|
[continued from page 1]
* * * * *
You know how things go from here.
Her parents call the police, the obligatory squad car arrives, and a pair of bulging-bellied officers extricate themselves from the bucket seats of their cruiser and flip open their pocket-sized pads. Except maybe one of them isn't all that fat. Maybe the other makes up for his fatness.
"Okeedokee, so when was the last time you saw the little lady?"
"You recall how she was dressed?"
"And how might you describe her mental state?"
Mary's mother fumbles through all of these while Mary's father feigns distraction with the thermostat.
Mary's little sister, who performed admirably enough throughout her dress rehearsal, is unsure how to interpret all these strangers in her house and hides in the kitchen with her chocolate milk.
Half an hour later, when Mary's father discovers Mary's little sister there, he plops her atop his knee, assuring her that everything will be just fine.
Mary is most likely just out with friends.
* * * * *
And then it’s morning. Mary’s mother has not slept, and her father has managed an hour or two. No one eats breakfast. What concerns Mary’s sister is she can stay home from school.
There are even more officers in the living room. Everyone holds Styrofoam cups and some of them bearclaws. One of the officers offers the father one. He declines. "You know, we get these calls all the time. Nine times out of ten they're blowing off steam."
Mary's father nods because it is easy.
What kind of steam? he wonders.
Next page
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
|
