(no subject)
Sixteen missed calls from Baby Bouncer Day Nursery.
Guppy feels a cold chill run down his spine as he redials the number. It's less than an hour since he put his phone in his coat pocket by mistake. What can have happened that warrents sixteen attempts to contact him?
"Hi Guppy... I don't want to alarm you, but Alex has got out."
"What do you mean got out?" Guppy asks, alarmed despite the instruction.
"He's got out of the garden. We've called the police and we've sent staff in both directions - we don't think he's likely to have gone far. We couldn't get through to Frances..."
Guppy sits down. This is bad. Alex has got out before - the kid spends a lot of time trying to escape - but he's never made it outside of the garden. He's smart, but he's not fast. He's probably been planning this for a while, and the satisfaction probably came when he succeeded.
But nevertheless, it's terrifying. He gets up again.
"He's got a GPS cube sewn into his trousers. I'll be there as soon as I can."
He phones Dr Wood as he runs towards his car - thankful for an understanding boss, he gets the all clear to disappear for this rather urgent crisis. He gets in the car and puts the GPS on to start tracking Alex as he drives. Hopefully he kept his trousers on.
He breathes a little when it flashes up a location - a sheep field near the nursery. Watching sheep is the sort of thing that might slow him down. He puts his phone into the hands free kit and calls Barney back.
"The GPS says he's on Barn Lane, or his trousers are. I can get there in five minutes."
"Lucy's close by, I'll send her that way." Barney says.
He hangs up again and drives carefully over there - just in case Alex is nearby and ready to jump out. Then he parks and goes on foot, with the GPS narrowing down the location. As he gets closer, he hears crying, and sprints the remaining distance.
"Fry! Where are you?" he calls out, looking between the sheep, and then down the slight ditch at the side of the field. Alex is sitting in two inches of dirty water, covered in mud, and looking very sorry for himself.
Guppy climbs down the ditch, offers Alex his hands, and scoops him up.
"Alex, you must not leave nursery on your own." he says, pulling a face as upset as he feels, taking off his coat and wrapping the little guy up, wanting to hug him tightly. He takes him straight back to the car and checks him over for signs of injury, then phones Barney and the police back.
After getting him home, bathed and warmed up, Guppy takes the opportunity to have another look at him. Couple of little bruises, probably from falling in the ditch, but his head looks fine.
He hears running up the stairs, then Frogspawn runs in.
"You found him? Is he okay?" She asks, scared and tearful.
"I escaped." Alex says.
"You mustn't escape Alex, we were very worried." Frogspawn says, kneeling next to the bath. Alex is by now playing with his bath toys, quite unconcerned. "How did you get out?"
"Press to open." Alex says. "Big stick!"
Guppy and Frogspawn exchange a glance. They get him out of the bath and dressed, then downstairs to join Coral in the living room. She's sleeping blissfully in her baby basket, unaware of the drama.
"I'm going back to the nursery to find out what happened." Guppy says.
"Guppy... we're not leaving him there again." Frogspawn says. "You agree, I hope."
Guppy nods. The nursery have done fairly well with Alex up until now, but this incident is way too close for comfort.
When he gets to the nursery, he stops to look at the gate. Sure enough, 'Push to open' is written above the latch. At the top of the gate is a bolt, but a quick push of the door shows that it's broken. He frowns, takes a picture of it on his mobile, then heads inside.
Barney apologises very humbly for Alex getting out. Lucy admits that Alex has been asking staff to read out words to him lately and that she had read 'Push to open' to him off a toy. They discuss it and come to the calm agreement that Alex was at the time undersupervised, that charges aren't going to be persued but that it's time to look for alternative arrangements. Guppy gathers up the few of Alex's things that are left there.
He remembers to thank them for the good work they tried to do with Alex prior to this. They'd gone out of their way to try and accommodate him before now, after all.
***
"What are we going to do?" Frogspawn asks him, watching Alex contentedly poking the letters on his alphabet toy.
"You'll have to have both of them until we can find another nursery." Guppy says. "We picked the old one before he was diagnosed, this time we can find one that's got some training in handling autistic children. If we have to go special needs, we have to. You've got a bit more maternity leave."
Frogspawn nods. "He has to go back with other kids. Otherwise it's going to be really hard to adjust to school, and to assess his school needs. I'd give up work in an instant to have him full time but I know it wouldn't really do him any good."
Guppy gives her a hug.
"He's safe now. We'll make sure the new place has better locks, and we'll review the security here too. With a bit of luck, he'll have learned that escaping isn't as fun as he thought it was."
Guppy feels a cold chill run down his spine as he redials the number. It's less than an hour since he put his phone in his coat pocket by mistake. What can have happened that warrents sixteen attempts to contact him?
"Hi Guppy... I don't want to alarm you, but Alex has got out."
"What do you mean got out?" Guppy asks, alarmed despite the instruction.
"He's got out of the garden. We've called the police and we've sent staff in both directions - we don't think he's likely to have gone far. We couldn't get through to Frances..."
Guppy sits down. This is bad. Alex has got out before - the kid spends a lot of time trying to escape - but he's never made it outside of the garden. He's smart, but he's not fast. He's probably been planning this for a while, and the satisfaction probably came when he succeeded.
But nevertheless, it's terrifying. He gets up again.
"He's got a GPS cube sewn into his trousers. I'll be there as soon as I can."
He phones Dr Wood as he runs towards his car - thankful for an understanding boss, he gets the all clear to disappear for this rather urgent crisis. He gets in the car and puts the GPS on to start tracking Alex as he drives. Hopefully he kept his trousers on.
He breathes a little when it flashes up a location - a sheep field near the nursery. Watching sheep is the sort of thing that might slow him down. He puts his phone into the hands free kit and calls Barney back.
"The GPS says he's on Barn Lane, or his trousers are. I can get there in five minutes."
"Lucy's close by, I'll send her that way." Barney says.
He hangs up again and drives carefully over there - just in case Alex is nearby and ready to jump out. Then he parks and goes on foot, with the GPS narrowing down the location. As he gets closer, he hears crying, and sprints the remaining distance.
"Fry! Where are you?" he calls out, looking between the sheep, and then down the slight ditch at the side of the field. Alex is sitting in two inches of dirty water, covered in mud, and looking very sorry for himself.
Guppy climbs down the ditch, offers Alex his hands, and scoops him up.
"Alex, you must not leave nursery on your own." he says, pulling a face as upset as he feels, taking off his coat and wrapping the little guy up, wanting to hug him tightly. He takes him straight back to the car and checks him over for signs of injury, then phones Barney and the police back.
After getting him home, bathed and warmed up, Guppy takes the opportunity to have another look at him. Couple of little bruises, probably from falling in the ditch, but his head looks fine.
He hears running up the stairs, then Frogspawn runs in.
"You found him? Is he okay?" She asks, scared and tearful.
"I escaped." Alex says.
"You mustn't escape Alex, we were very worried." Frogspawn says, kneeling next to the bath. Alex is by now playing with his bath toys, quite unconcerned. "How did you get out?"
"Press to open." Alex says. "Big stick!"
Guppy and Frogspawn exchange a glance. They get him out of the bath and dressed, then downstairs to join Coral in the living room. She's sleeping blissfully in her baby basket, unaware of the drama.
"I'm going back to the nursery to find out what happened." Guppy says.
"Guppy... we're not leaving him there again." Frogspawn says. "You agree, I hope."
Guppy nods. The nursery have done fairly well with Alex up until now, but this incident is way too close for comfort.
When he gets to the nursery, he stops to look at the gate. Sure enough, 'Push to open' is written above the latch. At the top of the gate is a bolt, but a quick push of the door shows that it's broken. He frowns, takes a picture of it on his mobile, then heads inside.
Barney apologises very humbly for Alex getting out. Lucy admits that Alex has been asking staff to read out words to him lately and that she had read 'Push to open' to him off a toy. They discuss it and come to the calm agreement that Alex was at the time undersupervised, that charges aren't going to be persued but that it's time to look for alternative arrangements. Guppy gathers up the few of Alex's things that are left there.
He remembers to thank them for the good work they tried to do with Alex prior to this. They'd gone out of their way to try and accommodate him before now, after all.
***
"What are we going to do?" Frogspawn asks him, watching Alex contentedly poking the letters on his alphabet toy.
"You'll have to have both of them until we can find another nursery." Guppy says. "We picked the old one before he was diagnosed, this time we can find one that's got some training in handling autistic children. If we have to go special needs, we have to. You've got a bit more maternity leave."
Frogspawn nods. "He has to go back with other kids. Otherwise it's going to be really hard to adjust to school, and to assess his school needs. I'd give up work in an instant to have him full time but I know it wouldn't really do him any good."
Guppy gives her a hug.
"He's safe now. We'll make sure the new place has better locks, and we'll review the security here too. With a bit of luck, he'll have learned that escaping isn't as fun as he thought it was."