[yasalaioqe]

When I was leaving work to go to lunch the other day (late lunch, 2:30) I noticed a teenager walking this way and that near the corner. He was just wandering back and forth. He was very bundled up, with a long down jacket that went to his knees. I thought to myself he might be homeless or having family trouble, so he'd rather be out in the cold. Teenage boys don't normally bundle up that much. I also thought he might be waiting for someone.

He yelled to me, asking if I had a cigarette. I told him "no, I don't smoke." A lady was walking up the road with her little girl and he approached them. I didn't know if he really was that hard up for a cigarette, or if he'd try to grab her purse or something. At that point I was getting into my car, so I didn't see what happened next, but I passed him as I got to the intersection. Something just seemed strange, so I recall watching him in my side mirror. As I got to the corner the school bus pulled up and the kids began getting off, so I had to sit there till it left. I saw him walk quickly toward the bus and figured he'd know a lot of kids on the bus would have cigarettes, or maybe he was meeting one of them.

I recall thinking, "I hope none of these kids turns up missing."

Late that night I heard on the news that a boy from that bus was missing. I didn't know if my feelings about the other boy were correct, but I called 911 to tell my story. The next morning I found that the missing 15-year-old had been located, that he was autistic, and for some reason he'd been wandering in a wooded area without so much as a shirt on. Luckily a woman who lived in that area spotted him and called the police. He had gone home first, then left again. He said he was on his way to meet a friend, and apparently got lost and disoriented. Of course, I have no way of knowing whether the friend was the one I had seen, but it certainly is a bizarre coincidence that I would have wondered about someone going missing!