Lunch Farm Project - Pattaya Orphanage Trust

‘The Runaway’ by James O’Donnell

One rainy morning in the country England lived a little boy named James. James lived on the streets begging with his friends. He had no idea where he lived and how old he was.  So one day he got so fed up because he wasn’t earning any money.  He told his friends and they thought he was crazy to walk all the way from Christchurch to London. So that night he kicked off on to the road leaving all his friends in the streets. Then about ten cars rushed past and James put his hand out to try and get a lift but nobody stopped.

Suddenly it lashed down with rain. James felt lonely and really petrified that something would come and attack him but he knew if he could reach London he would be safe. Days past and he still wasn’t there. On the third day he collapsed and was left there for two hours, until someone saw him and left him because they thought he was dead. The next five minutes a car saw him and luckily it was a nurse, so she dragged him into her car and quickly phoned 999, and they rushed him to the doctors. He was alive, they asked where he lived, but he didn’t know, or how old he was or what his own name was. His brain went blank. The doctors knew just where to put him. They took him to a Drop-In Centre and gave him food and clothes.  They also gave him a new name, Tom. For all the time he lived there he was happy, he knew he was safe. He got a good education and he was old and clever enough to stand on his own feet and get on with his own life. So he got his job which was a pilot and he loved it.  But some days he would pop into the Drop-In centre to say hello. He felt sad but he soon got over it and was a lot happier. In the next five years, James went back to Christchurch to see his friends and he took them to London and they got a job.