...The rest of my first draft

At first, the thought of a stranger talking to me in an environment where I no longer felt safe did not appeal to me. But I quickly got over this, realizing that crying on the floor probably wouldn’t speed up the process of being reunited with my parents. The clerk spent a few minutes trying to decipher my tear-filled story and, after understanding that I was lost, acted responsibly and did what any good employee would do; help me find my family. The first step of doing this in such a big place is to announce the names of the either the child or the parents on a loudspeaker that is projected to the entire Ocean City boardwalk and beach area. “Would Dan and Beth Hess please report to the front gate of the water park immediately?” Hearing this announcement I felt some small sense of relief mixed with a lot of embarrassment. I couldn’t imagine how my sister would nag me for this one.

Sure enough, within seconds I hear my mom say my name. Not yell my name, just say it. Boy did I feel like an idiot. I turned around in the direction of her half-concerned, half-laughing voice to see my entire family of eighteen sitting together on a few benches not ten yards from where I had been. They were all gathered around three tubs of the Johnson’s popcorn that I knew they were on their way to buy. I ran to my mom and thought I was having a hallmark reunion, crying in her arms. No one else seemed to agree though. She asked what happened, and apparently didn’t even notice I had fallen behind. I told her the story along with the rest of the curious bystanders, who found it intriguing that our presence at the water park was now known to the thousands of vacationers.

Once the shock of the seemingly life-threatening incident had passed, I was able to enjoy some of the fresh caramel corn that we look forward to every year. Although still embarrassed, I could now laugh at the occurrence and roll my eyes when my family says, “Bet you won’t disobey like that again!” Of course, that wasn’t the case and I’m equally stubborn to this day… I just make sure I know where they are going!