EIGHT

I couldn’t believe it. I stumbled along our row to our seats, which were right in the middle, and just stood there for a while, my heart really banging. I sat down. Grandpa must have just gone out for a minute, maybe to the washroom (though I hadn’t seen him out in the corridor), and he’d likely be back any second. But I waited for a long time, what seemed like ten or fifteen minutes (though maybe it wasn’t nearly that long), and he didn’t come.

It was the worst feeling in the world, absolutely indescribable, like everything had come crashing down.

I started to panic, and I made a bad decision. When I was little, my parents told me that if I was ever separated from them in a public place, I should stay exactly where I was and they would find me. But at this minute, I was separated from Grandpa in a huge crowd in a foreign country. I had to find him—now! I ran up the stairs and out into the corridor.

I couldn’t see him anywhere. I raced around the entire area, circling the building and searching all the washrooms. Then I made a really bad decision.

I went outside.