I walked outside on that chilly fall afternoon.  I went to go get the mail then a quick gust of wind came and nearly blew me away.  That was strange there must  be something happening with the weather.  My first thought is that I should go check on Pops. I decide to bring the plants in first then, I will check on him. 

The door is hard to open because it is so windy outside.  I walk into the our house, it’s not much just a small cottage, like most of the houses in Richmond.  When I go downstairs to see where Pops in he is gone. My immediate reaction is that he ran away.  Pops is my dad, he is 70 he fought in the Vietnam war when I was younger  .  Pops has brain damage and sometimes goes crazy when he doesn’t take his pills. He must have not taken his pills today. 

I was starting to get worried. He did this last month too. If he keeps this up the police are going to put him in a mental home. Last month they found him in the woods behind our house, I’ll go there first, if I don’t find him there I will call the police. I get into our truck and drive to the woods behind our house I have no idea how long he has been gone. He was at breakfast but then he went downstairs and I haven’t seen him since.  I looked down at my watch its 10:24 am he has been gone for at least two hours.

I turn on the radio to distract myself and try and not think about what Pops could be doing.  I hear the weather report that starts at 10:30 am Ted Wilson says there is a storm coming in,and that there will be possible tornados around 11:00 am this was one of those moments when I just couldn’t think straight because I was so stressed out.

Once I got to the woods I rolled down my window and started screaming his name while driving.  ”Pops, Pops come here Pops!”  I had looked all over the woods and there was no way he was in the woods.  The weather is not looking any better, the sky is starting to turn green. I looked down at my watch it reads 10:51 am. I should to go home now, but I won’t. I call 911 and file a report for a missing person. I drive to the ice cream shop, the grocery store,and to the gas station Pops isn’t at any of them. Rain is pouring down so hard I have to stop so my car so it  doesn’t get carried away by water. I hear something in the distance it is loud. I don’t want to get out of the car because it is pouring so hard but I do, to see if this loud noise could lead me to Pops. I go down a hill and into a restaurant. It is called Bene’s this is where the loud noise was coming from.

Bene’s is where Pops used to take me when I was a little girl. After mom passed away when I was 7 we didn’t have anyone to cook for us, unless if you count the dozens of frozen meals that neighbors had brought weekly for a year.  Pops has never been good at cooking and probably never will be, but that’s okay. I walked into Bene’s and my dads favorite song was on “Macarthur Park” by Richard Harris.  All the memories of him dancing in the kitchen and singing in his distinct voice flush back into my head. I can’t handle it. I started breaking down. The people in the restaurant were probably wondering why I had fallen to the ground and started balling my eyes out. I can’t stop looking for him now. The employees at Bene’s tell me I shouldn’t go out there they probably thought it wasn’t safe for me in my mental state and, the rain combined. I have to go home it is no longer safe for me to be out here anymore.  I drive home crying and I can’t see a thing.  Once I get home I am surprised to see a man in my living room.  It’s Pops. I am so excited to see him tears of happiness start streaming down my face. “Why are you crying what is wrong with you?” he said. “I thought you ran away!” I cried. “I was upstairs the whole time”, he said with a very confused look on his face. I hugged Pops “I will never let you  go”, I said, but then I let go because I wanted some milk.