Benny and the Police

A couple of days ago, Benny gave me a little scare. We were all inside and I was laying on the couch because I was feeling dizzy. Benny really is a good brother but that day he was struggling and was picking on Asher. I finally told him to go outside if he couldn't think of anything better to do. So being a little hurt and angry, he announced that I would never see him again and then walked outside. This is typical. He thinks I don't love him anymore and threatens to run away but he really just wants me to chase after him and bring him back home. I do this, but first I give him a couple of minutes to cool down before I come after him. I waited for about 5 minutes and then I went outside to look for him. He usually just wanders around the complex near by but this time I couldn't find him. I kept looking for 20 minutes and then started to think that maybe he really did run away. I started to panic and decided to call the police. They arrived very quickly and got a description of him and then asked if they could search the house just to make sure he wasn't hiding anywhere. I said yes and silently wished I had picked up a bit. Toys were everywhere, beds weren't made and it looked very disheveled but, oh well. It wasn't really important. I continued to look outside and then the officers came out and told me to start knocking on all the neighbors doors to see if any of them had seen Benny. I started at one end but decided to skip over to #7. There was a young couple there who had a baby girl and a tank of fish that Benny loved to look at and ask questions about. He loved going over there to chat with them but it hadn't crossed my mind to look there in the first place. When I knocked Benny came to the door and then I started to bawl uncontrollably. I hate it when that happens. I was embarrassed crying in front of the neighbors. It was obvious that he had totally forgotten that he was going to run away and was just enjoying a nice social call. I had told the neighbors that it was okay with me if Benny visited them if it was okay with them and I had told Benny the same thing. The neighbors apologized and felt bad of course and I tried to tell them it wasn't their fault, Benny just hadn't told me where he was going. Benny was very confused. He didn't get the big fuss. He always went to visit the neighbors, why was this visit any different? I told the police that I had found him and then one of them bent down and looking him in the eye, told him he had to tell mommy where he was going. This intimidated Benny quite a bit and he said nothing. When the police officers left and we where inside, he asked with his head hanging down, "Am I going to jail"?
I'm grateful for the police. They were so nice and comforting and I didn't feel the least bit judged by them for having a messy house or being a obnoxious mom who didn't look for the obvious before calling them. I didn't have to worry about them being corrupt or slow to respond. They were just nice people.