A mother's worst nightmare

Maggie looked at her watch for the fifth time in the last thirty seconds, before turning back to scanning the street. “Where are they?” she asked out loud but talking to no one in particular. Her tone echoed the concern she felt. Both her daughters had been home for fifteen minutes or more. But there was no sign of her ten year old son and his friend, who had asked to be able to make the short trip home on foot. They should have been home twenty minutes ago, but they weren’t. Neither of her girls had seen them along the way and they had to travel the same street to get home. 

Maggie tried not to panic as the minutes ticked by. Bad enough her own son was missing. But what would she tell the parent’s of the other boy, if it became necessary to inform them. Please god don’t let it come to that, she prayed. However this thought was too much for her. She had to do something. Grabbing her keys and her phone she turned to her daughters and said “I’m going to the school to see if I can trace them. If they turn up, ring me.”

Both girls nodded without hesitation. 

Maggie walked out the back door and jumped into the car. Backing out of the drive way she drove slowly along the road to the school. She scanned the footpaths on both sides of the road as she went praying she would spot the two boys. There were only two corners they needed to turn on the trip home so it was an easy job to follow the path they should have taken. However she reached the school half a minute later having seen no sign of them. Maggie grabbed her phone, but for a minute she didn’t move.  She sat staring out the windscreen and took a deep breath. She didn’t see anything outside the car, her focus was inward as she fought hard not to give into the panic welling within her. A few seconds later she clambered out of the car and hurried into school yard, blinking and blowing out her breath to prevent the tears that threatened, from over flowing. 

There were still a few people in the school yard, mothers talking while children laughed and played on the climbing equipment. Maggie wanted them to be her boy or to shut up.  She couldn’t stand to hear their delight just then. How was it fair that they could play while she was beside herself with worry? But they weren’t her son nor were any of them his friend and they didn’t shut up. She hurried past the other mothers without making eye contact. They knew where their children were, unlike her. She didn’t want to see their pity. None of them were anyone she recognised anyway. Their kids were from different year levels, so there was no point is asking if they had seen the boys. She continued on her way to the boy’s classroom and seconds later she burst through the door, frantic eyes looking everywhere. There was no sign of them here either but the teacher sitting at her desk, started by the intrusion, looked up with a worried expression, “can I help you?” she asked.

“Shaun and Liam haven’t arrived home yet. They were walking” Maggie said. Her sentences were choppy and disjointed. Her eyes darting around the room as if she expected the boys to pop out of a hiding place. But in her heart, she knew they wouldn’t.

“Maybe they went to visit a friend?” the teacher said after a second as she rose and came towards Maggie.

Maggie nodded, not wanting to stand there talking any longer. Stupidly, she almost felt embarrassed and was sorry she’d come in now. Attempting a smile she said “yes that must be it, sorry” and hurried out before the teacher could say any more. 

Outside in the fresh air Maggie stopped. Her chest was heaving and her eyes burning as she struggled to hold back the emotion. Each minute they were missing made her more fearful. Then as she started moving again her phone rang.

Going Home

Part 28

Later that night as they settled on the couch Grace grabbed the TV remote out of Josh’s hand before he could turn it on and holding it out of reach said “ok it’s later, now tell me what you meant by that remark about your mother?”

Sighing Josh leant back against the couch. “Nothing really, just that I caught her reaction as I hit the ground.”

“And?” Grace prompted after he was silent for a minute.

“And she looked relieved.” He said in a gruff tone.

Grace looked at him, puzzled. “Of course she was relieved you climbed five floors down the outside of a building on a rope. What mother wouldn’t be relieved when her son safely reached the ground?”

Looking at Grace, his gaze intense, he said “exactly.”

“Ah” she said as she got his meaning. His mother’s reaction had given him a tangible demonstration of how she felt about him. She was happy for him and wrapping her arms around him, she kissed him.

Moving back she ran her hand down his face, her touch tender. She said “so did Margaret want something specific today?”

Sighing again Josh looked grim as he said “yeah she wants us to pay them a visit at the farm to see my dad.”

“Oh, okay and what did you say?”

Putting his hands behind his head Josh frowned “that I’d think about it.”

Going Home

Part 27b

Josh however was still thinking about his mother as he gathered his gear. He was surprised at the emotion he saw on her face, there was no mistaking her relief. Maybe they could have a relationship again. As he continued to pack up Grace reappeared with the guy who had caused all the trouble in cuffs. Handing him over to some uniform officers to be charged she walked over to Josh and smiled, “you just love a chance to get the ropes out don’t you?”

Josh smiled and teased “from memory you don’t mind me getting the ropes out either.”

Grace laughed at the reminder of the time Josh had to rescue her when they were on holiday and admitted “true.” Then turning and spotting Margaret across the road she said “hey did Margaret see you come down that building? I bet she didn’t like you using the ropes.”

Serious suddenly Josh looked over at his mother and muttered “no I don’t think she did.”

Raising an eyebrow Grace looked at him, a  question in her eyes as she wondered what that remark meant.

But Josh didn’t want to talk about it there so he just went back to what he was doing and said “later.”

Sensing Josh wasn’t ready to discuss it yet Grace let the matter rest but made a mental note to ask him about it at home later that night.

Going Home

This part is really long so I've split it in two.

Part 27a

As they stepped outside Grace looked up at Josh “you okay?”

Looking down at her Josh gave her a small smile “yeah I’m good.”

But before either of them could say anymore, all of a sudden there was the unmistakable sound of two vehicles colliding and Josh and Grace span around to inspect the crash. But at first they are unable to see anything amiss. Then as another crash occurred, giving them a better indication of the direction the noise was coming from, their attention shifted upwards. Following the wall of the building up, they watched a woman climb to the outside of the barricade of a multilevel car park. She was about three stories up and as she moved further along a ledge it became obvious from her movements that she was trying to escape from someone in the car park. Without a word, Josh and Grace ran to the building with Josh radioing Leon and Lawson on the way.  

The sound of the crash had caused all those in the surrounding area to come out and see what had happened, including Margaret Joshua. Margaret watched as Josh and Grace raced over to a building across the road and then followed their focus up and spots the woman on the outside of the building. Horrified at the events unfolding before her, Margaret watched as more police officers arrived at the scene, some of them are in the same uniform as Josh while others were in more traditional police uniforms. Her eyes focused on Josh, Margaret watched an officer dressed like he was, hand him a large bag and then both they, along with another man, and Grace all disappeared into the building. Unable to move she waited to see what would happen. A few seconds later, as she watched the woman hanging off the building Margaret noticed movement on the roof two floors above her position. Her heart hammering, she recognised that one of the two men she could see up there was Josh and that he was preparing to climb down the wall on a rope. Squeezing her hands together, her heart in her throat, Margaret watched on as Josh lowered himself to woman’s position. She was worried for him but at the same time, stunned at what he could do. As she watched Josh dangle from the rope, fitting a harness on the woman before they both make their way to the ground, Margaret held her breath. Then closing her eyes with her hand on her chest she took a deep breath as Josh reached the ground. Her relief was obvious and looking across the road Josh doesn’t fail to notice. But with her eyes closed Margaret missed the fact that Josh’s attention was on her and as she opened her eyes again his gaze had shifted away.

When is a piece of rope not just a piece of rope?

This is the last part of this tale.

 

Part 3

And on coming downstairs later that morning we solved half of the mysteries when we discovered, by opening the fridge, that the safety switch that it was on, had been thrown during the night. This also meant that certain circuits throughout the house were out but others weren’t. Now the phone call about perishables and the light that still worked but the phones that didn’t, made sense. Well almost. I still don’t know why he asked about perishables but hey I can live with not knowing the answer to that one. No conspiracy there anyway. 

So that left the man with the dog. I still couldn’t understand why he didn’t leave after he wasn’t answered the first time. Later that day however, quite by chance, I got my answer. Opening the front door to admit one of my son’s friends, a door we never use unless we have visitors, I noticed a rope tied to one of the veranda posts. Now I knew straight away it wasn’t our rope. It was very distinctive and nothing like anything we’ve ever owned. So why was it there and who had tied it? As I was holding it, contemplating the matter, my daughter came past and said “that must have been the man.”
I looked at her puzzled, “what man?”
“The man with the dog” she said “I saw the dog after he’d left. He must have thought he was our dog and tied him up.”
“Did you see the dog tied up out here?” I asked lamenting about why she hadn’t thought to tell us this piece of information earlier.
“No” she said “I didn’t look. But I saw the dog through the window and thought he was loose and had just wandered onto our veranda. I guess the real owner saw him and came and untied him.”
And as she moved away, unaware of the importance of what she had just divulged, I smiled. Now I could sleep peacefully, all the puzzles were explained and not a conspiracy in sight.

When is a piece of rope not just a piece of rope?

Part 2

Early the next morning we were woken by the phone ringing downstairs. Now we have phones upstairs but they didn’t ring and I couldn’t work out why. The problem was  that they are cordless and don’t work if the power is off where as the one down stairs is plugged directly into the phone line and still works without power. But in my sleep dazed state this didn’t register. If it had I may not have spent the early hours of that morning lying awake worrying about a conspiracy occurring. But just then, having being woken so abruptly, all I could think about was the curious incident of the man and the dog the day before. 

Anyway to get back to the phone call, it turns out it was the company that monitors our alarm, they had rung  to say that their equipment indicated the power was off and did we have any perishables. Well as I looked up at the light that I had just turned on, beaming down on me, to say I was confused is an understatement. I had no idea what the man was talking about, the power was clearly on and why on earth would he ask about perishables anyway. He monitored the alarm not the fridge. I could think of no logical explanation for any of it and added to the man with the dog I couldn’t help but think there was something weird going on. Maybe he wasn’t from the alarm company at all. Maybe there was some conspiracy and someone was out to get us. Only the worst case scenario, you’ll notice. But in my defence, I should say again here, I was half asleep.

When is a piece of rope not just a piece of rope?

When it helps explain a series of random events that when added together serve to make you paranoid. 

Firstly I need to explain that ever since my first child was old enough to be left at home for brief periods, like a run to the shops, I’ve  drummed it into them, not to answer the door or the phone, unless it’s myself or their father calling. They are to wait for the answering machine to kick in and then if it’s one of us they pick up. And for this one particular thing they are very good at following instructions. So when a strange man with a dog knocked at our door when I was out one day my second eldest daughter, who was home at the time, did what she was supposed to and ignored it. However this man proved very persistent. I’m not sure if he could hear the television on inside of if he happened to see movement through the front windows but he must have realised someone was home as he refused to take no for an answer and continued to knock. Well after his third or fourth attempt my daughter was starting to freak out. She rang both me and her father to ask what she should do.  We both told her the same thing, stay inside and don’t answer the door. Meanwhile I headed back home.  Thankfully though, when I was half way back, I received another call to say that the man had finally given up and left. There was no sign of him when I got back so we put it down to one of those things you can’t explain until the next unexplicable event.


More on this later.