If any of my neighbors looked out their windows around supper time last night, they might have seen my wife leaving my house...in the back of a cop car.

Yes, you heard me right. My wife was taken away in the back seat of a county sheriff's cruiser.

And that's about as dramatic as I can make it. No, she wasn't being arrested or anything like that. No spousal abuse, no domestic disturbance, and no, she didn't short circuit after having finally finished her mid-term and term paper. Let me tell you the story...

Right about supper time last night, I happened to notice a kid walking through the neighbor's yard. At first I thought it was a neighborhood kid and made the comment about how I couldn't believe he'd have the brass to walk through their yard, as they have some rather large dogs who can be over-enthusiastic. A couple of minutes later, I saw he was in the back yard of Debbie's house, a different neighbor. It was obvious this wasn't who I thought it was, and even more obvious that he was mentally challenged in some way.

I walked out to keep an eye on him while Gail left to start combing the neighborhood to see if anyone was out looking for him. The poor kid was in a pair of sweats and long sleeved shirt, but that was it. No socks, no shoes, not even a coat. And it was cold and drizzly. From my admittedly uninitiated observation, it appeared he was autistic: he had a stuffed cat that he had by the tail and was twirling it around non-stop. I tried approaching him once to see if he wanted to come into my house to get warm, but as soon as he saw me, he turned and went around the backside of Debbie's house.

Not wanting to lose sight of him, I walked around the front and then just kept him in sight. He went to another house and tried to get in the front door, which was locked. Then he went around the back, tried the basement door, then climbed the deck and tried the door there. Both were locked and he found a swinging chair to sit in.

Gail showed back up at this time and said that she thought his name was Andrew. I called up to him and he did seem to react to his name. Gail, having experience with these types of kids, walked up the deck and simply picked him up. He held on to her willingly so she brought him back out to the street. About this time the sheriff's deputy had arrived.

Gail had found where he was from, so she and Andrew hopped in the back of the cruiser and the deputy took Andrew home. Turns out he'd wandered away from his sitter, and they were all out looking for him. Luckily, Gail had found one of the people searching, who in turn told her what house to go to.

So all's well that ends well. Andrew was home safe, hopefully with some socks on to warm his feet, and we now have his parents phone numbers, as well as his sitters.

I just wish I'd had my camera when the deputy left with Gail in the back of the cruiser.