The Climb of a Lunchtime

I almost became a missing child once. I was four years old, and it was a day like every other summer day, full of exploration. When you're four, there is always something new to discover. My friend Steve lived in the house diagonally positioned from mine. His house was a fence climb away, so we spent a good deal of time together. Steve was a rather wild kid who lacked parental direction, supervision and oversight. He basically did what he wanted to do most of the time because no one was there to tell him otherwise. On this particular day, I was at his house playing with his electric train set. We were being too noisy, so we were sent outside so the baby could sleep. Now we were on our own... on an adventure, going where no four year had gone (alone) before. We walked and walked toward the mountains. I knew of a place we could play, a mysterious place of hills, puddles, trails, gravel and dirt. I knew it existed because I had been there with my dad while riding on the back of his Honda Trail 90, and I knew how to get there. The concrete plant was our destination. When we arrived, it must have been lunch time because no one seemed to be around. The most obvious and impressive landmark was the towering conveyor belt structure. We made our way to its base, and found the belt loaded with rocks destined to make their ascent to the top, and then drop spectacularly into the crusher to be made suitable for cement production. Strangely, the machine was not operating. The belt was quiet and still. It wasn't very steep, and looked easy to climb. At that point we made a really bad decision, and began making our way up the rocky slope of the conveyor belt. I remember taking small steps as my little town was being revealed below, and spread out before me as I ascended. Soon, we were at the top looking down into the crusher below us, never considering at any time that we might be in any kind of danger. I've often wondered what might have happened if lunch break had ended, and they resumed operation just as we stood at the crest???