I walked into the hallway before answering Doug because I did not want Bentley hearing what came next.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're going to stop that eviction.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMa, you don't understand the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, you don't. Amber owes money. She's disappeared. I've called, emailed, left notices\u2014nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe left in an ambulance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBentley called 911 nine days ago. His mother collapsed in the bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doug said nothing.<\/p>\n
I continued before he could recover.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe children have been alone since then.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCome over and look at them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to call the police.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to find their mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to stop involving yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
A familiar irritation rose in me.<\/p>\n
Doug had inherited Ray's practical mind without inheriting his patience. Numbers comforted him because numbers did not ask inconvenient questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour father would be ashamed of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The silence on the other end changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon't do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUse Dad against me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm reminding you who taught us how to treat people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe also taught me not to let tenants take advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd apparently you stopped listening halfway through every lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doug ended the call.<\/p>\n
I stood in the hallway holding the phone.<\/p>\n
When I returned, Bentley had put the book down.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs he gonna make us leave?\u201d<\/p>\n
I could have lied.<\/p>\n
Instead I sat beside him.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut later?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm working on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes moved toward Maddie.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe doesn't like new places.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou're not going anywhere tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMom will pay him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm sure she'll handle what she can when she's back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bentley picked at a loose thread on his sleeve.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe works a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe doesn't waste money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe bought Maddie's medicine last month. That's why\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
He stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
But now I understood part of the unpaid rent.<\/p>\n
Amber had been choosing.<\/p>\n
Medicine or bills.<\/p>\n
Food or utilities.<\/p>\n
One emergency at a time.<\/p>\n
The afternoon passed quietly.<\/p>\n
Maddie slept for almost two hours. Bentley and I returned to Charlotte\u2019s Web, and when he stumbled over a difficult word, he tried it three times before getting it right.<\/p>\n
His grin afterward was startling.<\/p>\n
There he was.<\/p>\n
The child underneath the emergency.<\/p>\n
At three, I began calling hospitals.<\/p>\n
I started locally.<\/p>\n
No useful information.<\/p>\n
Another hospital transferred me to admissions, then refused to confirm whether Amber was a patient.<\/p>\n
The next told me privacy rules prevented disclosure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand,\u201d I said. \u201cBut she has two children who haven't seen her in nine days.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman on the line softened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry. Unless you're authorized family, I can't give you patient information.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thanked her.<\/p>\n
Bentley listened from the table.<\/p>\n
After the fifth unsuccessful call, he said, \u201cSee?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSee what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody knows.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody knows.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if she isn't at a hospital anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
He immediately regretted saying it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you think happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBentley.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes filled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was finally the truth.<\/p>\n
He did not know.<\/p>\n
And he had spent nine days imagining every possibility alone.<\/p>\n
Maddie woke around six and immediately began asking for her mother.<\/p>\n
Bentley lifted her before I could.<\/p>\n
He swayed with her in his arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember what Mom says?\u201d<\/p>\n
Maddie sniffed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMama comes back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bentley said it firmly.<\/p>\n
But his eyes found mine over his sister\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n
He needed me to confirm it.<\/p>\n
I could not.<\/p>\n
Instead I made dinner.<\/p>\n
Afterward I prepared my guest room.<\/p>\n
Bentley refused to sleep there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Mom comes back and we're gone, she'll think something happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
So we carried blankets next door.<\/p>\n
I brought Ray's old space heater because the apartment felt damp after sunset.<\/p>\n
Then I began cleaning the kitchen.<\/p>\n
Bentley objected immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don't gotta do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can do dishes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why are you doing them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause tonight you don't have to.\u201d<\/p>\n
That answer silenced him.<\/p>\n
I scraped dried noodles from a saucepan.<\/p>\n
He stood beside me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou'll make Mom feel bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
I turned off the faucet\u2014then remembered there was no water and felt foolish.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe doesn't like people thinking she can't do stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't think that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. I think something happened to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bentley\u2019s face tightened.<\/p>\n
He walked toward the living room.<\/p>\n
\u201cBentley.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas there anyone else in the apartment when your mother got hurt?\u201d<\/p>\n
His shoulders went rigid.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The answer was too sharp.<\/p>\n
I remembered something then.<\/p>\n
Three days earlier, while taking my trash bin to the curb, I had noticed an older black pickup across the street.<\/p>\n
I had assumed someone was visiting.<\/p>\n
It sat there nearly an hour.<\/p>\n
No one entered or left.<\/p>\n
At the time, I had forgotten it almost immediately.<\/p>\n
Now I did not.<\/p>\n
Before I could question Bentley again, somebody pounded on my front door next door.<\/p>\n
Doug.<\/p>\n
I crossed the porch.<\/p>\n
He stood under the porch light wearing his work jacket and holding a manila folder.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFinishing the conversation you hung up on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hung up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFine. Finishing the conversation we both enjoyed equally.\u201d<\/p>\n
He lifted the folder.<\/p>\n
I knew what it contained.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon't.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMa.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are sleeping children ten feet away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd there are legal procedures already moving.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can stop them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can't pretend rent doesn't exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody asked you to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe vanished.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was hospitalized.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don't know where.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNeither does her ten-year-old son.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doug rubbed his forehead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat alone means authorities need to be involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes narrowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou haven't called?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI've been trying to find Amber first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's irresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cChoose your next word carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked away.<\/p>\n
I lowered my voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou shut off water to an apartment without checking whether children were inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI posted notice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren cannot drink a notice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n
That struck him.<\/p>\n
His posture changed slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the unit was empty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou assumed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe hadn't answered.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou assumed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rent\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStop hiding behind the rent.\u201d<\/p>\n
His jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'm protecting your property.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. You're protecting paperwork.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stared toward the other side of the duplex.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre they really alone?\u201d<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat part of this conversation sounded imaginary?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow old is the little one?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThree.\u201d<\/p>\n
His face changed.<\/p>\n
He knew Bentley was ten.<\/p>\n
Apparently he had not known about Maddie.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow has she been eating?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHer brother has been feeding her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doug looked toward the darkened windows.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd school?\u201d<\/p>\n
I told him.<\/p>\n
Every morning Bentley packed his backpack.<\/p>\n
Every morning he walked to the bus stop.<\/p>\n
Every morning he waited until the bus left.<\/p>\n
Then he came home.<\/p>\n
Doug's face drained of color.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe's been doing that for nine days?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo nobody would discover he was alone with his sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first time since arriving, Doug had no argument.<\/p>\n
He sat on the porch railing Ray had built decades earlier.<\/p>\n
The folder hung loosely from his hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood opposite him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn't look.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doug stared at the eviction papers.<\/p>\n
After a while he handed them to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hearing's next Thursday.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCancel it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did not promise.<\/p>\n
But he no longer argued.<\/p>\n
That was something.<\/p>\n
He left shortly after eight-thirty.<\/p>\n
I checked the children.<\/p>\n
Maddie was asleep on the couch.<\/p>\n
Bentley lay beside her with one arm around her waist.<\/p>\n
I returned to my kitchen and sat beside the landline.<\/p>\n
I had written down every hospital number I could find.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow I would widen the search to Indianapolis.<\/p>\n
Maybe Fort Wayne.<\/p>\n
Maybe farther.<\/p>\n
At 9:17, the landline rang.<\/p>\n
I stared at it.<\/p>\n
Almost nobody used that number anymore.<\/p>\n
For a strange second, I thought of Ray.<\/p>\n
Then I answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello?\u201d<\/p>\n
Breathing.<\/p>\n
Weak.<\/p>\n
Uneven.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello?\u201d<\/p>\n
A woman whispered, \u201cIs this Miss Arlene?\u201d<\/p>\n
I stood so quickly my chair scraped backward.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmber?\u201d<\/p>\n
She began crying.<\/p>\n
Not loudly.<\/p>\n
There was barely enough strength in her voice for that.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease,\u201d she whispered. \u201cPlease tell me my babies are still there.\u201d<\/p>\n
I gripped the receiver.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey're safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
A broken breath came through the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey're both safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmber, where are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
She did not answer immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cHospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich hospital?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIndianapolis.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou've been there all this time?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn't call.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
Her breathing became ragged.<\/p>\n
Then she said something that turned every unanswered question into something darker.<\/p>\n
\u201cMiss Arlene, listen to me. Don't let my husband find the children.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought I had misunderstood.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour husband?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn't supposed to know I survived.\u201d<\/p>\n
I walked into the hallway before answering Doug because I did not want Bentley hearing what came next. \u201cYou're going to stop that eviction.\u201d \u201cMa, you don't understand the situation.\u201d … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23806,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23760\/revisions\/23806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}