April 7, 2014

Zen music pulled me from my nightmare. I sat up, cold sweat covering my body. My husband, half-asleep, hooked his fingers into mine. I had had the same nightmare every night for about a month now. I am in the park, pushing my three year old in the baby swing while watching my seven year old do the monkey bars. Suddenly, a curdling scream destroys the perfect day. My six year old, who was just going to get a drink, was being shoved into a white van. Before I can move, the door slams closed and I awaken screaming.

My husband wrapped his arms around my waist. “It's just a nightmare, baby,” he murmured. “The kids are fine.”

I slid out of bed and slipped my feet into my slippers. “There's nothing wrong with checking.”

Before he could protest, I'd left the room and gone into the hallway. The draft from our A/C unit nipped at my bare ankles. I turned the knob to my girls’ room, took a deep breath, and opened the door. There they were. My two little girls were asleep as they were every morning. I smiled. It almost made me not turn on the light.

“It's time to get up,” I said as I flicked the light on.

My daughters groaned. I watched as they slowly pulled themselves out of bed. My younger daughter emerged first. Her hair was matted to her forehead, and her clothes had been twisted around her body. She rubbed her eyes, spreading crust across her cheeks.

“Why do we have to go to school?” she whined.

“You need to learn. Go take a shower and brush your teeth, and I'll get your clothes set out.”

She grunted in response, grabbed her fuzzy pink towel, and stomped into the bathroom. My older daughter had pulled her Winnie the Pooh blanket over her eyes. With a tiny chuckle, I pulled the blanket off of her face. “Get up, sweetheart. You have to go to school.”

“I don’t wanna!” she groaned.

I pulled her up into my arms. “Katie, you have to go to school. Come on, we need to get ready. Daddy said he’s leaving in one hour and if you aren’t in the car, you’ll have to get on the bus.”

Katie squirmed away from me. “Fine! Just go away so I can get ready.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Set your sister out some clothes for me, okay? Try to make them match this time.”

Katie nodded and opened the dresser drawer. I went back to my room where my husband was asleep. I rolled my eyes and clicked the light on. “You know, you have work too.”

“I’ll be up.”

“If I come back in here in five minutes and you aren’t awake, I’m going to throw cold water on you.”

Ralph sat up as soon as the word water left my lips. He stood and rubbed his eyes. “I’m up, see?”

I smiled at him. “Look who knows me.”

He rolled his eyes and reached for his pants. I went into the kitchen, where I heard a crunching noise. I stopped, and peered around the wall of our breakfast nook to see my three year old son eating Cheerios. Milk had been sloppily cleaned off of the table with some towels. My son looked at me and smiled. “Hi Mommy!”

“Hi Seth. I see you’ve made yourself breakfast.”

He nodded and smiled. “You want to help Mommy cook breakfast?”

“After I finish my cereal!” he said slurping another spoonful of cereal.

I smiled and nodded. I rapped on the bathroom door. “ Hurry up, Lexie! You need to get dressed!”

The shower cut off. I went back into my bedroom to see my husband looping his belt into his jeans. I tapped on my daughters’ bedroom door. Katie answered. She was dressed in sparkly pink skinny jeans, a grey t-shirt, and fuzzy striped socks. She had her backpack in one hand and her shoes in the other. “Go get your teeth brushed and your face washed. Breakfast will be ready in ten.”

Katie nodded. Lexie emerged from the bathroom wrapped in her towel. She was chewing on her towel. She looked at me and then the clock at the end of the hall before she trotted into their bedroom. I went back into the kitchen where Seth was waiting for me. He had milk residue along his cheeks and he was standing on a stool. He had tried to put his bowl into the sink but had only managed to spill milk everywhere. I sighed and cleaned it up. As I did, I instructed him.

“Get out the carton of eggs, the flour, the sugar, and the blueberries, sweetie.”

“Okay Mommy.”

Something dropped, and I heard him groan oops. I chuckled, rinsed the rag, and turned to help him. Shredded cheese was scattered everywhere. He was struggling to carry the broom straight. I helped him steady it as he swept. My husband came into the kitchen. He held my phone in one hand and his tie in the other. “Uh, can you help me?” he asked.

I clicked my tongue and pulled the tie from his hands. “So, I don’t think there will be time for pancakes today. The girls can survive on toast though.”

“Well, I have to go to the OBGYN on Thursday so you guys will have to stop on the way to work.”

“I should really come to this one. I was there for the other ones.”

I kissed his cheek. “It’ll be fine, baby. I’ll call you if anything goes wrong.”

“Speaking of calling, some unknown number has been trying to call you all day. Are you cheating on me?”

The twinkle in his eyes made me laugh. “No. But, there is my the in shining armor again.”

I took my phone from him.

“I’ll go check on the girls,” he said.

I answered my phone. Someone on the other side sighed in relief. “Hello? Is this Trixie? Ana Wyatt’s sister?”

“Yes. Who’s asking?”

“Uh, you may not remember me, but I’m Max Charles. I go by Charlie. Ana and I work together. I just wanted to ask if you’ve seen her lately. She hasn’t come into work for a few days and I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

“Well, I-”

“Mommy! Daddy’s trying to do my hair!” Lexie screamed from the other room.

“Just a minute!” I called to her. “I’m sorry about that. I-”

“I’m done, Mommy,” Seth said as he prodded me with the broom handle.

“Alright,” I took the broom from him and propped it up against the wall. “Thank you, sweetie.”

I walked out onto the porch and turned back to the phone. “I’m really sorry. I think Ana just went on some trip with her friends.”

“I just wanted to let you know before I went to the police and filed a missing person’s report.”

“Ana does this a lot. You shouldn’t worry. I’ll try to call her a little later and I’ll let you know if something comes up, okay? In the meantime, you should just keep an eye out and call me if anything else weird turns up, okay?”

“Alright. Thank you.”

I smiled. I knew Ana was just in the Alps or in Mississippi fishing or in Alaska hunting for moose. She had been doing this since we were kids. I chuckled, put my phone in the pocket of my pajama pants, and went back inside. I could hear my family getting antsy without me. I went back in the kitchen to quickly make breakfast and prepare to help my family through another Monday.