Robin Wants Attention-Part
7
By SamPast
Copyright © 1999
I looked up. He was holding
out a badge. I said, "Officer?" Uh oh, the alarm bells went off in my
head. I jumped up. I guess he figured I was ready to run again, so he grabbed
me.
"Oh, now, come on. I
won't hurt you. Just sit down. You look tired. And sad.
Want to talk about it?"
He seemed very nice. And he
was a cop. But that couldn't be good. I had done something really bad. I was
already in enough trouble. Maybe talking to the police was not a good idea.
Then again, it was late, I had no money, and I didn't know what to do.
Cautiously, I asked,
"If I talk to you, will you promise you won't make me go home?"
Officer Dan shook his head.
"Sure, we'll play it your way for awhile, now why don't you tell me what's
wrong. Sometimes it helps to talk to someone objective. You know what that
means?"
I nodded. I still didn't
know what or how much to tell him.
He stared at me until
finally I said, "I don't know where to start."
Dan said, "Why don't
we start with your name?"
"Robin," I
answered.
"Okay, Robin, you look
like a nice, little girl. What could possibly have you so upset this
evening?"
I looked at him. He seemed
so nice. All right, here goes. "I, uh, um, I did something really bad and
I'm afraid to go home."
"Really?" he
asked, "What could you have done that is so bad?"
I started to cry. I was
feeling really guilty as to what I did to Jennifer. I think it was when I told
Joseph that I realized how bad it was. I didn't want to say it aloud again.
Then Dan said, "C'mon,
now, Robin, you can tell me. I'm sure it's not as bad as you think."
"It is!" I cried,
"I framed my sister. I made people believe that she stole something from a
store, and she got into a lot of trouble!" Now I was hysterical.
Dan took me in his arms and
was comforting me. "There, there, shhh, shhh, everything's going to be all right. Okay, let's
backtrack now. Tell me everything that happened to lead you to do this to your
sister."
So I did. I told Officer
Dan everything. I don't think I left a single thing out. I told him what I did,
and I told him all my reasons. Probably, if I had just told Mommy and Daddy how
I really felt days ago, none of this would have happened. And even when I was
finished, and I felt much better, I was still afraid to go home. Dan must have
sensed this.
"Robin,
why don't you tell me more about your family. What's your Dad
and your Mom and your sister like?"
Suddenly, I was telling Dan
my whole life story. I was telling him the fun things my family does together.
I was telling him how happy we were when baby Steven was born. I told him the
fun things Jennifer and I do together.
"Wow! It sounds like
you come from a nice family, Robin. I bet they miss you like crazy. And they're
probably really worried about you. Don't you think it's time you went
home?" Dan asked.
I didn't want to, but I
did. Have you ever had that feeling? All of a sudden, I missed my family so
much, and I wanted to see them. I didn't even care that I would probably be
spanked the moment I walked in the door. I agreed to let Officer Dan take me
home.
In the car on the way to my
house, I suddenly remembered that I had ran away from
my aunt and uncle's house. I told Officer Dan. He suggested I call my aunt and
let her know I was safe and on my way home. So I did just that. I didn't give
her any details, though. As soon as I told her I was going home, I hung up. I
figured there would be enough questions later.
Officer Dan rang the
doorbell. My father opened the door and was quite surprised to see a policeman.
But then he saw me. I was a little afraid of how he would react. I mean, I had
disappeared for several hours. I also knew I must have taken him away from work
to look for me. I also knew that he must know by now that I had set Jennifer
up.
I guess none of that
mattered for a minute. Daddy ran to me and hugged me, lifting me off the
ground.
"Oh, thank god, you're
all right. We were so worried," he said. Then Daddy did something I had
never seen him do before. He started to cry. I cried, too. I was so upset. I
had made my father cry.
"I'm sorry,
Daddy!" I cried.
"Oh, Robin, I'm just
so glad you're all right," he said to me. Then he invited Officer Dan into
the house. He called Mommy and she and Jennifer ran in
to see for themselves that I was home safe and sound.
Mommy and Daddy invited
Officer Dan to stay for some coffee. Since he was off duty, he accepted. Mostly
the adults talked, but I also told of my adventure walking from Merrick to Bellmore.
Then Dan told of how he had found me. He didn't tell about our conversation,
though. I was kind of glad. I knew I was going to have a long talk with my
parents about it eventually.
As my parents were walking
Dan out, I heard them thank him. Then I heard Officer Dan say, "Take it
easy on her tonight. She's been through a lot. I know there are some problems,
but I'm sure they can wait until tomorrow. She has a lot to talk about to you,
too."
I silently thanked him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now this is where the story would end, if this were a movie of the week. But
we all know this is hardly that. So here is the real ending:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Officer Dan left, I
realized I was starving. I hadn't eaten anything since lunch time. Daddy called
and ordered some pizzas. Then he called Aunt Joan and Uncle Jack. They came
over with Joseph and Jody. It felt like a party. Of course, I knew deep down
this was no party.
No one said anything to me
about framing Jennifer, or about running away. I knew that Jennifer was
probably really mad at me and I felt so guilty, but I wasn't sure what to say
to her. So I just said nothing.
Finally, it was getting
late. Uncle Jack and Aunt Joan wanted to get my cousins home and to bed.
Everyone was saying their good-byes. I felt a tap on my shoulder. Uncle Jack
was standing next to me.
"You know, Robin, your
aunt and I were very worried about you. You shouldn't
have run off from our house like that!" he said seriously.
I looked up at my uncle. I
could read the disappointment on his face. I felt so bad. I didn't even know
what to say. I knew saying sorry wouldn't be enough but I said it anyway.
"I'm so sorry, Uncle
Jack. I'll never to it again," I sobbed. My uncle held me while I cried.
Over my shoulder, I could
see Daddy staring at us. He came over to where Uncle Jack was holding me. Uncle
Jack slowly pushed me away. He started to say something else, but Daddy put his
hand on my uncle's arm.
"No, no more, Jack.
Not tonight, anyway. It's been a very long day. Robin needs to get to
bed," my dad said. To me, he said, "Okay, Robin, go upstairs and get
ready for bed. Mommy and I will come up and tuck you in."
I just looked at Daddy.
"Go on, we'll be right
up to tuck you in. You need to get some rest. We have a lot of talking to do
tomorrow," Daddy said.
~~~~~
When I woke up the next
morning, I was all alone in the room. I looked up and Jennifer was not there. I
had no idea what time it was. It was Sunday morning and Daddy was at work. I
knew that later on he and Mommy were going to have a long talk with me. I also
knew I was going to get a spanking. There wasn't even any use pretending that
maybe they wouldn't spank me. They were definitely going to spank me. I mean,
after all, I got Jennifer into trouble. Not just in trouble, but accused of
stealing, and a big spanking to boot. And if that wasn't enough, I ran away.
For hours! They were all worried about me. Daddy had to leave work to look for
me. And I had made him cry. The feelings of guilt were really weighing on me
heavily. I felt like I couldn't stand it another minute.
I got up and went to the
bathroom. I didn't know if I should bother getting dressed at all. Odds were, I wouldn't be going out today. I decided to stay in my
pajamas. I went downstairs in the hopes of getting some breakfast.
When I got to the kitchen,
I was surprised by what I saw. Mommy, Daddy, and Jennifer were sitting at the
dining room table. It looked like they were having a family meeting. Without
me! Then it must be about me. I was about to turn away, when Mommy saw me.
"Oh, good, you're up.
Come on. I'll fix you some breakfast. You want cereal?" she asked.
I just nodded. I always ate
cereal for breakfast. Mommy went to get my cereal. I went and took my place at
the table. No one said a word to me.
"Good morning," I
said, "Daddy, why aren't you at work?"
"Well, honey, I
thought we should talk, so I told my boss I couldn't come in today. I'll work
tomorrow, instead."
I was shocked. Daddy always
worked on Sundays, until 6:00. Then he had off on Mondays. Wow, he changed his
schedule because of me. I knew I was in serious trouble now. I didn't think I
could make it through breakfast without having our talk. The guilt was starting
to eat away at me.
Mommy put my bowl of cereal
down in front of me. Suddenly, I wasn't hungry anymore. I stared into the bowl
for several minutes. Then I just started to cry. Daddy got up and came over to
me.
"Robin, do you want to
talk now?" he asked.
I couldn't answer. I was
completely hysterical. I nodded. Daddy picked me up from my chair. I just clung
to him. I cried into his shoulder as he carried me into the living room. He sat
on the couch and put me on his lap. I sat there facing him with my head buried
into his chest. I felt Mommy sit down next to us and put her hand on my back.
She rubbed it while I cried.
When I had cried for a good
ten minutes, I lifted my head. Jennifer was standing next to me holding out
some tissues. I was very surprised.
"Thanks," I said.
She just nodded. Then she sat down on the other side of Daddy. I thought she
would be totally angry at me, but she actually seemed concerned.
I turned to her and asked,
"Why aren't you mad at me? Why aren't you screaming at me because of what
I did to you?"
Jennifer said, "Well,
at first I was really mad. I wanted revenge. I spent all afternoon thinking of
ways to get you back. Then when Aunt Joan called and said you were missing, I
got worried. We're still sisters, Robin. We may fight sometimes, but I still
love you."
I reached out for my
sister. "I love you, too, Jenn. I am so sorry. I hope you can forgive me.
Please! I'll do anything!" We hugged.
Then Jenn said,
"Besides Daddy won't let me get back at you. He said that you obviously
have more serious problems. And what we need to do is find out what they are
and be more forgiving. Right, Daddy?"
"Yes, sweetheart. Now Robin, why don't you tell us whatever
you told Officer Dan last night? He told me that you two had a very nice
talk," Daddy said gently.
(To be continued)