This week I met a lonely little boy and I can't get him out of mv thoughts. He's about four years old, barely, and he drives a Big Wheel. You know: those low-slung tricycle kind of plastic machines with big wheels on back. When I first saw him, he was meandering up and down a small patch of sidewalk, inspecting ants., I was with my youngest daughter, who is not quite two. We were waiting for a grandmother, who in turn was waiting for a doctor. But that's another story of a vicious virus and stuffy sinus passages and a cough that won't quit. Anyway, Erin and I were inspecting some sidewalks, ourselves. Erin is great with dandelions, and ants, too. The boy sped our way. "Hi," he said. "My name's Daniel." He saw Erin watching ants. He joined her, and taught her the sophisticated trick of letting the ants run up your finger and along your arm. If you hold your arms right, the ant keeps running round and round and never runs up inside your shirt sleeve. But that takes practice and it tickles. Daniel also picked some dandelions. He managed long- er stems. Longer stems are better for making dandelion bouquets, the Wednesday before Mother's Day. Mothers love dandelion bouquets. But after a few minutes we told Daniel we had to leave. We returned to the edge of the parking lot to see if our passenger was yet ready. "Will you come back again,"Daniel said. "I want you to be my friends. I don't have friends." We said we'd be back if Nanny wasn't ready to go. From the edge of the parking lot I looked back. He was back on his Big Wheels again, slowly moving along, keeping track of the ants. His stomping grounds were restricted. He had the run of the sidewalk in front of his house. But to the west the sidewalk ran downhill for two or three doors to a major, one-way street. Too dangerous for any child. Even the WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1987 PAGE 5 WITH OUR FEET UP ýyBïllSwan Beyond the stump street on which he rode carried plenty of traffic from the medical clinic. Only a narrow boulevard separated the roadway from the sidewalk. One slip would .carry a Big Wheel into traffic.. Nanny wasnt ready yet, so we moved back toward Daniel. He saw us again and did a quick U-turn, meeting us at the edge of the parking lot. "I knew you'd be my friends," he said. "Do you want to ride my bike?" I declined, and said that Erin was too small. He took the little girl by the hand for a moment. "Ants," he said, pointing. Erin tried her best to repeat the word. The two squatted in the middle of the walk, pointing out ants. Down the street a screen'door banged. "Daniel! Daniel!1 You get home here this instant!" Daniel began a protest. "I wasn't..." "Never you mind. You get your butt home like 1 said." His almost-baby legs churning in his rubber boots, Daniel ran the sixty feet home. A woman in her late twen- ties, in designer jeans, met him. They both disappeared inside the screened door. The four houses on that side of the street had once been someone's pride. Now garbage was piled on the front por- ches. Three, four mailboxes were mounted at the front doors. Rotting cars sat in driveways. The houses were waiting for the parking lot to grow. Within a minute, Daniel burst through the door, ran back to us. "I though my friends would be gone," he said. He and Erin picked a few more dandelions, terrorized ants. Again the front door opened. But this time the young woman directed her comments at me. "Did he go up to the parking lot again?" she said. "I beg your pardon?" "Daniel. Did he go up to the edge of the parking lot. I looked down at Daniel, saw the look on bis face. "Oh, no," I said. "He just went up here a little bit." The young woman bit her li. stood on one hip. "Well..." "I didn't," Daniel said. "I just went up to the stump." He pointed up the street, twenty feet away. The stump of a maple marked the edge of Daniel's universe. Twice in the past several minutes we had been beyond that point, to where the ants are bigger and the dandelions more color- fui. "Well that's good. You just make sure you don't go beyond that stump.-You know what will happen if you do." The door slammed'again. "I can't go past the stump," Daniel said. We had to go then, so Daniel accompanied us as far as the stump. He waved goodbye from the seat of his Big Wheel. As we turned into the parking lot I waved once more. SEE PAGE 6 St. Paul's addition opened A new 1600 sq.-metre addition to St. Paul's Separate School on Garrard Rd. costing $2.5 million, was opened recently. The additions include a new gym with two change rooms, an in- dustrial arts room, family studies room, music, art and science rooms, a library resource centre and four new classrooms. But even with the added room, the school is going to need por- tables. "St. Paul's has grown really rapidly. Even with the new addition we require portables for the fall," said Grant Andrews, director of business for the Durham Region Roman Catholic School Board. There are currently 11 portables at St. Paul's. Seven of them are being used. All 11 are expected to bein use by next fall. Fall enrolment for the school was 642, said Andrews. That is expected to grow to 796 in the fall of 1987. Students from surrounding schools will be bussed in to use the new facilities, he said. However, it has not yet been determined which schools will send students. The separate school board received Ministry of Education grant approval for a new elemen- tary school in Whitby. That school could be started as early as 1988. Guard hurt during theft A security guard was injured and three people arrested after an at- tempted theft from a Whitby con- struction site. Joanne Hnatuk, 23, of Hamilton was struck by a car after she tried to apprehend three people stealing bricks from the construction site on Jason Dr. Sunday morning. Hnatuk received a knee injury. She drove herself to Whitby General Hospital where she was treated and released. Charged with failing to stop and theft under $1000 is Robert Lanc, 21, 36 Trinity Cres. Whitby. Also charged was Risa Joanne Yee, 25, 155 Glovers Rd., Whitby and Maria TohilI, 30, also at 155 Glovers Rd. Both are charged with theft under $1,000. WOODEN PUZZLESReg. $14.00 SALE $11.00 SCULPTURE CARDS Reg. $4.50 SALE $3.00 GIFT BOXES Reg. $3.50 SALE $2.25-M /- 80 Thickson Road South • Whitby. Ontario LIN 7T2 Telephone: (416) 430-1172 McDONALD'S IS MAKIN'BACON...AGAIN! McDonald's is putting together that incredible taste Canada loves...the Bacon Double Cheeseburger, just $1.69! Imagine two all beef patties, a slice of process cheese and bacon...bacon in every bite! But the great taste won't be here forever, so get to McDonald's for a Bacon Double Cheeseburger. McDonald's is makin' bacon... TILCJUNE 21 D\ n É RRES BACON IN EVERY BITE! ONLY'TIL JUNE, 21 -je Ã