Different Paths

My town was on lock down. Yesterday, while I was on my way home from meetings in WI, I got a text from my mom. It read, "did you hear about the guy who escaped from custody?" I didn't think much of it. I informed her that I had not heard and basically forgot about it. When I got home, Cyndi and the kids came back from Costco. Frederic came into my office and quietly told me that they left in a hurry because of "the guy who escaped." He said, "don't tell Mommy that I told you." I thought that was a little weird, but I promised that I wouldn't. Then I got curious.

Moments later, Cyndi came into the office to quietly tell me about the guy who escaped. Turns out, he was on his way to sentencing, and somehow got away from the two officers transporting him. Something in the back of my mind told me I knew who this was. I was right.

Earlier this year, a good friend of mine, Shay, came to stay with us for the weekend. I've known Shay since I was about 12 years old. We went to the same junior high school, and ran around in the same circles. Over the years, we continued to remain close, while each of us veered off into different lives. During our time as teens, we hung out a lot. There was a core group of kids who would hang out. One of the guys in that group was Rob Maday. I wasn't very close with Rob, more acquaintances than best friends, but Shay was. Rob and Shay knew each other since they were very young.

Rob was a small kid, and from what I remember, he was always a good friend. He was loyal to the people he trusted, but he was also attracted to trouble. By the time we got to high school, I didn't hang out with the same group, and Rob continued to get in trouble. I'm not sure if he finished high school or not, but in the late 80's, he went away to prison for the first time.

As I was told by Shay, when he got out, things started to improve for him. He met a woman, got married and seemed to be rehabilitated. I didn't hear much about Rob until Shay came to visit this year. She told me that Rob was back on the wrong path, and had gotten arrested for robbing a couple of banks. They guessed he was going to go back to prison for about 13 years. Rob didn't want to go.

When Cyndi told me what she knew, I took a look at our local paper's website. Sure enough, the escapee was Rob. Yesterday, on his way to sentencing, Rob was able to get out of the shackles they had him in, and escape. Since he is from our town, just down the street from me, the FBI was in our neighborhood, and everyone was on high alert. Schools were cancelling afternoon activities, meetings were being cancelled, people were scared. At one point, they suspected that Rob was in an apartment complex a few towns over. Several SWAT team members surrounded the complex, storming doors, looking for clues. They did not find him.

We had an evening event at the library with some friends of ours, and the wife was so concerned that she asked us to stop by and pick her up on the way. By the time we got back from our event, we watched the news. They were still searching for Rob, but were not sure where he was. I went to bed, uneasy that Rob was out there, with a sense of concern for a guy I knew many years ago. It wasn't that I was worried he would come to our house. He may not even remember me. It's just that I felt bad for the guy. He was obviously desperate, looking to find a way out of the trouble he got himself into, but digging himself deeper with each move he made.

Today, I periodically checked the Internet for updates. They suspected that he carjacked a VW, and possibly held up another bank. By lunchtime, they had apprehended him and he was back in custody. You could feel the sense of relief almost immediately. In Cyndi, in the kids, in our friend, in myself. I was just glad no one got hurt, including Rob.

Things like this are few and far between around here. It's especially weird because I know the person everyone is talking about, many people are/were worried about. I've never been arrested. I don't know what is going through Rob's mind or what he's felt over the years. We grew up in the same town, yet our lives went in majorly different paths.

I hope he makes it through.