"Uriel, where’s Mommy?” Martin asked his older brother nervously. The two young mice had been shopping with their mother for the past few hours. They had followed her from aisle to aisle, but had both stopped to look at some toys on the shelf for a few moments. WhenMartin had turned around, she was gone.
Uriel turned his head from the toy car he was looking at and looked up and down the aisle. “I don’t know,” he said, his voice strained.
“What are we supposed to do?”
“Go find her I guess.”
Uriel grabbed Martin’s arm and dragged him along behind him, passing aisle after aisle of merchandise. After a few minutes of walking through the large store, Martin started to whimper.
“Uriel, I’m scared.” And he was. Martin had never been away from his parents except when he was at school or playing with his friends, but he had always known where to find them, but now he didn’t know where Mommy was. What if she had forgotten about them? What if they never found her? Tears fell from Martin’s eyes as he sniffled.
“Stop crying, Martin,” Uriel scowled. “Mom’s somewhere in the store”
“But what if we can’t find her?” Martin sobbed.
“We’ll find her.” Uriel sounded unconvinced. “Stop being such a baby.”
“I’m not a baby. I’m only a year younger than you.”
“Then stop acting like a baby. Don’t cry.”
“But I’m scared.”
“Crying doesn’t help. Come on.” Uriel pulled on his brother’s arm and continued to walk around the store, looking for their mother. After another few minutes, a grown-up wearing a polo shirt and a name tag kneeled down and smiled at them.
“Hi there,” he said, “are you boys lost?”
Martin gasped and broke away from Uriel, running down an aisle.
“Martin!” Uriel shouted. “Get back here!”
He dashed after his 5 year-old brother and eventually caught him. “Why are you running?”
“He was a stranger.”
“He works here. Didn’t you see his name-tag? He could’ve helped us find Mom. Now let’s go see if we can find him again.”
Uriel brought Martin back to the spot they had seen the employee. Uriel looked all around for him, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“Great,” Uriel huffed.
Martin broke down crying, weeping uncontrollably. He knew that they would never find Mommy. She was gone and they wouldn’t see her again. There was nothing he could do.
“Martin! Uriel!” a familiar voice called.
Martin and Uriel turned around and saw their mother standing next to the store employee.
“Mommy!” Martin cried as he ran to her, tears still falling. She knelt down and hugged him as he sobbed into her chest.
“Hey there,” she soothed her son as he continued to weep, “it’s okay. I’m here.” She started rocking him back and forth. “Why don’t you tell me what happened.”
“You got lost,” Uriel choked between sobs. “We looked all over for you but we couldn’t find you. I was scared.”
“That does sound scary. How about you stay extra close to me to make sure I don’t get lost again?” She stood up and Martin grabbed onto her hand and held it like he would never let go. “How about you, Uriel? You okay?
Uriel nodded. “I’m fine. I knew we’d find you.”
He sounded confident, but Martin thought he saw Uriel quickly wipe a tear from his eye.
If their mother saw anything, she didn’t say. “Well, how about you stay close and help your brother keep track of me?”
“Sure.”
As the three continued their trip around the store, Martin stared at his brother when he wasn’t looking. He didn’t understand Uriel. How could he act like he didn’t miss Mommy? Why did Uriel hate it when he saw him cry?
Martin pushed his thoughts aside and held onto his mother’s hand. She was back. He was safe. That was all the mattered.