I found a 4 year old in the WM parking lot

As I was walking up to my neighborhood Wal-Mart, as I often do (vomit)...I saw a cute little boy walking out. He was no taller than 3 feet high. But he stood upright and walked so confidently, one might have thought he was SUPPOSED to be there...alone, walking in the Wal Mart parking lot...toting a Turkey Lunchable.

I was still several yards away from the boy - but I kept my eye on him just in case. Sadly enough, the other MILLION people who were walking in and out of WalMart...either walked right past him as if there was nothing wrong with the sight of a lone 4 year old....or they looked at him, whispered to their company, looked disturbed...and kept walking.

Are you kidding me!?! What is wrong with this world?

I walked up to the little boy and asked him where his mom was. He ignored me.
I asked him again, "Where's your mom?"
"In her car", he responded. "Where's her car?"
"Over there", he pointed to the entire parking lot, swaying his arms from side to side, so as to make every parking space an option.

I was able to find out from him that his mom drives a small white car. I learned that he was 4 years old, has a brother who is smaller than me but bigger than him, and that the last time he saw his mom she was INSIDE the Wal Mart.

Hmm...

He was on the verge of being nervous, so I kept him distracted by acting silly and telling him my name. His name was Joelle. He was "this many", he said as he held up four fingers proudly.

Here's where the story gets sad...I took him up to the customer service desk at Wal Mart - and they had absolutely no idea how to handle the situation. Their first response was, "I wonder if mom left him here?" Really?!? C'mon! That was my cue to stick around.

Joelle started to get nervous - biting on the box of his Lunchable...that can't be good.
So I pulled from deep down and got into my camp counselor mode...lol... I couldn't leave him there with those crazies! I was able to find out from Joelle that his mom was wearing a green shirt and maybe pants, possibly a dress. haha. Joelle also divulged that she was there to buy a lot of groceries, even though she's not so good at cooking. Eeeek. lol.

I suggested that the cust. service people call into security and look for his mom/brother in the store. Yes, I know, that was brilliant.

Luckily they found her, and eventually they found us...waiting in customer service for his mom to arrive. in the 15 minutes that we waited for the "reunion", I kept Joelle distracted by having him count for me...and then nervously participated as he tested MY counting skills, too! lol. Cute kid.

His family was happy that I found him...in the parking lot...carrying a turkey lunchable.