Wander

(Pictures were taken on the 12th and unrelated to subject.)
Yes, my bad, fell asleep at the desk around 1 and ended up going to bed at 5. Set my alarm at 1, but mom woke me up at 12:30.

Dad's gone missing while mom and aunt Y went out.

His shoes and cane and bus pass were gone. He took his wallet too but no keys. He went out through the garage and didn't lock the door. Super dangerous!!!! While I washed my face, mom called up relatives and friends to make sure no one took dad. Aunt C and her relatives happened to be out so they joined in the search along Fraser Street. That went on for a while as I quickly ate some yogurt. Can't do a search on an empty tank.

Our ex-neighbour is in town and it could be possible that they had taken dad for lunch. Their phone was busy, though. So mom phoned up the usual restaurant. No luck. But then she had an intuition and phoned up a less likely restaurant. Bingo. Dad's been "sitting there for a while". Mom told the staff to tell him that we were on our way. She then decided that we should eat lunch there, because dad's been holding up a table at lunch hour. It's only fair. Aunt C dropped by at this perfect timing. We delivered the news that dad's been found, and she left. I got dressed, prepared the house, and we left too.

Closing the curtains, shutting the screen doors and kitchen sliding doors, locking downstairs probably took too long. Parking wasn't easy either. When we arrived at the restaurant, dad had left. The staff at the restaurant didn't know when he left or which direction he took. At least he was there when we called. He couldn't be far. I though we should search on foot nearby, but mom said he must have gone home. So I drove home. Bingo again! There he was, standing at the front door, trying to unlock the door. Turn out he did take some keys, but wrong ones.

Why did he leave knowing that we were on our way? Was he trying to run away from us? It was a mere 20 minutes, and dad beat us. I couldn't believe it. It takes me 15 minutes on foot. He usually walks so slow, there's no way he can do it in 20. What's going on???? I get the feeling that, he knew he screwed up, and tried to eliminate evidence as usual by beating us home.

Another indication for the cover-up theory was his attitude. To start, the restaurant staff did pass him the message that we were on our way to pick him up.
"Why did you leave, then?"
"You guys took too long to show up!"
He said it like he was picking a fight. A perfect sign of buffing.

Apparently, dad thought we were to meet him at the restaurant for lunch. No one ever invited anyone, though. It was all his imagination. Mom said, if you want to have dim sum, just tell us! And we can go! Dad went really grumpy, mumbled something, and made no admission that he made any mistake.

He had the usual portion lunch, then went hunting for more food, found the buns from aunt C, and ate 2. Watermelon on top of that, plus the mangoes mom's peeling for a dish for dinner. If I didn't stopped him in time, he would have opened up another bag of rice crackers. His appetite had gone further out of control.

Today, dad was acting completely out of character. (Well, technically speaking, he's become someone else since a long time ago.) Usually he's timid and doesn't leave the house. He has never gone out alone, always with someone. What made him go out alone today?????????

Yes, I felt very useless. If I had gone to bed earlier and get up earlier, this probably would never have happened. But, is there anything in this world to look forward to anymore? It's easy for you to say "yes". But the answer for me is 99.9% "no". Let's say, that 0.1% is my last bit of hope.