Not a wacky call, but potentially tragic, so read

Early on Wednesday morning, Megan Hester of Volusia County, Florida, decided to leave her house to fill up her gas tank at a convenience store. She left her four- and six-year-old children alone.

When they awoke and realized they were alone, the six-year-old boy called 911 to say that their mother had left them home alone. "Um, mommy left us," the child said to the 911 operator. "It's Megan's son. Mommy left us."

Volusia County deputies said the boy woke up just before 2 a.m. to find his mother gone. That's when the boy called 911 and told the operator that he and his 4-year-old sister were home alone.

"Can you look out the window and tell me if mommy's car is there?" the operator asked the boy. "No, there's no car," he said. "We're out in the garage and there's no car."

The operator kept the child on the line and asked him to turn on a movie to entertain his sister. The boy then told the operator that his sister was scared earlier, but he made her feel better.

"When we were freaked out, I told my sister, 'You need to go to sleep and stay calm until tomorrow. I think she's coming back,'" the boy said.

Hester returned more than half an hour later to find her children in the company of a deputy. The 23-year-old mother said she ran to get gas while the children were sleeping. She said she wasn't gone very long, but the deputy said Hester was gone at least 30 minutes.

Deputies said Hester didn't seem impaired in any way and the house was clean. The children were OK, despite the scare. Hester was charged with felony child neglect. (info from WESH TV)