A rambunctious 3-year-old Queens boy, who had just gobbled down a Happy Meal, gave his mom a giant tummy ache yesterday when he wandered off and took a four-mile subway ride.
Christian Marquez’s adventure ended happily when a transit worker saw him alone on the No. 7 train and called police. The boy was quickly reunited with his frantic mom, Marlena Torres, 40.
“When I got there, he was crying and he came running to me,” she said. “I just thank God I have him back with me.”
The saga began shortly before 2 p.m. Christian had gone to the doctor and, as a treat, his mom took him to a Mickey D’s near their home in Flushing. The fast-food spot is also near the Main Street station of the No. 7 line.
Torres ordered a Happy Meal – a burger, fries and juice – for her son.
After the boy polished off his meal, she got up to throw away the juice box.
“I looked away for one second, and when I looked back, he was gone,” Torres recalled. “I screamed. My first thought was, ‘Oh, no! Someone kidnapped or stole him!’ ”
Christian hadn’t been abducted, but simply walked out of the burger joint and into the Main Street station, cops said.
He apparently ducked under the turnstile and then boarded a train.
His mother’s screams alerted Adam Frasse, a veteran vice-squad detective who had just entered the McDonald’s to buy his lunch. He put out a description of the boy.
“This takes precedence over everything else. Our day stops until this kid is found,” said Lt. Michael Costello, Frasse’s supervisor.
About 10 minutes later, a transit worker noticed the tot by himself in the last car of the train and immediately knew something was wrong. He called 911, and cops realized the boy was Christian.
Frasse took Torres to 74th Street-Broadway station, four stops away, and the transit worker handed over the boy to his mom.
It was now 2:35 p.m. and Christian had traveled four miles.
At the family home last night, the boy’s parents were relieved that he was safe.
“He’s really active. You have to watch him,” said his dad, José Lino Marquez, a 40-year-old construction worker.
“For us, it was terrifying. I just thank the police, because they did the impossible.”
Asked what his son wants to be when he grows up, the father shrugged and said, “Maybe a train conductor.”