This is based on a true story. Some things were changed because I didn't have acces to the knowledge of what really happened for some parts. I wrote this for my Composition 101 class at Olympic College and recieved an "A".
I now present to you "My Child is Missing" written/last updated on October 10, 1998.
"My Child is Missing"
"Johnny," a frantic mother calls out to her son, "Where are you?" The last time she had seen her seven year old son was around 3:00 p.m. when he was playing in the yard with the dogs. She had gone inside to answer the phone and when she came back, Johnny and the dogs were missing. At first, she thought that they had gone for a walk which they did often. After the first hour she got frantic and started looking around the neighborhood for him. She asked her neighbors and family to help look for Johnny. At around 8:00 p.m. the dogs came back without Johnny. Johnny's mother knew something was seriously wrong. Had her child been kidnaped or maybe hurt somewhere in the vast woods that surrounded the neighborhood? Now, it was time to call in the police. The police arrived and did a quick search for the boy around the house and surrounding houses. The police, coming up empty handed, called in the Search and Rescue coordinators, Deputy Mark Rufener and Sergeant John Sprague. Sergeant Sprague's first call was to the Ramey's to call out their search dog, Albert, and the Kitsap County Explorer Search and Rescue unit, also known as ESAR. With Albert and ESAR on the way he headed out to the family's house to interview them.
The call came in around 1:00 a.m. at the Ramey's house. A small boy was missing and their help was needed desperately. Bruce Ramey woke up his daughter, Kirstin, and had her get her dog and the packs. Within minutes, the rest of ESAR was being called and they were off to the search.
At base camp, the Search Van was busy with the dispatching of the teams. The dog team knew their assignment and went to the family's house to collect an item that Albert could use to get the boy's scent off. This task turned out to be very hard. The boy's sister had slept in his bed after he had. His mother had used his toothbrush and all his dirty clothes were in a pile with the rest of the family's dirty cloths. With all this mixed scent it would be hard to find something that had mostly the boy's scent on it. The items they found didn't look too good but they had to try. Kirstin gave Albert the item to sniff and they started their assignment. Because the boy had been last seen in his yard, where he played every day, Albert had to follow the many trails that the boy had taken from the house in the last few days to find out which trail was the freshest. While he was doing that, the other ESAR teams were deployed.
"Johnny," Tami yelled and then waited and listened for a response. Nothing. Tami and Brian, both ESAR members, had been assigned an area behind the house to search. It was 2:00 a.m. when they came to a muddy area containing some footprints. The prints were fairly new and belonged to a little child and a dog. These had to be Johnny's! They called into base with this information and their location. They then proceed in the directions of the footprints.
While Tami was doing another voice check, Brian thought he heard something. Tami called the boy's name again and they got a definite cry for help. Tami and Brian ran in the direction of the young boy's yells. When he came into sight, they could see that he had gotten stuck in a pile of branches left by the loggers. They quickly got him free and examined him for any injuries. He was hungry and slightly hyperthermic but, other than that, he was fine. With base being informed of the find, the other teams were called back to base camp. One team was instructed to go and help with the evacuation of the boy.
Tyler and Justin, also ESAR members, met up with Tami and Brian within minutes of the find. Tyler offered the young boy a piggy back ride back to his parents and he accepted. A police cruiser was waiting for them when they reached the road. Johnny refused to ride in the car because he preferred ridding on Tyler's shoulders, so Tyler had to carry the boy the half mile of road between them and Johnny's family.
What a sight! Tyler with the boy on his shoulders followed by Tami, Brian, Justin, and two or three police cruisers with their light bars on. Johnny's mother was so happy to see her son safe. When Tyler handed Johnny to his mother, her face lit up. Another life saved and a family reunited.
Copyright 2001, K.C. Ramey. Don't take this without my permission. you can read it but don't steal it as your own. If you want to use it as an example please e-mail me with what you want to use it for. sardogmom@yahoo.com