FirstLineFiction beta

from Contest #5

A boy with a parrot on his shoulder was walking along the railway tracks.  His overalls had torn out knees and one of the straps hung down his back.  His hair hung in his eyes.  The sun beat down overhead, creating the need for him to wipe his forehead free of the sweat droplets that were starting to form.  He wondered what was going on back at home.  Was his mom making macaroni with hot dogs in it?  His tummy growled at the thought.  That was his favorite. 

Oh well. There was no turning back now.  He stopped and opened the little red back-pack of his brother’s.  Damon would be mad that he had taken it without asking.  Sitting on a mound of dirt near the tracks, he ate three packages of shark fruit snacks before deciding he’d better save some for dinner. 

It was a long way to Kaitlyn’s.  He wasn’t sure exactly how long, but it sure seemed like forever. He crinkled his eyebrows and tried to remember Kaitlyn and her house.  It had been so long since he had seen her, he couldn’t.  Whenever he thought of her he thought of apples.  Her hair always smelled like apples.  She also always gave him the best snacks.  Mom never gave him handfuls of M&Ms like Kaitlyn did.

Sometimes he wondered why they had left.  For a long time he lived with Dad and Kaitlyn and then one day, Mom took him away.  Then he never saw Kaitlyn anymore.  But he saw her on the news that morning when mom had been getting ready.

Mom had set the cereal in front of him and insisted that they needed to go on vacation.  That was puzzling.  He knew he had school starting in just a few days—his very first day of kindergarten.  Mom had been marking off the days on a calendar in his room.  He looked at it every morning.  Now she wanted to go on vacation, and it confused him.

She had gone upstairs leaving him alone with his cereal.  That was when he saw Kaitlyn on the news.  She was sad.  He wondered if it was because it was raining. Kaitlyn didn’t like the rain. She would always sing the rain, rain go away. Come again another day song as they watched it through the windows and she read stories to him.

It never rained here.  It was always hot.  Just like now, the sun always shined.  It always made him sweat, especially since his mom made him wear his hair long now.  He missed the snow.  When he lived with Kaitlyn there were many days that were filled with snow angels, hot cocoa, and warm cookies from the oven.  Mom bought cookies. 

He looked ahead, puzzled.  He wasn’t so sure where he was.  He knew that the train went right by Kaitlyn’s house.  So if he followed the tracks he was sure that he would find it.  Plus, it was the only bright red house all around. 

He looked up at Merlin, who was squawking angrily.  He wondered why Merlin was so unhappy.  Merlin loved Kaitlyn.  She used to give him tomatoes from the garden.  He and Merlin both missed those tomatoes. 

“Merlin, where do we go?” he asked the parrot. 

The train tracks curved.  He didn’t know whether to follow them or not.  He sighed deeply.   He would just have to keep going.  It couldn’t be much further.

He walked for a while feeling more frustrated as he continued.  Shouldn’t he be there already?  He climbed up the little slope.  Small trees dotted a plain field.  Luckily, he was small too.  The shade would be nice.  He ate the remaining packages of fruit snacks and yawned.  Just a small nap, he thought to himself.   There was no sense in getting to Kaitlyn’s and being tired and cranky.  Then she would just make him take a nap.  No naps!  He didn’t want to let her out of his sight!

He set Merlin on the ground next to the tree.  “Stay here, Merlin.  We still have a lot of traveling ahead of us.”

Merlin squawked for a few moments before quieting down.  He noticed Merlin was very still.   He was asleep in the shade.  That was the last thing he saw before he closed his eyes and fell asleep himself.

 

The dream was of his fourth birthday party.  There had been a giant cake and big presents.  Dad and Kaitlyn had bought a bike for him!  A real bike!  It was black and silver and so shiny!  He felt like the luckiest boy in the world.  Kaitlyn let him have the biggest piece of cake, and she didn’t lecture him when it got all over his face.   She had just laughed and wiped the frosting away after snapping a picture.  Kaitlyn loved pictures.  She took pictures of everything.  That night, Kaitlyn and Dad had tucked him into bed, after hanging his brand new Transformers poster on the wall above the bed.  Dad gave him a big goodnight hug and kiss, and then it was Kaitlyn’s turn.  She was always the last one to tuck him in, because she was the best tucker.  Dad tried, but he didn’t do it right.  Then there were sirens, before Kaitlyn could tuck him in, and he was confused.  Kaitlyn disappeared and he woke up to Merlin squawking, sirens all around, and policemen staring at him. 

He started to cry.  He couldn’t help it.  Was he in trouble?  Were they going to take him to jail?  A woman police officer stooped down next to him.  “Is this your bird, sweetie?” she asked.   He stopped crying for a second.  She seemed nice.

He nodded, unable to speak.  His throat felt tied in a knot—a big knot, like the ones mom tied in his shoes.

“What are you doing all the way out here?” she asked.

He shrugged.  “I’m just trying to find Kaitlyn.”

The lady looked surprised, like when mom found the spot where he used to hide all his peas.  It wasn’t a good kind of surprised look.  “Dalton, this is the kid they were talking about on the news.”  Dalton raised one eyebrow, and the boy’s eyes got really wide.

He got excited then, and jumped up.  “Oh! You saw Kaitlyn on the news too!”

“Do you know Kaitlyn?” the lady asked the boy. 

“Yes.  She used to tuck me in, but then my mom took me away.  We never went to see dad and Kaitlyn anymore,” he said with a very sad look on his angelic face.

“Avery Johnson is on her way here.  What do we do?” Dalton asked.  The little boy knew that was his mom’s name.  He didn’t want to go back with mom.  Not before finding Kaitlyn!

The little boy whimpered. “Please take me to Kaitlyn.”  Tears started to roll out of his blue eyes and onto his chubby cheeks.

The nice lady turned back to Dalton.  “We can’t hand him over to his mother.  There are serious legal repercussions for something like that.”  Repercussions?  That was a big word.  The little boy stared up at them.  Why did adults always use words like that?

The lady opened a cell phone, the kind that he played with from mom’s purse.  “I need to get a photo of Kaitlyn Adams A.S.A.P,” she muttered into the phone.  She slammed it shut and turned to him.  “Are you hungry?”

“Yeah,” he said as his little lip quivered.  His tummy was growling again.  “I don’t have any fruit snacks left.”  He shrugged and opened the back-pack to reveal the wrappers from the fruit snacks that he’d eaten earlier.

“Is that all you’ve had to eat?” the lady asked.  The boy nodded.  “Can I have some macaroni?”

“Yeah, we’ll get you some macaroni in just a little bit, okay honey?”

There were so many people, and they all were crowded around.  He still didn’t understand. 

A bald man came rushing over.  “It’s all we could find.  Do you think this will work?” he asked the lady.  She took the picture out of his hand and handed it to the little boy. He stared at it, before jumping up and down.  “It’s Kaitlyn! Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn! Do you know where she is?”

“That’s all we need,” the lady said and handed the picture back to the bald man. 

“Wait,” the little boy said suddenly grabbing at the lady’s uniform.  “Can I have that please?” he asked sheepishly.

“Of course you can,” she replied snatching the picture back out of the bald man’s hand.  “Can you come with us? You know that we are police officers, and we need you to come with us so we can take you to Kaitlyn.”

He nodded and held his hand out for the lady to take.  She did and led him to one of the police cars. “Have you ever ridden in a police cruiser before?” she asked.

The little boy shook his head.  He suddenly became shy.  “Am I in trouble?” he asked.

“No, sweetie,” the lady replied and buckled him into the back of the car.  “I’ll even ride back here with you.”

“The police rest people when they are bad,” he stated simply.

“That’s true,” she said.  “They do arrest people when they are bad,” she said correcting him. “They also help people, and we’re here to help you find Kaitlyn.”

He let out a big sigh of relief and she chuckled.

At the police station there was so much to look at.  There were police men everywhere!  The lady led him into her office and let him sit in her desk chair.  Damon would be so jealous when he told him! Oh…  Then he remembered he’d stolen Damon’s back-pack.

“Um.  Miss Police lady?” he asked patting her thigh.

“Yes, sweetie?”

“You might need to rest me.”

“Why would I need to do that?”

He looked ashamed.  “I stole Damon’s back-pack.”

She laughed, and he flushed.  “Is Damon your brother?”

“My half-brother,” he announced proudly.  “He’ll be mad I took his back-pack.”

“Well, we will get it back to him.  Brothers do that kind of thing.  I’m sure he wouldn’t want you to be arrested for it.”

He got quite for a few minutes.  “I think my mom will be mad.”  He played with the frame on the desk. “She doesn’t like Kaitlyn, I don’t think.  They aren’t friends.  They are like enemies.”

The lady looked sad.  “Don’t you worry about that.”  She paced around the room.  “Oh look! Your macaroni is here!”

He looked up in amazement, his mom and her anger long forgotten.  “You can have it delivered! That is awesome!” he exclaimed.

He ate his macaroni messily and she poked her head into the hall.  Dalton was standing there.  “Is she here?”

“Yes.  We just arrested her.  We’re trying not to let the boy see her, but you need to keep him distracted.”

The boy tried to listen.  They were whispering.  Someone was in trouble and he was just relieved it wasn’t him!

He continued to eat.  The macaroni really wasn’t very good.  Not like mom’s was.  Actually, even dad’s was better, but he was hungry so he continued to eat it.  Then he dropped his fork.  He saw her! He was out of the desk chair and running for the door before he knew it.

“Kaitlyn!” he shouted. He plowed around the lady and around Dalton, who were still whispering, and ran straight for Kaitlyn.

“Danny!” she shouted, wrapping him in a huge hug.  Her long brown hair fanned out around him, and he breathed it in, smelling the apples.  Yep, it was Kaitlyn!

Dad was there too, waiting patiently for his turn at a hug.  When Kaitlyn let go, he wrapped the boy up in his arms.  “We are so glad you are okay!”

The boy looked puzzled.  “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“Because it’s not very safe to wander off by yourself, sweetie.”  Kaitlin dug into her huge purse and pulled out a tissue. She wiped her eyes.  The boy realized she was crying.

“Are you mad, Kaitlyn?” he asked, looking up at her with his big blue eyes.

“No, honey.  I’m very, very, happy.”

“I saw you on the news,” he muttered.

“You did?”

“So I came to find you!”

“Oh, honey,” Kaitlyn said and she cried some more.  He really didn’t understand why adults cried when they were happy.  He looked at his dad and even he was crying! He’d never seen his dad cry.  It kind of scared him. 

“Daddy, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Danny.  We are just happy you’re safe.”

The adults exchanged a look.  He wasn’t sure what that kind of look meant.  Then he saw his mom.  She looked angry.   She was with the bald policeman.  She was in handcuffs!  The little boy was suddenly scared again.  He grabbed Kaitlyn’s hand and hid behind her leg.  He didn’t understand.  The lady said they only arrested bad people. 

“Danny!” his mom yelled.  “Danny, why did you do this?”  He was right, she was mad. 

He started crying again.  Kaitlyn rubbed his back.  “Avery, stop.  He’s upset enough as it is,” he heard his father mutter.

“Where did they take Merlin?” the boy suddenly asked.  His eyes followed his mom down the hall.

“He’s safe.  He’s keeping some of the officers company right now,” Kaitlyn explained.

That was enough to appease the little boy.  He nodded.  “Did mom do something bad?” he asked after a few minutes.  Then without waiting for an answer he asked, “Where’s Damon?”

Kaitlyn and his dad exchanged that look again.  “We’ll talk about everything later.”

“Daddy, I took Damon’s back-pack,” he said sheepishly.  “They said they wouldn’t rest me but it was still bad.”

“We’ll give it back to him,” his dad said.

After what felt like forever in the lady’s office and dad, Kaitlyn, and the lady talking, he fell asleep.  It was cozy on Kaitlyn’s lap, and her sweater was soft, so as hard as he tried to stay awake and hear what they were talking about, he just couldn’t.

When he woke up he was in Kaitlyn’s car, in the back seat, buckled in, with pillows and blankies.  Kaitlyn’s favorite music was on the radio.  He wasn’t sure what it was but he recognized it.

“Daddy where are we going?” he asked quietly, still sleepy.

“We’re going home, son.  We’re finally going home.”

“Back to Kaitlyn’s house?” he asked sitting up straight, fully alert now.

“Yes, Danny.  We’re going back to my house.  Is that okay with you?”  Kaitlyn asked.

“Um-hmm.  Do you have any M&Ms at home, Kaitlyn?”

“I’ll bet I do.”

No one said anything for a few minutes.  Even the adults.  Then his dad spoke.  “Do you know why your mom is in trouble, Danny?”

He shook his head, and grabbed onto the fuzziest blankie for comfort. 

“Mom took you away.  Do you remember that?” 

He nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“The police only arrest people when they’ve done something wrong.  Your mom took you away and didn’t tell us where she went.  We didn’t know where you were and we were very worried.  It’s very confusing, but your mom will be okay, you just might not see her for a while.”

“Okay Daddy.”   He stared out the window at the darkness.  “Daddy if mom is going to jail, where is Damon?”

There was a brief silence.  “Damon is with Auntie Linda.  He’ll be okay.  We gave him his back-pack and he said he loves you very much.”

“Daddy I miss Damon.”

“I know, but you’ll see him soon.  I promise.”

He fell back into a light sleep, still hearing his dad and Kaitlyn talking.  The next thing he knew they were setting him in his bed.  It was his old bed!  And his Transformers poster was still there!

“Will you tuck me in just like before?” he mumbled as Kaitlyn slipped his pajamas over his head.

“Of course we will.”

“Every night, forever and ever?” he asked crawling under the covers.

His dad kissed his head, hugged him tightly and pulled the covers up.  Kaitlin hugged him even tighter, kissed his forehead and tucked the blankets around him loosely.  “Forever and ever, little man,” Kaitlyn said. 

They smiled at each other.  His dad kissed Kaitlyn’s cheek. Kaitlyn put her hand up to turn off the light.

“Wait!” he exclaimed from his bed.

“What sweetheart?”

“Thank you finding me.”

Kaitlyn looked at him.  She looked very surprised—the happy kind of surprised, and smiled.  “Do you remember that book I used to read to you, Danny?  About the mama bear that looked for her lost cub?”

He nodded.

“Even though I’m not your mom, I love you that much and I’ll look for you no matter how long it takes.  Our family isn’t the same without you here.”

“Are we having pancakes for breakfast?” he asked with a little grin.

“Yes, we are.  Monster blueberry pancakes! Then we’re going to write a letter to your mom and tell her that you love her, and then… kindergarten registration!”

“Kindergarten?” he asked, excitedly.

“Yes kindergarten!” she said.  Then she pointed across the room to where Merlin sat on his perch.  “Now get some sleep! Merlin is exhausted!”

He giggled.  “Night Kaitlyn.”

“Good-night Danny,” she said shutting the door.  “Welcome home,” he heard her whisper before he was fast asleep and dreaming of pancakes and kindergarten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

back to Contest #5