was standing in front of the house, wearing his running shoes, pyjamas and a coat. He was clutching a torch, and seemed terrified. I reassured him, everything was okay and carried him into our house. Between his sobs we understood that Daddy was at the match, he plays basketball once a week. We knew Mummy was on a business trip in the US, so this was a case of home alone. Fuming I jumped in my car and headed for the gymnasium. I met Daddy half way, calmly peddling his unlit bicycle home. I made a rapid U-turn and resisting the urge to knock him off his bike drove home to wait for him.
He arrived and laughed that he had forgotten his lights. Keeping my cool I explained the situation. To be fair he did go white with shock. He assured me he had locked the front door, which I had already discovered was open. I made him promise to never leave the child alone again, and ask us if he needed a baby sitter, before returning his son.
Now, we've all had some scares with our kids. Our daughter at two, escaped our vigilance and walked on to the main road. However, we learnt our lesson and it is now harder to get out of our house than in. The problem is this is not the first time our neighbour has left his son on his own. We expressed shock the first time and offered our babysitting services. Then only a few days ago, he left him on his own for the evening. I know because while I babysat our two kids my wife was at the same event as our neighbour.
The worst thing is that this couple are educated professionels, they should know better. My wife and I hardly slept last night running through all the possible scenarios of a child left alone at night. I haven't seen him today, but I hope the message got across otherwise next time I'm calling the authorities.
