The frustration was boiling inside of me. Such a beautiful boy. Inside and out. Seeing such a woman walk outside, carless, not giving a damn in the world, only caring for her daughter- most importantly herself, but not for this teenage boy. Knots in my stomach started to twist. My blood started to boil. That first sentence that spewed out of her mouth was so dirty. Nails on a chalkboard. “ Did he steal that..?”


Working with kids is a very important thing to me, being able to care of kids with special needs is held very dear to me.


Being a beautiful saturday morning, i approach the place I like to call my second home. Approaching this white building, opening the crystal clear glass doors, you the get sound of kids laughing and screaming, coaching directing and blowing whistler, front desk answering calls - the busiest time of week. You get that gritty smell of an indoor turf, all aborosed through your nostrils. This place is where every kid in Northbrook, has come in the past or is presently attending. Putting on my highlighter yellow shirt, im off to work. I start off with getting all the equipment ready. Colorful cones, bouncy balls, nifty noodles- all needed for fun. When coaching birthday parties here, you never know what to expect. You have that sensation in you, not knowing whether you can you handle these kids or not. 40 three and four year olds could be a hassle but you make the best out of it. Thankfully this one is seven and eight year old boys. Sure there a little older than the toddlers but that means there better. They push. They shove. The punch, scream and tackle. All lovely qualities in which a boy engages in. We get started.

Take the out balls. Check. Play a game of soccer. Check. Go on the inflatables check. We got through an hour of field time so, now, it was time for everyone to get their shoes back on, line up in a straight, single file line, and walk over to the party room -each kid got a squirt of hand sanitizer and sat down in a big black party chair. My co workers and I work as team passing out juice boxes water and pizza. As i'm walking around with pizza, I get a big tug on my shirt. I figured it was one the kids so I ignored it. Another tug. This time i knew it wasn't just any regular kid, so i turned around and saw a mid age man scrunching his pointer finger right at me directing for me to come out of the party room to him. I was scared. My heart started pounding. My mind started to jumble. Every possible thought ran through my head. Am i fired? Did i upset his child? Wrong capri sun given out? Giving the last slice to the one of the nearest kids next to me i set out into the lobby.

“Excuse miss, I’m sorry for bothering you, but, when walking out with my daughter to the car, I noticed a kid with downs standing by the curb. Is this kid by any chance apart of this birthday party going on right now? he said.

When that sentence came out, a huge feeling of relief flowed over me. But, confusion came to my head. There was no special needs child that was with us at the party.

“ Well, sir, I coached this party and there was no special kid involved, as far as i knew.

At the point i started to worry so I walked through the lobby out the front glass doors to

see what was going. Blue pants. Blue shirt. Blue eyes. Everything blue. identically

matching with the clear sky.

“This is the boy I was talking about.” the man said.


I’ve never seen this kid ever in my life nor even today at the birthday party. Maybe he

was waiting for a parent to get out of the car from the park lot, or had to get some air,

maybe someone was bringing him something and he was waiting to pick it up. Then

again, why would someone not at least be assisting him. Its necessary. The dad and I

waited for about 20 minutes to figure out where he could have come from. We scanned

the parking lot and noticed.


A black Toyota Highlander SUV with the passenger door open. Wide open. No

passengers aboard. Clear. Empty.

Automatically, I concluded that, thats where the boy to have come from. Of course there

were many other possibilities but that one seemed to fit the best. Even though, I had the

birthday party inside, i figured, whats the point of even going back when i had this boy

right in front of me.

“Its fine sir, Ill figure it out and stay with him here, to ensure his safety.” i said.

“Okay! Thank you so much, I just didn't know if you knew him or not, but thank you.”

Him and his daughter had walked off. Turning i see this kid again. His looking at me confused.
Hes a mind reader or something because that is the same exact I felt. I guess on where you could have came from but that wasn't an exact correct answer.

“Are you waiting for your parents?”

No response.

“Hey, did you get out of that car over there.” I pointed.

No response.

I felt like i was just saying all the wrong things. Like i was speaking a foreign language. Instead of starting to panic, i figured i would ask simple questions, to make someone, actually, anyone in the world, feel comfortable.

“Whats your name?”

“What what is youur name?” he jumbled twice.

“Whats your name?” I said again

“Jaaaaxsssssss”

Finally, I got so relieved, and all so happy. It was weird. This kid touch really touched my heart. It was like when a mother and father, wait for the baby to say “mommy” or “daddy” to them first. It was beautiful.

Jaxs and I stood around. We talked about the sports he liked to play. He loved to play tennis. He moved his feet and hands to show me how he plays. His favorite color was blue, so he showed me his outfit and pointed to each article of clothing. Finally the sun came out. Our backs were to it, so jaxs started flapping his arms like a bird. He saw his reflection on the dirt in front of us. He glowed in the sun. His crystal blue eyes reflected off and glinsined.

He shined like a star.

People might view him as just some kid, with special needs but, he was so much more. So much passion for life, just being a kid enjoying life.

I will never forget the way he smiled at me. With everything. I enjoyed every second of it. Absorbed every moment.


After an hour and a half standing out there with some hope that someone would would come no did. My boss came outside and asked me what i was doing. Then jaxs turned around full force.

She nodded her head and went back inside. Then a really kind man came out, alex, and brought jax a gatorade. A blue one. Jaxs took a sip and sat besides the building. We started to ask him what his mom looked liked since we found out from him that his dad was at work.

“What color hair does she have? Blonde like alex?”I pointed.

“Or does she have brown hair like me?” I said.

We found out that she was a skinny blonde women. Alex went for the search and I stayed with him. Finally his mother came out.

“Jaxs! Did you steal that gatorade?! Give it back!”

Alex and I looked at one another and were very puzzled but then grew angry. For two hours this
women sat inside watching her daughter's field hockey game but didn't give a care in the world
where jaxs was. She came then to tell us that Jaxs didn't like to go inside the sports center. She would leave him in the car. Buckled. Locked. A little crack of air. Two hours.

The thought of that drove me nuts. People pamper their damn dogs better than this child. I felt so passionate about this one kid, when the mom and him left I call the police and reported it. I had gotten her license plate number and info from the front desk when she signed in. Reporting that incident was the single greatest thing i've done, insuring him and his safety.