Essay 15 Finding a Wayward Son

Essay 15
FINDING A “WAYWARD” SON

One summer, I'd guess when Wayne was about l8, he worked at the Long's Peak Inn, at the foot of Longs Peak. This is a most beautiful location, but he and a roommate apparently thought they needed more money, and quit to find other work. The roommate was from Iran, Texas, near Odessa as we knew, and we also knew his name, but that was all. One day when I called the Inn from Los Alamos, I was told that Wayne and his roommate had quit the week before, and no one knew of their whereabouts.

Addie Leah and I were both concerned. It had already been about a week since they had left, yet we had heard nothing at all. But recognizing Wayne's ability to take care of himself, I was confident that he would call us at a time he considered proper, and that if there were a problem, we would already have heard something.

This was not Addie Leah's view.

But of course I did nothing but wait to hear. What else could we do?

Addie Leah murmured and fussed for a number of days.

One day as I returned home from the Lab, Addie Leah announced that she had had enough. If I did not do something immediately to find Wayne, she would take steps that would surprise me, and I would regret the day, etc. etc. I realized that something had to be done even though I was sure (well, almost sure) that he was OK. Not knowing anything else to do, I stood up. After a few moments, I walked to the phone. How should I start?

We had talked about the possibility that the boys had gone to Texas, since that was the home of the roommate. Iran was a possibility. So I put through a call to the Texas Rangers, though frankly I wondered why. The person who answered the phone for the Rangers said that they had no personnel in the vicinity of Odessa, and I asked about the Highway Patrol, but apparently the Patrol also had no one in that area. I believed Iran to be a small town kind of place, and so immediately tried to think in those terms.

Small towns have their own charm, and habits. People know things about other people, whether or not they should. So with directory assistance I placed a call to the Iran Power and Light Company, i.e. the company that served that area. A lady answered, and I explained that I was missing a boy, and an Iran boy, whose name I gave her, might know something about Wayne. She told me that yes, she knew that boy, but he was working in Colorado, and his parents were spending the summer in Europe, and their house was closed for the summer. That would appear to be THAT.

The lady was concerned about our not knowing about Wayne, and the concern we must have. She therefore gave me the telephone number of the town’s filling station, for the owner was a man who kept watch, and he might have some information. I called the station, explained my situation, inquiring about the Iran lad. Well, the station owner had seen the boy driving past in his girl friend=s convertible earlier that afternoon, thought it was possible that Wayne was with him, and could be having dinner at the home of the girlfriend even as we were talking; and here's their telephone number.

With a "Thank you very much!" I now called the new number. A lady answered. I asked
"Does a Wayne Brownlee happen to be at your house?"
She said "Why, yes!
I admit that I now sported a huge grin. "May I speak to him please?" In a few seconds Wayne was on the line. I said "Hello Wayne, your Mother wishes to speak to you!" And put Addie Leah on the line.

I have no recollection of the conversation that followed. Wayne of course had explanations at the ready, and they dwelt on his decision to call when he got his first pay check from the job he had acquired in the oil fields. Meanwhile he had been starving, had no money, had suffered untold, perhaps even untolled hardships. Addie Leah was of course quite forgiving, and all was well.

I remember all this with real pleasure. Wayne's respect for parents' abilities to track him down had to be on the upswing. Addie Leah would surely have to admit that I was right, and that Wayne was OK. (But I don't recall that she did!) And what a triumph to solve this knotty problem in only four phone calls, in less than ten minutes, and all within a few steps of my favorite chair.

On the other hand, look at the time I had invested in knowing small towns!!