Where is Matthew?

Written by Tom Fowler, Published on 10/5/2009

Five -year- old Andy, (5 1/2, as he would tell you), came to his father early one evening and said, “Matthew is hiding. Can you tell where he is

Dad knew that the boys liked to play games with him and their mother. He also knew that Andy expected some questions. He started by asking, “I suppose you know where he is?”

Andy, who expressed himself quite well for a five year old, replied, “Yes, I’ve been with him all afternoon. I know where he is but we want you to find him.”

“OK. Tell me where you’ve been.”

Andy started speaking hurriedly, causing Dad to have to remind him to slow down. Andy started again, forcing himself to speak more slowly. “Well, we’ve been in Matthew’s room, my room, the garage, the tree house and the hall closet.” Andy grinned, laughed, and said, “I bet you can’t find him!”

Dad chuckled. This wouldn’t be too hard. At least, he did not think it would be. Three-year-old Matthew had an advanced way of losing things – and himself! Dad took a long look at his oldest son, as he often did. There were grass stains on his feet and the remnants of a chocolate bar around his lips. A typical five year old, he thought, before saying, “OK, but after we find him, you need a bath!”

Almost shouting, Andy pleaded, “Tell me where he is!” Dad answered, “First, let’s takes a look around

The first thing they inspected was the hall closet. The hall closet was right off of the entrance to the den. Dad had seen them open the closet door and shut it earlier in the afternoon before they headed upstairs.

Next, they went upstairs to Andy’s room. There was a big water spill right at the entrance. Andy had brought an uncovered glass of water upstairs against his mother’s wishes earlier that morning and dropped it when opening the door to his room. Dad noticed with irritation the puddle was just as he had seen it several hours ago as nobody had bothered to wipe up the puddle.

Andy was grinning and giggling. He was certain he and his little brother were putting one over on Dad. Dad said nothing but motioned for them to journey next to Matthew’s room.

Matthew’s room was unusual. The closet was directly opposite the room entrance and had no door. The slide doors had been removed long ago and one could easily see everything in the closet. Looking over at Matthew’s crib bed, he realized he and Mom were going to have to get him a “big boy” bed soon. Mom was going to have to find another place to store the short pile of books, which were underneath the crib. Interestingly enough, the room had no other furniture. Dad and Mom could and, usually, did inventory everything in the room just by a quick scan from the hall when something of Matthew’s was missing, which was often.

Next, Dad and Andy went outside to survey the tree house, which sat in the middle of the large back yard. Dad frowned as he remembered that Mom had chided him for watering the yard earlier. Now, he couldn’t mow until tomorrow. He looked down and saw his shoes were damp from the still wet grass. He silently berated himself for wearing his new house shoes outside. He could already see a green tinge on one of them.

Finally, they went to the garage, departing through the kitchen. Andy was a little hesitant to go there. He knew Dad and Mom got mad if he or Matthew went to the garage without one of them, although that did not stop either of them from doing it occasionally. Not only did Dad have a room full of tools and chemicals that were not kid friendly, but the garage floor had many years of grime on it. Invariably, when Matthew or Andy would venture there alone, they would track oily grime onto the kitchen floor upon returning back into the house. Dad looked around for a moment and said, “OK, Andy, let’s go back into the house.”

Back in the den, Andy became excited again, asking, “Where is he, where is he?”

Dad grinned and said, gently, “I know where he is. Let’s go get him.”