The Perfect Solution-A Suspense of Choices (6 page)

"I don't believe he would do such a thing. If I know Austin correctly, he would confront me and argue about it. He wouldn't do anything behind my back. I don't want to talk about this any longer. I need to call the police. It has been about three hours since you went to the center. No telling where this person could be with Brhin. I just pray they are still in the city. Listen, I'm going to call the director of The P. S. Center and see if she knows anything. Will you come over here?"

"Yes, of course. I'll leave the girls with Frank and I'll be right there."

"You are serious, aren't you Phae? My baby is not standing by your side and laughing at me?" Catrine sat on the edge of the bed, closed her eyes and nervously chewed on her fingernail. "Your sense of humor tends to go to the extreme sometimes. Don't fu….."

"Cat, watch your language."

"How in God's name can you correct my language at a time like this? Phae I want to scream. I can't believe this is happening. I just want to stomp my feet and rant, rage and pull my hair out while screaming like a maniac."

"I can understand that Cat, but cursing will not bring him back and acting like a maniac will destroy your focus. You need to concentrate on what you can do that will help. Think about absolutely anyone that you may have spoken with since last night. Maybe they mistakenly thought you were asking them to get Brhin and they have him. Maybe a co-worker or one of the ladies from the church called you. Everyone has been worried about you since you became ill. I wouldn't play with you over something like this. I know how you feel about that baby. Jesus, I know how I feel about him. Go ahead and call that director. I'll be at your house as soon as possible."

"Hurry up. I feel nervous. My head is about to burst and my hands won’t stop shaking."

"I'll be right there. In the meantime, take an aspirin, maybe two."

"Yeah, right; like that will help." Catrine absently rubbed a spot near the corner of her left eye. "I think I'll call Linda's mother just to make sure I hadn't asked Linda to get Brhin and then I'm going to fix myself a stiff drink before I call Mrs. Wall. That woman tends to eat my nerves."

"I know what you mean. I'll get my shoes on and be right there." Instead of that drink, why don't you call Pastor Hickory? You can use all of the prayers that we can get. His congregation is full of awesome prayer warriors. But, before we hang up, let's say a prayer together.

"Yes, lets."

"Dear Lord," Phae began. "Lord, place your protective hands on Brhin's head where ever he may be. Guide us to the path and people who may be of the greatest help to getting Brhin back home. Give us the strength and the faith to carry through. We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen."

"Amen."

"Go ahead and make those calls."

"Yeah I will." In her anxiety she replaced the receiver without saying good-bye.

“
Phalene”

"Frank." Phalene slammed the phone's receiver on its base and ran from the kitchen. "Frank." Running down the hallway, she collided with her husband as he rushed through the living room door in her direction.

"Whoa." Wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close, Frank gave her a couple of reassuring pats on the back. "Calm down. What's the matter? What's the matter?" He repeated, giving her a small shake when no answer came and she began to cry. "Honey, don't cry. Let's go into the living room so you can sit down."

Turning and guiding Phalene back into the living room, Frank directed her towards the sofa. "Now, what's the matter?" Frank questioned once she was sitting. It can't be the girls, because they were in the kitchen with you. Is it Catrine?"

Crying hysterically, Phae nodded and buried her face in her hands.

"Calm down is she all right?" Frank sat beside his wife and pulled her into his arms, patting her on the back. What happened? Did she have a car accident? Is she... dead?

"No." Phalene sat up and pushed out of his arm, slapping him on the chest. She rubbed her hands over her eyes. "Don't say things like that."

"Well, what am I suppose to think?" Standing, Frank crossed the room to get her the box of Kleenex tissues from the top of the television, offering her the box and admonishing her all the while. "You get a phone call, run down the hallway screaming my name like a mad woman, sit here crying yourself into a near seizure, tell me that something happened to your sister and what am I suppose to think?"

"Not the worst." she answered while blowing her nose. "I'm sorry. I just lost control.”

"Not something you usually do."

"I know. I just... I, I lost Brhin."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I lost Brhin. Catrine had asked me to get him from the daycare and when I got there, he was gone."

"What do you mean he was gone?"

"I mean, that I walked in the building and as I was signing him out, I looked towards those monitors they have set up in the reception area so parents can watch the classes and I saw that they weren't on. I noticed this because it has become my habit to sit a while and see what was going on in Brhin's room before I would go to get him. I did this mostly because, like you said, the place gives off bad vibes.

I suppose I was subconsciously trying to find fault with the place so Cat would take him out. Anyway, the monitors weren’t on so I went in the receptionist office and told that twit Julioux about it. She was standing in front of her desk holding dripping papers, cleaning a spilled drink from its surface, and talking to a parent that was profusely apologizing for the accident. When I told Julioux about the monitors she looked confused. Absently said she would take care of it. I left the office. Went to get Brhin from his class, but I never got that far. As I walked passed their little television room…"

"They have a television room in a daycare center?"

"Yes. It's just like a movie theater except the children aren't allowed to eat. Its thickly carpeted, big floor pillows, and there's a large plasma screen television and I do mean 'large', about twenty or thirty little low back chairs. They aren't really chairs they are the kind of things you take to sport activities and you have to sit on the ground," she babbled in her nervousness. "I wanted to know what Brhin was going to sit on so one day I tried one of them. The butt part is padded and the backrest is sturdy. The little things are really comfortable. Anyway, when I went there today I was about to pass the room but stopped when I noticed that there had to be about fifty little kids in there. I could see that most of the children came from Brhin's class. One of the three teachers that was in the room, stopped me and told me that Brhin was already gone with a friend his mother had sent after him and I left."

"Why did they have so many children in that room? Had something happened?"

"I was surprised about that too. Usually the larger children aren't allowed in the TV room with the younger ones. I have to give them credit for that. I don't know about too much else, but I do know they like to keep that room relatively quiet. I think it's because it gives the teachers a little piece of mind. One of the teachers said something about an accident in Brhin's classroom. When Cat called me just now she was thinking that I had Brhin here and had forgotten to call her. I can't understand how this happened. She said she had sent a note with Brhin this morning telling them that I was suppose to pick him up and they still sent him away with someone else.

I wish I would have known that. Here I was walking around angry because I would be late for a stupid Girl Scout meeting; refused to follow my first mind and call her from The P. S. Center. I've sat here all evening pissed off and waiting for Cat to call and apologize for making me take a wasted trip and she has been sitting at home thinking that her baby was safe here with me. What am I suppose to tell her?" She stopped pacing. "So much time has been wasted since I went to the Center and now Catrine is waiting for me to come over there and make some kind of big difference in this situation. She is over there, alone and crying and I am supposed to make it better. But I don't know how. Not this time. I just don't know how."

Pulling Phalene into the circle of his arms, Frank held her tight. "Come on, Phae. Don't blame yourself. This isn’t your fault and neither is it Catrine's. I told you guys I thought that center was too perfect. That one time that I picked him up I got an awful feeling. It was like walking into a gorgeous shell. No good spirits were flowing. Didn't I tell you that?"

"Yes, but you're always having these 'feelings'. Stop," she held up her hand when he opened his mouth. "I know what you're going to say. You're going to say that what you feel is more than 'feelings'. I believe that too. It's just that The P.S. Center was in a convenient place for Catrine and that's what sold her."

"I know and I understand. Think positive. Everything will be all right. When you get there, you'll see that Catrine has remembered whom she asked to get Brhin and everything will turn out fine. Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, but I wish you could." Phalene kissed him on the check. "Someone has to stay here with the girls. You're probably right though. Catrine has been taken medication. Maybe her mind is a little bit foggy. I'll go and wash my face and say a few more prayers. Everything will be fine."

"True. You just have to have faith."

"Mom, I heard you talking in the kitchen to Aunt Cat, what happened to, Brhin?"

Phae and Frank turned at the sound of their oldest daughter's voice. The little girl stood pale and shaken. She reached out for the hand of her baby sister and pulled her back before she could run into the room.

"Oh, Honey." Phalene knelt before her two daughters and enveloped them in a tight embrace. "I don't know how much you heard, but there is nothing I can tell you right now that would ease any fear that you may be having. All I can say is that I hope not. We are just going to believe that Aunt Cat made a mistake and sent someone else to get Brhin from the childcare and that he will be returned soon. I'm going to see her now. I'm just going to run upstairs and get my purse before going to her house to be with her. I'll call back home as soon as I know something."

"All right, Mom. Just hurry and go. Aunt Cat probably needs you badly."

Five minutes later, Phalene was enclosed in the driver's seat of the car and raising the window after kissing Frank good-bye. She watched as he ran barefoot back up the cold path to the front door and waved good-bye just before the door shut. As she drove through the freezing streets, she thanked God for Frank and the comfort he always supplied her and the support that would definitely be needed now more than ever in her life. Phalene had married Frank when she was twenty years old and after three years of taking care of a rebellious Catrine on her own; Phalene had practically fallen into Frank's loving arms. It wasn't that Catrine was street wild but she had begun acting as if she was heading in that direction. The child had just been entering the teen phase and the fact that a real parent was not around to chastise her; Catrine was quickly getting out of hand.

Then Frank came along. He was a big obstacle in Catrine's headlong rush into destruction. Big because he was a twenty-seven year old, six-eight, muscle bound Sergeant in the Army and would not tolerate any disobedience. The then fifteen-year old Catrine fell into order and Phalene fell in love. After a year of dating, she and Frank married and for the next few years until his orders shipped him out of the country, Frank had been the father Catrine never knew and the husband Phalene needed.

Frank's support gave her the freedom to indulge in the grief she had kept buried deep inside at the death of her mother and only parent. Grief she had hidden away from young Catrine. The pain of losing a parent and the idea of her sister being placed in foster care had weighed heavily on her mind. The process of fighting against that outcome had sustained her. What would she do now to help Catrine? Catrine may be twenty-four but she still seemed a kid to Phalene. She had been totally responsible for Catrine for over ten years. Solved all of her problems, what could she possibly tell the girl to ease her mind about her missing baby?

Belatedly, concentrating on the traffic when she was forced to reduce her speed, Phalene stopped to tap her nails on the steering wheel in irritation when she realized that she had blindly driven into a traffic jam. If she had been paying attention, she would have been able to take an alternate route. Looking as far ahead as possible, she visually measured the number of car lights to the nearest exit from the highway. There was no way of telling how long she would be sitting. Leaning her head on the steering wheel, and closing her eyes, Phalene prayed that Catrine would be able to hold on until she arrived.

Catrine disconnected the line with Phalene and quickly dialed Linda's home number. After explaining the situation to Synthia Brason, the girl's mother and getting a negative response about Brhin being there, Catrine burst into tears. "Catrine, Catrine girl calm down. Do you want me to come over?"

"No. I'll be all right."

"Are you sure? I can call over a couple of the sisters from my church and we can get a prayer chain going."

"I appreciate the thought, Synthia but I'm going to call my Pastor and talk to him."

"Don't get me wrong girl, but I think you would get better results if you let us come over."