(a working title for a story in progress)
ONE
Ashley burst through the screen door at a dead run, barely slowing down to open the door. It flew back slamming into the porch rail as she lept down the stairs and took off running again as soon as her feel hit the ground.
“Don’t slam the …” her mother stopped yelling as the screen door slammed back into place. “… door.” She said quietly to herself. She just smiled and shook her head as she went back to washing the lunch dishes.
Ashley hadn’t heard a word her mother had said. She was on a mission. The ice cream truck was pulling away and she was not about miss it. Her mother rarely let her get ice cream and she was going to make sure she got hers today.
Ashley ran just ahead of the truck and waved at the driver. The man behind the wheel smiled and waved and pulled back to the curb. He went to the back, opened the service window and leaned out on the ledge.
“Looks like I just about missed you. What can I get for you?” The man smiled and waited while Ashley caught her breath.
Taking a few deep breaths Ashley didn’t even look at the menu on the side of his truck, she already knew what she wanted.
“I need a bomb pop, please.” Ashley smiled and help up her dollar.
The man laughed. “Need, huh? That sounds desperate.”
“Huh?” Ashley wasn’t sure what he meant. The man just smiled, took her dollar and handed her a bomb pop.
“Never mind, I was just teasing anyway. How old are you?” The man smiled as he watched Ashley unwrap her bomp pop.
“I’m going to be 6 this summer. Mom says I get to go to real school this year. I’m all done with preschool.” Ashley smiled at the man then started eating her popsicle. She looked at her hand that held the wrapper then looked around trying to decide what to do with it.
“Here, I can toss the wrapper for you.” The man reached down and took the wrapper from her. “Can I get you anything else?”
Ashley quit eating her popsicle for a moment to just say, “nope.” Then she went back to eating it as she waved at the man and walked away.
Ashley walked slowly towards her house but instead of going back inside she walked past her house and went two lots over. Her neighborhood had a small playground there the size of one house lot. It was so nice out today Ashley just wanted to lay on the little hill by the swing sets and look at the sky while she ate her popsicle.
The grass and earth felt warm under the summer sun. Ashley kicked off her shoes and wiggled her toes in the grass. If her mom would let her, she’d run around barefoot all the time.
Ashley closed her eyes and felt the warmth of the sun warm her as she sucked on the cold icy popsicle. She started humming to herself when a shadow blocked out the sun’s light. Ashley opened her eyes and saw who was standing over her. She knew the man. He lived on their block and was friends with her parents but she couldn’t think of his name. He smiled at her.
“That looks good.” He said pointing to her bomb pop.
“They are good. They are my favorite.” Ashley finished her popsicle and held the stick looking around for some place to throw it away.
The man realized what she was doing and reached out for the stick, “Here let me show you what to do with those.” The man took the stick from her and pushed it straight into the ground then stepped on it to make sure it was all the way in.
“It’s wood so you can bury them like this and they will eventually just fall apart and become part of the ground.”
Ashley looked at the spot where the stick was then back up at the man and smiled. “Cool.”
The man smiled back. “Where is your mom?”
“She’s at home. She says Saturday’s are her chores days.”
The man looked toward Ashley’s house. “I was hoping she wouldn’t mind letting me borrow you for a while. I just bought some clothes for my niece who is your age and I was hoping you would tell me if you think she would like them or not. I have no idea what a girl your age would want to wear. Think you could help me?” He smiled at Ashley.
“I guess so,” Ashley said.
The man stood up. “Come on. Let’s go ask your Mom. We’ll see if she wants to come along. She can tell me what she thinks too.” The man reached down and picked up Ashley’s shoes and held a hand out for her.
Ashley took his hand and let him help her up then they started walking toward her home.
Back in the house, Ashley’s mom, Lauren, was just finishing up the dishes. Walking through the house she picked up a few toys off the floor and put them on the coffee table then headed to the laundry room to switch the loads. Once she got the machines going again and the previous load folded and put away she made herself a cup of tea and sat down with her current book.
Lauren was reading the latest Mercy book by Patricia Briggs. She loved that series and couldn’t wait to get back to it. She set the alarm on her cell phone to let her know when it would be time to switch the laundry again. She knew if she didn’t she would get so lost in her book and would read for hours and never finish the laundry today.
The alarm on Lauren’s phone began to chime. She put down her book and stretched and reached for her phone. It was 2 PM. She had been reading for an hour straight. She stretched again and went to finish the laundry. As she went from room to room putting away all of clean clothes she realized she was still alone in the house.
“Ashley?” she called out in the house. When there was no answer she went to the front porch.
Stepping out into the warm air Lauren took a deep breath. She could smell the hyacinths she had planted by the porch last year. She loved that smell.
Lauren looked up and down the street trying to spot Ashley. She saw a few of the neighbor kids playing in different yards but she didn’t see Ashely with any of them.
Lauren stepped off the porch and headed to the park. She expected to find Ashley asleep on the hill in the park. It wouldn’t be the first time. When Lauren reached the park it was empty.
Lauren started to get a little nervous. Looking around she surveyed the neighborhood again. She didn’t see her daughter anywhere. She could feel the panic starting to fill her chest.Lauren ran to the nearest group of children and asked them if they had seen Ashley.
Peter, who lives across the street from them, said he had seen her going into the park before 1 PM but he hadn’t seen her since then. No one else had seen her. Lauren thanked him and told all the kids that if they see her to tell her to come straight home. They all agreed.
Lauren went around to the other children she saw who were outside playing but no one else had seen Ashley. Lauren went back to her house and called out for Ashley again in case she had come home while Lauren was out looking for her, silence.
Lauren pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and called 911. She knew she was over reacting and was sure the police would tell her so but she didn’t know what else to do.
The operator picked up almost immediately. “911 dispatch. What’s your emergency?”
Lauren took a deep breath, “It’s my daughter, I’m sure it’s nothing but …she’s missing.”
* * * * * *
Rachel Ferris tried to manage the 6 soccer balls she was carrying. Walking down the hall to the locker room was proving to be a real challenge. She was doing her best to weave between various spectators who were milling around the tunnel that leads from the field to the locker rooms. She was just about to the gate that leads to the locker room when someone bumped into her sending one of the balls bouncing away.
Officer Krantz, who guards the gate, stepped out and stopped the balls progress with his foot then picked it up. Many off duty police served as security at the arena for events and she knew them all.
“You almost made it,” Officer Krantz laughed as he opened the gate for Rachel.
“I would have too if I hadn’t been sabotaged.” Rachel walked through the gate trying to keep from losing another ball.
“What are all the balls for?” Officer Krantz asked.
“The coach is going to a fan club dinner tomorrow and wants some signed balls to give away and for a silent auction.”
Officer Krantz leaned in close and whispered, “Are you going to be doing the signing again or are you going to make the players do it themselves this time?”
Rachel jumped a little at hearing his comment. She was shocked and her expression showed every bit of it. Officer Krantz let out a burst of laughter.
When Rachel recovered a bit she leaned in and whispered, “How did you know?”
Officer Krantz smiled and said, “You hear a lot of things working security. After a while the players just walk past us talking to each other and don’t even notice us.” Officer Krantz laughed again and said, “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me, as long as you are only signing the balls that are being given away.”
“I’ve only done it once and they were given away.” Rachel shifted trying to keep the balls in her arms in balance. “I’d cross my heart but that might be a bit hard right now.”
Officer Krantz held out the ball he had retrieved for her.
Rachel looked from the ball to the locker room. She still had quite a distance to walk with all the balls in her arms. “Um … would you mind holding onto that while I go drop these in the locker room and I’ll come back and get it? Rachel asked.
Officer Krantz laughed, “Sure thing.” Just then Officer Krantz got a phone call. He turned his attention to his phone as Rachel headed off to the locker room.
Luckily the door was propped open. All the doors in this part of the building had key pad locks. It would have been a challenge to get through and not drop more balls.
Rachel went into the side team room where the table was and sat the balls on the table. She pulled several permanent markers out of her back pocket and laid them on the table as well. Rachel headed back to retrieve the last ball from Officer Krantz.
When she got to the gate Officer Krantz was gone and Officer O’Neil was in his place.
“Where’s Officer Krantz?” Rachel asked.
“He got a call and had to leave. But he left that for you,” Officer O’Neil pointed to the soccer ball propped on a chair in the corner.
Rachel picked up the ball and went back to Officer O’Neil. “I hope everything is okay.”
Officer O’Neil gave her a blank expression. “Duty calls,” he said then turned back to the gate to check an ID before letting someone through the gate.
Rachel felt her heart sink. Officer Krantz and a handful of the other police working security worked in the Missing and Exploited Children’s Unit. If he was called to work that could only mean one thing, a child was in danger and they had to act fast.
As Rachel was walking back into the locker room she felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket. Pulling it out she noticed it was an Amber Alert on her phone. She had signed up for the service months ago. Tapping on the screen brought up the photo of a smiling little girl in a Pink shirt with a purple flower on the front. Above the photo was the word missing in big block letters. Rachel had a feeling she knew what had pulled Officer Krantz back into work.
TWO
Rachel looked at the clock on the library wall. It was only 5 minutes after the last time she had looked. Sometimes having study hall the last hour of her school day was a blessing and sometimes, like today, it was complete hell.
Random Writings of Life 