The Way to Yesterday (9 page)

'I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," Hope said.

The man smiled and Hope thought he looked like a real clown with his wide,
thick lips and the funny little spaces between his teeth. Interested, in spite
of her fear, she sat when she should have been moving away.

Howard Lee resisted the urge to laugh. With little girls, it was so easy. It
was always so easy. They were born with an innate sense of wanting to please.
"Well, you're right of course. You should never talk to strangers who
might hurt you. But I'm not going to do that, am I?"

Hope shrugged, her gaze still riveted on the way his tongue brushed against
the inside of his teeth as he talked.

'You know what?" Howard Lee asked. Hope shook her head.

'You look like a little girl who's about to have a birthday. Am I
right?"

Hope's eyes widened as she nodded. She was inordinately proud of the fact
that she would soon be seven and a year older than a lot of the kids in her
class.

'I thought so!" Howard Lee said, and clapped his hands together, as if
in quick delight. "I'll bet you're having a party, aren't you? Going to
invite all your friends and play games and eat cake and ice cream." Hope's
expression fell. "I don't think so," she said.

Howard Lee's mouth turned downward, giving his expression a sudden mournful
look. He wanted to touch her, but knew it was far too soon. However, he
couldn't resist a quick touch to her hair as he stroked a finger down the
length of one curl.

'Why, that's just awful," he said. "A little girl as pretty as you
should have a party... lots of parties, in fact."

Instinct kicked in as Hope retreated from the intrusion of his touch. She
grabbed her backpack and slid from the bench just as her teacher suddenly
realized she was missing.

Lena Kristy saw the familiar blue van pulling up at the curb and looked
around for Hope O'Rourke.

She frowned when she realized she was no longer in line, but when she turned
around to search for her and saw her talking to a stranger, her frustration
turned to fear.

'Hope! Hope! Please come here!"

Hope bolted, relieved that the responsibility of conversation had been
removed. She saw Mrs. Barnes and headed for the van, but her teacher stopped
her before she could get in.

'Who was that man you were talking to?" Lena asked.

Hope shrugged. "I don't know."

'Where did he come from, dear?"

"I was crying. I didn't see."

Lena squatted down beside the little girl and then cupped her chin.

'Why were you crying, dear? Are you ill?"

'No," Hope said.

'Did someone hurt you?"

"No."

'You had to be crying for a reason. Can't you tell me what it was?"

'Mrs. Barnes wasn't here. I don't like it when she's late. It makes me
sad."

Lena sighed and gave Hope a quick hug. Anxiety was hard to deal with,
especially when you're only six.

'But she's here now, isn't she?" Lena said. "So off you go, and if
you see that man again, you run and tell me. It's not okay to talk to
him."

Hope nodded.

Lena ushered the child into the van and then turned around, searching the
schoolyard for the man she'd seen, but he was no longer in sight. Anxious to
report to her principal, she hustled the other children into their parents'
cars and then headed for the school building. Two little girls had already gone
missing in Savannah and she wasn't taking any chances. While these children
were in her care, they were her babies.

'Mommy, it's not okay to talk to strangers, is it?" Hope asked.

The curious inflection in Hope's voice made Mary's skin crawl. She dropped
the potato she was peeling into the sink, wiped her hands on a towel and then
turned to look at her daughter, who was sitting at the kitchen table. Her head
was bent toward her coloring book, the cookie Hope had given her earlier was
gone, and her glass of milk was half empty. It was an innocent scene, but the
question Hope asked was not.

'No, it's not okay," Mary said. "Why do you ask?"

Hope shrugged and discarded her red crayon for a blue one.

Mary sat down in the chair across from Hope and for a moment, simply watched
the intensity on her daughter's face. As she sat, it occurred to her that fear
was not something she would have expected in heaven, and with that came the
thought that her theory could be horribly flawed. If so, then she wasn't dead,
but if she wasn't dead, then where was she? It wasn't the first time today that
she'd experienced something disturbing, but this was the worst. And while she
had no explanation for what was going on in her life, the reality of her
"here and now" was too vivid to explain away as a dream.

'Did a stranger talk to you today?" Without looking up, Hope nodded.
"Where, honey? At dance class?"

'No," Hope said, and abandoned the blue crayon for a yellow one.

Mary sighed. If only she was more confident about this parenting business.
She'd only had three months of practice at it before everything had come to an
end, and even though she felt a natural and enduring love for this child she
was just getting to know, she was uncertain about how to connect.

'Come sit in my lap," Mary asked, and without urging, Hope immediately
abandoned her coloring and did as Mary asked.

Mary pulled her close, wrapping her arms around the tiny girl's shoulders
and rocking her where they sat.

'Where did you see the stranger?"

'At school." Her features crumpled. "I don't want to go to dance
class with Mrs. Barnes anymore. She's always late. I don't like to be last to
go home."

"Okay, sweetie, we'll talk about dance class later. Right now I need
you to tell me more about the man. Did he come to your classroom?"

'No. He was by the gate where we go home." "Where was Mrs.
Kristy?"

Hope hesitated, knowing that it was her fault for getting out of line.

'Honey, you can tell me."

Hope sighed. "I got out of line. Mrs. Barnes wasn't there and I sat on
the bench."

Mary's heart sank, thinking how swiftly a child could be lost-and in the place
where she should have felt safe.

'Did Mrs. Kristy see him?"

'I don't know. I came when she called me, Mommy. Really I did."

'That's good. Now tell me something else. Were you afraid of him."

Hope shrugged. "I don't know ... maybe." Mary struggled with a
sudden fear of her own, knowing that someone they didn't know had violated her
daughter's naivety.

'Did he touch you?" Mary asked, and heard the tremble in her own voice.

Hope nodded.

Oh God. Oh God. "Where did he touch you, baby?"

'On my hair. He said I was pretty." At this point, Hope looked up.
"Am I, Mommy? Am I pretty?"

Mary made herself smile, but she couldn't talk.

Not yet. Not while the taste of bile was so rancid in her mouth.

'He looked like a clown," Hope said. For a moment, Mary started to relax.
A clown.

There had been a clown at school-probably in an other classroom. It was okay
after all.

'Oh ... a clown! Did he have a funny costume?" Hope frowned. "He
wasn't a real clown, Mommy. He just looked like one. He had yellow hair and a
big mouth with holes between his teeth."

'Holes?"

'Yes, you know.. .like this."

'Oh! You mean spaces ... like his teeth didn't touch each other good."

'Yes. Like that," Hope said.

'What else did he say to you?" Mary asked. "I don't remember.
Mommy, can I go outside and play until Daddy comes home?"

Mary hesitated and then nodded an okay. "But only in the backyard with
the fence." Hope rolled her eyes. "Oh, Mommy. I never play outside my
fence. You know that."

Mary made herself laugh, but she felt like crying as Hope bounced off her
lap and bolted out the back door. She followed her to the porch, assuring
herself that she was right where she'd said she'd be, and then went back inside
to finish peeling potatoes.

From the window above the sink, she could see Hope swinging on her swing and
sliding down the slide, but it wasn't enough to alleviate the sick feeling in
her stomach. And all the while the realization kept growing that she wasn't in
heaven after all.

Chapter Six

Daniel's steps were weary as he entered the house, but his spirits lifted as
he heard laughter and smelled the welcoming scents of their evening meal. He
laid his briefcase on the hall table and then headed for the kitchen. He wanted
to shower and change into some comfortable clothes, but he needed to see his
girls first.

'I'm home," he yelled, and grinned to himself when he heard his
daughter squeal.

'Daddy!" she shrieked, and launched herself toward him, knowing full
well he would catch her before she fell.

'Wow," Daniel said, as he hugged her close.

'That's quite a welcome. What did I do to deserve that?"

''Cause you're my Daddy, that's why."

Daniel laughed and pretended to pinch at her nose, then looked over her
shoulder toward Mary. She was trying to smile, but he could tell by the look on
her face that something was amiss.

'Honey?"

She shook her head and then looked at Hope. He nodded in understanding as
Mary spoke.

'Supper is ready, but you have time to change if you want."

He set Hope down and then gave her a playful swat as she dashed toward the kitchen.
As soon as Hope was out of hearing, he took Mary in his arms. "Talk to
me."

'Hope said there was a stranger at the schoolyard gates who told her she was
pretty. She said he touched her hair."

Daniel's heart stopped, and when it kicked back into rhythm, pounded
erratically against his chest.

'God in heaven... where was her teacher?"

'Where she always was, but Hope said she got out of line because she was
sad. I don't think Mrs. Kristy knew for a while. Hope also said that Mrs.
Barnes wasn't there when school let out. She said she doesn't want to go to
dance classes with her any more because she's always late."

Daniel felt sick to his stomach, absorbing the horror of what he was
hearing. At the same time, he thought of the headlines in this morning's paper.
"Two little girls have already been abducted here in the city."

'What?"

Daniel frowned. "Honey... you knew that. We talked about it just last
week."

Mary couldn't wrap her thoughts around what she was hearing. The only last
week she could remember was working as a sales clerk in the dress shop and
going home to an empty house.

'Yes, of course," she muttered. "I wasn't thinking."

'Have you talked to Mrs. Kristy?"

Mary flushed. Suddenly she felt as if she'd failed at her duty at a parent.

'No, but Hope only told me about it less than an hour ago. I wanted to talk
to you first before I did anything."

'Yes, of course," Daniel said, and then hugged Mary close. "Maybe
we're making too much out of nothing, but in this day and age, you can't be too
careful."

'That's what I thought," Mary said. "I didn't want to panic and
cause Hope to have anxiety. She was already bothered by the fact that in
talking to him, she'd disobeyed a very important rule."

'Lord," Daniel muttered, and shoved a hand through his hair. "I'm
going to shower and change.

Give me five minutes and then I'll be down to supper. We'll call Mrs. Kristy
together after Hope goes to bed, okay?"

'Okay," Mary said, and then hugged Daniel tight. "Oh Daniel, when
she started talking about that man..." Then she shuddered. "I've
never been so scared."

'You did the right thing, honey. Don't worry. Chances are the incident was
innocent, but we can never be too careful. She's not even seven years old and
still so trusting. Losing her innocence will be inevitable, but not now.
Keeping this low-key is the best for her. We don't want to frighten her
unnecessarily."

Mary nodded, then watched Daniel bound up the stairs before she went back
into the kitchen where Hope was playing. She kept going over and over the sequence
of events during the past few hours, certain there was something obvious she
was missing, but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out what it was.

She continued to set the table and dish up the food as Hope finished
coloring her picture. She was putting ice in their glasses when Hope slapped
the coloring book closed and announced.

'Mommy, I'm hungry."

Mary's stomach was in knots as she turned to face her daughter, then she
heard Daniel's footsteps as he came hurrying down the stairs.

'Daddy's coming now," Mary said. "Go wash your hands while I put
the food on the table, okay?"

"Yea!" Hope cried, and skipped toward the bathroom off the
kitchen.

Daniel entered as Hope was leaving. "Yes... Yea!

I echo her sentiments," he said. "I'm starving, too."

'After all that shrimp scampi we had at lunch?" Daniel grinned.
"I'm a growing boy." Mary laughed and handed him a bowl of mashed
potatoes.

'Please put these on the table while I get the meatloaf out of the warming
oven."

'Man, I love your meatloaf," Daniel said, as he set the potatoes on the
table.

'Salad is in the fridge," Mary said. "Would you get it, too?"

Daniel went toward the refrigerator just as Hope came back in the room.

'May I have juice, please?

'And juice for the princess," Daniel said, as he took a pitcher of
apple juice from the refrigerator along with the salad.

Hope sat down at the table with all the assurance of a child who knows she
is loved.

'Daddy..."

'What honey?"

'I talked to a stranger today."

Daniel glanced at Mary and then sighed. "I know. Mommy told me."

'I'm sorry."

He put the salad and juice on the table and then sat down beside her.

'Want to talk about it?"

She ducked her chin. "I won't do it again." Daniel laid his hand
on her head, thinking as he did, that for such a small child, she had a very
huge hold on his heart.