Lost Little Boy Goes House to House Looking For Help until His Carbon Copy Opens the Door – Story of the Day

A little boy lost track after running after an ice cream truck. He knocked on every door in an unfamiliar neighborhood begging for help to go home, only to freak out when his carbon copy opened the door.

Little Dale was walking with his grandma in a crowded marketplace. He held her hand tight, just like she instructed him to when in crowded places.

Dale's grandma, Dorothy, assumed he was still holding her hand. But when she looked down, he was not there. Her finger was brushing against the broccoli popping out of her bag.

Dorothy panicked and recalled seeing an ice cream truck just moments ago. She suspected Dale ran after it and panicked, looking around for him...

"Dale? Dale, my boy, where are you?" she shouted, tears streaming down her frightened eyes.

"Who are you? And how come you look like my son?" shrieked the other boy's mother.

"Hey, hey, did you see a small boy? He's seven...." Dorothy asked passers-by, but nobody had seen him.

"Jesus, please bring him back. My little boy, where did he go?"

Dorothy looked around for Dale but never found any traces of him. For a moment, she thought he could've been kidnapped. But who would kidnap the grandson of a poor, humble merchant of fresh garden produce?

"I'm sure he ran after that ice cream truck. But where is it? I don't see the truck anywhere."

Dorothy's instincts were right. Little Dale had been bugging her to buy him ice cream, and when he saw the van, he let go of her hand and ran after it. He followed the truck that sped toward a different neighborhood and realized pretty late that he was lost and far away from the market.

Dale stared at the huge buildings that appeared scary. He was small and had never been out alone. His gut tickled in fear, hearing vehicles honking behind him. He ran toward a cluster of houses nearby to ask for help.

"Who is it?" a lady answered after hearing Dale knock on her door.

"I want to go home. Can you please help me? I want to go to granny!" Dale cried.

"Granny? There's no granny here. Go away," shouted the lady, assuming he was a neighboring kid pulling pranks on her.

"No, no, please help me!" But the woman slammed the door on poor Dale's face.

Shattered and scared, he knocked on all the houses begging for help, but he was turned away because everybody thought he was staging some trick as kids there had done it before.

Dale almost gave up when he spotted one last house he had missed knocking on. He was hopeless but still gave it a try.

Thud! Thud! The little boy knocked on the door. Nobody answered.

He knocked again. Thud!

This time, the door creaked open, giving Dale the shock of his life. He was staring at his carbon copy!

"A mirror? No, his clothes are different," mumbled Dale.

"What— Oh my God, mom, come here!" the other boy shouted, calling out to Emma, who was equally startled after seeing Dale and his uncanny resemblance to her son, Peter.

"Who are you? And how come you look like my son?" she shrieked. "Come in."

"...I ran behind the truck and... I turned around, and granny was not there," Dale narrated in tears.

Emma was still shocked. She gave Dale some water and, moments later, peeked through the curtains after hearing cop sirens on the street.

"They must be here for you...come with me," she said, leading Dale by his hand.

Emma approached a cop holding Dale's photo, inquiring about him. "Officer, the boy is here. He came here a while ago, and I made him stay. I was just about to call 911."

Dorothy got down from the patrol car and rushed to Dale. "Oh, dear, why did you leave me? My heart almost stopped beating! Thank goodness you're alright! And thank you, dear! I will never forget your help!"

Dorothy smiled at Emma, only to be jolted after seeing little Peter peep out from behind her.

"Jesus Christ! How is this even possible?" she cried.

"Yes, I wanted to talk to you about that. Please come in," said Emma.

Dorothy learned that Peter was not Emma's biological son. She was his stepmother who had married a man named Simon six years ago. The name rang a bell to Dorothy.

"Can I see his photo, if you don't mind, Emma?" she hesitantly asked.

"Sure, here," said Emma, showing her wedding photo.

Dorothy was shocked because the groom was her late daughter, Sarah's husband.

"But I thought he moved abroad. He never contacted me after my daughter's funeral and gave his son Dale to me," shrieked Dorothy, still confused about who Peter was.

Emma realized what could've happened and revealed something that Dorothy would never have imagined.

"Mrs. Turner, I think Peter here is also your grandson," Emma said, showing Dorothy an old photo of two babies wearing similar red T-shirts and lying on Simon's bed. "I found this in the attic."

"Two babies? Is one of them Peter? But Simon told me Sarah delivered twins, and only one made it out alive, and that was Dale," exclaimed Dorothy, carefully observing the picture.

As it turned out, Dale was born 30 minutes after Peter. Although Peter's delivery was successful, the same did not happen during Dale's complicated birth. As a result, Sandra died after he was born, and Simon blamed the newborn for his wife's death.

He hated Dale so much that he hid the news of Sarah delivering twins from Dorothy, who lived in another state then. After Sarah's funeral, he gave Dale to Dorothy and told her he could not take care of his "only" son, and Dorothy believed his lie.

"Oh my God, this is unbelievable!" Dorothy exclaimed. She hugged Peter and Dale. "What do we do now? I want both my grandsons, but Simon will not accept Dale."

Later that evening, Simon returned home and was shocked to see his mother-in-law and Dale. "You? How are you here?"

"I moved here two years ago, and strangely, we never bumped into each other despite living in the same city," answered Dorothy, furious and demanding an explanation.

"...It was not unfair. I just couldn't stand the sight of that kid. So I took Peter, my first son, and got rid of Dale. He killed my wife!" Simon argued. "Take him away from my house."

Emma was aware of Simon's insensitive behavior, but she felt this was too much. She feared the worse for Peter and thought sending him away with his grandma was best.

After a lengthy legal tussle, Dorothy and Emma got custody of Peter. Emma divorced Simon around the same time and moved in with Dorothy and the boys.

Ultimately, Simon tasted bitterness for abandoning Dale. The court summoned him to pay child support for the twins until they turned 18.

As for Dorothy, she could not thank Emma enough for helping her reunite with her grandsons, especially Peter, who she never knew existed.

What can we learn from this story?

• Do not turn away someone who might need your help. After getting lost in a new neighborhood, Dale knocked on every door begging for help. But everybody turned him away, and only one woman offered to help him.
• Evil deeds only fetch disappointment and shame. Simon blamed Dale for his wife Sarah's death. He lied to Sarah's mother that she gave birth to only one child and gave Dale away. He hid Peter's identity and raised him, thinking Dorothy would never find out she had twin grandsons.

A poor girl is picked as a body double for a lead in a movie. She is startled to find that the other girl is her carbon copy, and they head for a DNA test. Click here to read the full story.

This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.