Secret under the Ice

 

I wonder if he was ever found?
                                                           

Such a pretty kid, Father..How old did you say?

Her name is Vicky and she was twelve years old.

Do they know yet what happened?  

They?  You mean the detectives?

Who else would I mean?  Yeah.  Them.

They don't know.  Some kid found her in the creek, under the ice.

She....Vicky must have floated downstream...

       Then the ice froze over her...her folks waited for so long...

How are Ken and Sheila holding out?

'Bout as expected.  You taking food in for the family?

  Yeah, Lisa fixed some chicken something or other.  And a pie, peach pie.

I wonder when they'll ever figure out...find out what you did?

God, I hope not.  I didn't mean to...the car swerved..she just appeared and...

You must, you have to tell them what happened.

She was so scared...at the end.

       She was scared before that...you could have saved her...she would still be alive.

Father, I wasn't thinking...
     
        Time to own up, Tim...Time to give Ken and Sheila peace.

Scared...so scared.  I am so scared.

       So was she, Tim. So was she.

What do you think will happen next?  

 

Statistics to Remember: 

Every year, approximately eight million children are reported missing worldwide
In the US, 2300 children are reported missing per day
 

Strangers abduct less than 1% of missing children
Parents are accountable for over 90% of abductions
 

In the US, nearly 400 000 youth were abducted in 2020
Every two minutes, a child is reported missing in Europe.

n 2019, Turkey had an abduction rate of 14.86 cases per 100,000 people
In Europe, one-third of missing children were found by the police in 2020

There is an entry in Wikipedia Disappearance of Steve Damman, read it.

Samuel vs. Santa Clause

The above photo was taken by RW Linder at http://rgbstock.com.  My computer is struggling with hacking into Google.

Samuel leapt from his bed, his entire body filled with anticipation.  Today!  Today we will meet again, Santa!  He and Nana were heading to the Mall for the annual tell-Santa-what-you-want visit.

However, Santa was his equal in every way.  The game is afoot, jolly fat man!

The preliminaries of the day over and his winter gear zipped up, Samuel noted The Mother at her cluttered craft table, painting last minute projects in acrylic paints of all colors.  Samuel gifted his mom with a spontaneous hug.  “I love you, Mommy!”  

Then he was off.  Off to see Santa.

No side trips for them—Nana wanted to eliminate collateral damage.  She remembered the last Hallmark debacle.  After shattered snow globes, Samuel had moved on with a red Sharpie© marker and signed twenty sympathy cards with hearts and “Nana”.  Not again, little man.

There he was: The Jolly Fat Man himself.  Samuel gave him a shy smile, accompanying cold blue eyes.  Bring it on, do your best…

Then Samuel stood at the bottom of the red carpet stairs.  Santa smiled, acknowledging his old adversary.  Samuel wriggled up onto the red velvet lap with the difficulty a three-and-a-half year old child.

“So, Samuel!  What will it be this year?  What do you want?” Santa added, “Ho, Ho, Ho!”

Have I been naughty or nice?  Samuel smiled the smile of the innocent. Then Santa whispered into Samuel's ear, accounting the sins of the entire year.
 

How did he know about the car oil?  And the screw driver?  Mommy’s brush?  Samuel sighed in admission...confession given. 

Samuel squirmed uncomfortably.  ”So, Samuel, I will visit your fireplace again.  Sugar cookies this time.”  Santa laid a finger aside his nose.  “Ho, Ho…”

Samuel suddenly hugged Santa tightly, patting his back and long hair, before climbing down.  Later, dude.

As Samuel raced to the exit door, Nana ran to catch him.  Pretty spry, Nana!

Then the shouting and assorted obscenities began.  Samuel turned to see Santa in his new improved suit, white acrylic paint streaming down Santa’s pant leg and onto his black boot; his back plastered with black handprints and flowing stripes of yellow.

Samuel tossed the acrylic bottles into the trash bins, and Nana grabbed him.  They escaped, Samuel and Nana. She was smiling.