happy endings

11-Year-Old Who Was Missing for 5 Days Concludes ‘It’s a Very Big World’

Last Wednesday, 11-year-old Kareem Granton disappeared from his family’s Brownsville apartment building, triggering a community search effort and some local media coverage. Though Kareem was said to have a history of running away, he had never been gone for so long, and his mother, Precious Granton, was understandably very concerned. “It’s my very worst nightmare. You couldn’t have a nightmare worse than this,” she told reporters. Luckily, the situation ended happily on Monday: A woman recognized Kareem on the 4 train at Union Square during her morning commute and alerted a police officer on the platform, though she left before anyone could get her name, the New York Daily News reports.

The cop, Dennis Grimm, took a hungry Kareem for breakfast at McDonald’s, let the child play with his German Shepard, and got his phone number, which he passed along to his superiors, who contacted his mother. “He got lost,” Grimm told the Daily News. “He didn’t know how to get home, he told me. He didn’t know what train to take home.” After being reunited with his family, Kareem, who said he slept on the subway for five nights while subsisting on Chuck E. Cheese he purchased with $10 given to him by his stepfather, confirmed as much during a press conference later in the day. “It was a very big world,” he explained. “I didn’t think I would probably make it.” However, he added, “I’m all right. I just had a little tour out in the world.” Cute, but he’s definitely too young to be having adventures just for the sake of the story. 

Missing 11-Year-old Concludes ‘It’s a Big World’