D.J.'s Run Away Day

D.J. just wanted to get away. He was sick of everyone. His sister, his cousin, his grandmother – everyone. He was a very active child, and therefore tended to stay in trouble. He decided that he would run away, but he didn’t really want to do that. He just wanted to stay out of trouble.

         Finally, D.J. had his limit. He grabbed his book sack and began packing it with everything he thought he would need on his journey. He knew he would need his phone, some toy cars, peanut butter, a spoon, and some bread. He decided he would also need a couple of his favorite comic books. At the last minute, he thought that he might as well bring his long, red robe in case he got cold. With everything he needed safely packed away, he just had to figure out where to go.

         D.J. knew he didn’t want to go far. He thought and thought about where he could go when he ran away. Suddenly, it occurred to him that he had the perfect place to go, and it was right in his back yard. D.J. slipped out the back door and climbed into his tree house.

         Once he was in the tree house, he began unpacking and setting up his new home. It was so relaxing up here. No one was griping at him or asking him to do anything. No one was ordering him around or accusing him of doing things.

         The sun was shining brightly through the leaves of the tree, throwing interesting shadows in the tree house. It was a warm summer afternoon, and there was a slight breeze blowing. D.J. was comfortable and content in his tree house. He was missing a couple of things, though, but he had ideas about how to remedy that situation. He wanted a television, some different food besides peanut butter to eat, and a few necessary items from his room. 

         When no one was paying attention, D.J. slipped quietly back into the house. He ran a long extension cord and grabbed a small television. He rigged a harness to carry the television up to the tree house and away he went. He was very proud of himself for setting up a television in the tree house, but now he had another problem – he was hungry. 

         Back in the house, D.J. decided on some other food to bring besides the peanut butter and bread that he already had. There were hot pockets in the freezer, so he heated up a couple of those and grabbed some sodas and headed back to his tree house. He also went back to his room and grabbed some comics and army men. He intended to keep himself very busy.

        Around noon, D.J.’s friend, Tyler, came over to play. They spent several hours in the tree house playing army men and reading comic books. When they were done playing, they had peanut butter sandwiches and watched some television. The bright, warm summer sun beamed down on the tree house, and the breeze through the windows was so pleasant that both boys dozed off into an afternoon nap.

         They awoke to the sounds of D.J.’s grandma calling their names. Tyler’s mom had called and wanted him home for supper. Grandma asked D.J. if he would be coming in to have supper with the family. D.J. told his grandmother that he had run away and wasn’t coming home at all. Grandma told him if he got hungry he could come and get a plate of food. 

         Soon the smells of grandma’s cooking drifted through the evening air and up into the tree house. D.J. told himself that he wasn’t hungry and wasn’t going in to get out of his tree house to eat. His stomach, however, told a different story. The growling and grumbling eventually got to be too much to take, and he slowly climbed down and quietly went to the kitchen door.

         Grandma saw him at the door, and gave him a welcoming smile. 

“Hungry?” she asked.

         D.J. slowly nodded his head. Grandma made him a meal in a to – go plate and told him to go back to his tree house and that no one needed to know he had come back to eat. He smiled at her, took his plate, and headed back. 

         As the long afternoon slowly made its way to night, and the warm, brilliant sun lazily sank, making room for the bright, full moon, D.J. felt sort of lonely. He missed his family even though they didn’t always get along. He knew that after supper would be showers, then it would be game time. Grandma always played games with them before bedtime. After games, it would be movie time, also with grandma. If they were good, there would be cookies and hot cocoa for a bedtime snack before brushing teeth.

         D.J. watched from the door of his tree house as everyone sat down for supper. He opened his container and ate along with them, even though they didn’t know it. When supper was over, everyone got into their robes for showers. D.J. couldn’t shower in his tree house, and normally this wouldn’t bother him because he didn’t care for showers, but tonight it bothered him.

         He watched some more television while the others in the house went through their shower routines. He saw movement in the dining room, and turned off his television to watch. Everyone started heading into the dining room to play games. D.J. was tempted to go down and join them, but he wasn’t ready to give in just yet.

         They played a couple of rounds of Uno, then they played Sorry! and to top it all off they pulled out his favorite, Life. When no one was looking, grandma held up the box lid and motioned for D.J. to come play. He slowly shook his head from side to side. Not ready yet. Grandma shrugged and blew him a kiss.

         He watched grandma walk into the kitchen. He watched as she put cookies in the oven. He knew that very soon everyone would be enjoying warm, freshly baked cookies. Everyone except him. This made him sad, and he cried a little.

         When grandma took the cookies out of the oven and made the cocoa, D.J. could take it no more. He decided the family had been punished enough. He climbed down and ran into the house. He wanted his cookies and cocoa, but most of all he missed his grandma!