The right thing, I guess

This happened last year, but I don't think I wrote about it then.

Biscuit and I were shopping, and he asked if he could go to the toy section by himself. I was looking at bathroom rugs, which is the section right beside toys. So I told him it was okay for him to go and that he could look down three aisles then come back.

"I'll be right here looking at the rugs, okay?" I asked him.

"Okay," he said.

"And when you're done, come right back here," I told him.

"Okay," he said. And I could tell he was getting a little exasperated.

He has no idea what it's like to worry like a madwoman that the worst possible thing that could happen will probably happen.

I looked up and realized that there were more rugs on the other side of the aisle where I was, so I walked around to look. THE VERY NEXT AISLE!

And of course, that was the moment that Biscuit decided to come back. He didn't see me where I told him I'd be, so he did exactly what I've told him to do in that situation. He went to the service desk at the front of the store.

And although he did do the right thing, could he not have walked around to the very next aisle to look for me?!

So over the store intercom, I hear them call me to meet him at the customer service desk at the front of the store.

So I turned my buggy around and hauled butt to the front.

The first thing I did was hug him.

The second thing I did was tell him he did exactly the right thing by having them call me.

The third thing I did was ask him, "Did you look on a couple of rows near where I was supposed to be?"

"Nope," he said. "I looked at the exact row where you said to look. You weren't there, so I went to tell them to call you."

I was trying to decide whether I should tell him to check out the neighboring rows before resorting to having me called to the front.

But before I could decide, Biscuit said, "Hey, Mom. Were you embarrassed when they called you over the com?"

"The com?" I asked. "What is this, a space ship or a store?"