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Author:  Johnny-Jack [ Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:04 pm ]
Blog Subject:  Pip (Phillip). Alter #33

We met little Pip yesterday noon. He is almost 4.

I got a haircut and was doing errands before taking a bus home. I felt a littleness in my body so stepped aside to make room. A boy slipped in front, confused and nervous but not fearful as most others arrive. We grew up in a small town so the busy city is daunting for everyone new. He wanted to sit on a nearby bench and I encouraged him.

As we shopped, we switched back and forth a bit. When I wasn't making adult decisions, like which light bulb to buy, when we were just walking from point to point, it was him.

Sphinx confirmed he was previously unknown but I had no sense of his being traumatized. Names began floating by, like an old rolodex flipping, and the name Phillip was there. Then I heard Pip and that was a lock too.

What I think we learned. Pip was the one who from age 2 to 4 planned running away. As an orphan who lived with mean relatives (the parents), he was detached enough to justify leaving. I once journaled that we planned our escape many times but never recalled my doing that.

Pip's long trudge home on foot felt like running away had begun. Passing strange buildings, the cold snow blowing in his face, he was alone, an orphan. It was real but he wasn't so afraid, just determined to figure things out. How to survive here, how far to go before finding food and shelter, who looked safe, what lies to tell so they couldn't send him home.

I told him we had sort of run away. I said we lived far away from home in a new town and had our own house. He asked who I was and where was I talking to him from. I said inside and after a while he seemed to accept that. Children live in a world of full of wonders, like disembodied voices guiding them to safety.



Comments

Author:  Johnny-Jack [ Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:40 am ]

Five years after this post, we learn a lot more about Pip and why he's here with us.
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