The Seanaholic Chronicles: I'm A Hero

Now that's the face of a hero! Well, not really. It's the face of an exhausted man with aching feet who was too tired to hold up his head even though he helped a kid play Lost and Found: The Terrified Parent Edition! on the San Gabriel Valley mountain ridge today.

See, I decided to hike up Garcia Trail today to a) work myself nice and hard and b) take some time for myself where I could be alone with my thoughts and prayers and whatnot. After getting to the top of the mountain, I looked to my left and noticed a boy who couldn't have been more than 9 or 10 wandering around, looking at the dried-out shrubs. I figured his father or mother or older brother or someone was nearby and I simply couldn't see them, so I continued along with my hike. There's a path to give the firefighters a "fighting" chance to stop any possible fire that might pop up and also turns into a handy dandy hiking trail for those who aren't fighting fires. So, I stop and take a few pictures and continue along the path and there's the kid again -- still with nobody around him.

At this point, I'm thinking I'm going to catch up to him and ask him if his parents know he's out, walking along the top of a mountain, so I continue my walk and eventually get up to him and as I'm getting closer, he pulls out a cell phone. He fiddles around with it as I approach and as I pull out one of my earbud headphones, I can hear a woman's voice on the speaker phone. I figure someone knows where he is and he's calling someone just in case I wind up being a molester or whatever. (At least I'd want my kid to be that wary of a stranger walking behind him.) So, I hear the voice, think he's OK or at least accounted for and continue to walk on. I get to the highest point, take a few more pictures and begin my trek back down from where I came.

I walk a little ways and there's the kid again! I figure by now that something has to be up, so I decide that when I get to him I'm going to see what's up. When I get down to him, I can see that he's now crying while clutching the phone.

Are you ok?
I get nothing.
Do your parents know where you are?
Yes. (through alligator tears...the voice in the phone the same as before)
Do you need me to help you back down?
No. (through more tears)

Long story short(er), an L.A. County Sherriffs' helicopter shortly appears along with firefighters on foot and in truck to come and rescue a lost boy. He'd called his mom, who then called the authorities, who came loooking for him.

So...I was involved. Really can't say that I helped, but I'm glad my instincts were firing on all cylinders. No boy is going to walk that thing on his own. It's hard enough for men.

I was able to get some nice shots in the midst of all the hooplah.

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