“Yeah.”
“Oh, good one.”
“Okay.”
“Got it.”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry.”
UGH! What the hell was he saying?
“Okay, this is how I will do it.”
Yes, Quinn. How will you do it?
“I’ll get up and say goodbye in the morning. Makayla will think I’ve left to go home. I’ll go into town and come right back. I’ll tell her I just saw her on the news and they know she’s in Clear Valley. She’ll do anything for that kid. It’ll work. Thanks you’re a genius. I’ll meet you with your merchandise in about six hours,” Quinn cheered, flipping the glowing cigarette across my back yard. Idiot.
My mind worked diligently for the rest of the night and by the time we were up by seven the following morning, I had a plan. It was probably the worst plan in the world, but I didn’t have any other choice. Nobody was delivering Pea or me anywhere.
After completing my morning bathroom routine in record time, I started coffee and waited for Quinn to do the same. As soon as I heard the door shut, I ran out the front door and checked the tire on my car just to be sure. It was flat. I ran around to his truck, looking for keys to find that slot empty too.
Normally I was very quiet when I was up before Pea. Not now. I made all the noise I could, trying to wake her. The coffee mug I accidently broke into the sink did the trick. I didn’t expect the reaction though. I thought she would come out and say something silly. I ran to her scream.
“What’s the matter, Pea” I asked, catching her little body as she leaped off the bed and into my arms.
“I thought something happened to you,” she cried.
“Nothing happened, baby, I just dropped a glass. You’re okay. I’m okay.” I felt horrible for scaring her. Maybe she wasn’t as naive as I thought she was. Maybe she sensed something going on too. “How about some pancakes. Do you want to eat breakfast with Quinn before he leaves?”
“Okay, and Sadie, but I have to go pee first,” she said, sliding down my body.
Quinn talked to Pea about catching fish while my mind thought about what I had to pack, what I had to have, and what we could live without. I commented and joked around with Pea and Quinn as much as I could, trying not to seem as fidgety and anxious on the outside as I was on the inside. This was it. I had one chance, or Quinn was going to do this like he said on the phone. I didn’t want him waving a gun around Pea. I already had her on the run. That was enough trauma for one life.
Quinn played his part and hugged us both goodbye at the door. We wished him well and waved at him through the back window. It was almost comical. He missed his calling. He should have been in the movies. Unbelievable.
Still waving with a smile on my face, I began my instructions, “Pea, I need you to listen really close. I think Quinn is a bad guy and he’s going to come back for us. We have to run away while he’s gone.”
“Well, maybe he’s not a bad guy. Maybe he’s going to take us to where daddy is.”
“Pea, you know he can’t do that. You know where your daddy is. Listen to me Pea, we don’t have much time.” The way I figured it, if Quinn really did wait out the time it would take him to get into town and back, I had about twenty minutes. I wanted to be on the run in five.
“Well, what if he chases our car?” That wasn’t going to happen.
“We have to go into the woods.”
“Are we going to sleep there?”
“I hope not, baby. Come on. Get me your pink and purple backpack. I want you to go put a pair of jeans on and tie a hoodie around your waist. Put your hiking boots on so your feet don’t get sore,” I ordered, frantically grabbing everything I could think of from my mental list. What else, what else… Oh, children’s Tylenol, two water bottles, and the food.
“I’m going to be too hot in pants and boots,” Pea complained.
“Pea, baby, we don’t have time for this. Okay, let’s play a game. Pretend like we’re supposed to be catching a plane, but it’s on the other side of—of the jungle,” I said, trying to get her to move her little butt. I was already terrified about Sadie scenting our trail. “Pretend like the plane is going to leave us if we don’t make it on time.”
“Okay, but let’s make it China.”
“China?”
“Yeah, we have to follow the great wall.”
I didn’t have time to ask questions. Fine. Whatever. We were going to China. “Okay, go pack your pink and purple backpack with things you would need for that trip. Clothes, dry socks, that sort of thing. Okay?”
“Got it.”
Exactly seven minutes and twelve seconds later we were weighed down with four bags, containing everything we owned, including what was left of the cash. I wasn’t about to use Jenna’s credit card until I knew how I was being traced this many miles from home. There was no explanation. It had to be an inside job. It had to.
I rushed Pea along the path on the back side of the house, just in case. My plan was to trail along the woods toward the dirt road where I would see Quinn coming. That plan changed when I grabbed Pea by the back of her shirt. The smell was horrible. I spun her around, keeping her from seeing the dead dog just in time. Poor Sadie. How could anyone do such a thing?
“What’s that smell?” Pea asked. I gagged a little and told her it was deer poop.
I remembered when my mom and I would walk the track at my school it would take us one hour to walk five miles. That was at a steady pace. Although this was faster than what we normally went, it wasn’t fast enough. We were past seeing our house, that told me we might have made it a quarter of a mile. At least Sadie wasn’t hot on our trail. Poor thing. We would have kept her. He didn’t have to shoot her.
I played along with Pea while we walked and walked, going deeper and deeper into Sawtooth Forest. I constantly looked over my shoulder and looked for Quinn, I still didn’t trust him. He tracked us to the waterfall, or did he follow us? He wouldn’t know what direction we went, if someone picked us up, hell we could be floating down the river for all he knew. The forest went on for miles and miles. Thousands, depending on which direction you were going in. I was carrying all four bags within the first hour. Pea’s legs were tired, she had something in her shoe, and she was hungry.
I made her keep going for another half an hour before we stopped. I was pretty confident that we weren’t being followed by this time.
“Okay, okay. Let’s eat some lunch.”
I knew for sure he wasn’t following us when we sat for lunch. It was too quiet. Our lunch consisted as a small bag of chips, a granola bar, and one split banana. We played around a ravine, and Pea climbed a pine tree, probably further than she should have. I looked at our map and figured us to be about forty seven miles from where we could be at a camp ground. That was a lot for Pea. How long would that even take?
“Come down now, Pea. Let’s get a move on,” I called up the tree, while I repacked everything my frantic hands came in contact with. Why the hell did I grab a trash bag? Littering was the last thing I was worried about. Nonetheless, I rolled it up and stuck it in side pocket.
“I have to poop,” Pea informed me, jumping from the bottom branch.
“Shoot, I forgot toilet paper. Okay, go. I’ll find you something.”
“Go where?”
“I don’t know, Pea. Pick a spot,” I said waving my hand.
“I’m not pooping in the woods.”
“Where are you going to poop?”
“In a bathroom on a toilet.”
“Pea, go make an imaginary potty. We are a long way away from a bathroom. Do you want to wait?”
“Hmmm, how can I make one?”
“Put your butt over that tree there; pretend like it’s a magic tree or something.”
“Okay, and my poop can turn into eggs and dinosaurs are going to hatch out of them.”
I snickered a little. How we got from doing a number two, to hatching dinosaurs is beyond me. She sounded like she was ei
ther dying or giving birth to a baby cow. Geesh, if Quinn couldn’t find us, he would after that.
Thirteen
I could write a whole other book on the adventures of Mikki and Pea. The three days we spent tracking through a national forest might possibly be the best three days of my life. The first night was the one I was worried most about. Why, I don’t know. Pea was more of a trooper than I was. We stopped and set up camp between two boulders, Pea picked the spot, she said it would protect us from the elements. Elements I hoped were our friend.
Pea spent a great amount of time clearing our perfect spot. She made a perfect circle in the dirt spot she dusted off for our fire, and then started pulling things from the backpack that she packed herself.
“Hey, where did you get that? You can’t have a knife,” I said, taking the steak knife from her hand.
“Well, you told me to get stuff for an adventure. What if I need to kill a dragon?”
I placed the sharp knife in the pocket of my bag, “I’ll kill the dragon. What else you got in there?”
“I have two forks, a little pan, four candles, my tablet, this bar thing to charge it, paper for starting a fire, a jar of peanut butter, graham crackers, this spoon and this water bottle. We can hook it on our belt so we don’t have to get it out of our bag.
Pea was a genius. After starting a fire with one sheet of her paper, we leaned against the ledge and stretched our legs. Our socked feet warmed by a cozy fire that we started all by ourselves. I don’t know who was prouder over that minute task, Pea or me.
“Too bad we don’t have any marshmallows,” Pea said, wishing for the sticky treat.
“I have Twinkies, we can roast those,” I suggested, trying not look around at every noise I heard.
Pea looked up to the sky at the next sound and formed an O with her lips, “That’s an owl. He wants to roast a Twinkie.”
Don’t knock it until you try it. Campfire roasted Twinkie’s should be marketed, they were amazing. The outside roasted to a perfect light toast crunch. Warm cream oozed in our mouths and we moaned in delight. We would do that again. For sure.
“It’s a good thing I brought wipes,” I said, pulling the small pack of wipes from the backpack. We were a sticky mess, but we were okay. We were in the middle of a great forest and we were okay. Larry used more of my rationing wipes than either of us. Pea dropped warm filling all down his back. Larry was going in the river the next day.
I refrained from thinking about the list of animals on the back of my map. We heard a pack of wild dogs or something in a distance. Pea wasn’t afraid of the owl at all and she was actually pretty good at imitating it. We never saw any of the mentioned bears, but we did catch the tail end of a bobcat. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but we were actually very excited about that. You can take the girls out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the girls. Unless you have to of course.
Maybe it was the warm air and the glowing moon. Maybe it was the cozy fire, or maybe it was when I realized we had each other. I kissed Pea’s hair and snuggled her close to me while she yawned.
“Tell me the Princess and the Pea story,” Pea requested, holding her little hand in the air. I placed her small hand in mine hugged her tight.
“Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to find a princess, but she would have to be a real princess,” I began.
“That’s me.”
“Yes, it’s always you.”
I traced Pea’s fingers and then held her to my heart while she snuggled between my legs. I covered her with the thin blanket and told her the story she’d heard a million times.
“Are you scared?” she asked when I got to the end.
“Nah, I’ve got you.”
“And your mom?” She asked through a yawn.
I kissed her head and pulled her close, “Yes, and my mom.”
I exhausted a lingering breath when I heard the purring from Pea’s sleeping breath. My eyes scanned the deep, dark forest and I wondered how the hell I got there. Who would have thought a little over a year would have me tracking through a national forest? Not only that; I was running with a kidnapped child, I had a four year old in the middle of the woods. Wishing if I knew I was running from the cops, or someone that worked for Holden, I breathed that same deep breath. The frustrated one that I knew all too well. Now what?
Once I had us situated close enough to the fire to keep the animals away, yet far enough away to keep from catching on fire, I realized how tired I was. All the planning during my sleep the night before left me with little rest. The excitement of everything going on hit me harder than I’d recognized. I was emotionally drained.
My mind went to my mother, but not in the normal dark way. It was more of a comfort, like she was there, watching over Pea and me. I wished I had her to talk to. She would have the right advice. What if she was me and I was Pea? I smiled with the knowing. She would have done everything I did. There isn’t an obstacle she wouldn’t have crossed for me. She would have done everything I did, but I was hers and Pea wasn’t mine. Did that matter? Was it my right to take her away? Of course it was. I wanted her. Nobody else did.
I thought about grabbing a pen out of my backpack and seeing what I could create with the light of a fire and the moon. I didn’t do that. Honestly, I think I was too tired to get it. My eyes closed when I saw Blake, I could feel the warm fire on my eyelids.
***
Blake was gone the following morning, before I had the chance to see him, not that I wanted to. He made it as awkward as it could be. I spent my day with Pea, planning a birthday party and crossing lines that were going to piss off her daddy. Oh well, Pea would never be three again. She deserved to remember it, if only in photos.
“Okay, Pea. We have ten invitations,” I said, staring down at the glitter mess we’d made. Why didn’t I just buy a pack of invitations? They were right there, right beside the glitter and the glue. I started scraping up the mess with a piece of cardboard from the construction paper, “Who do you want to invite to your birthday party?”
“You.”
“Ah, thank you. I’m keeping this invitation forever. Who else.”
“Daddy.”
“Ugh, really? I’m just kidding. Okay, here’s daddy’s. Who else?”
“Grandma Coast.”
And so the lines were crossed. How was I going to reach Grandma Coast? “Perfect, who else?” I continued, concocting a scheme in my mind to get Grandma Coast here.
“Larry.”
“Larry? Like the elevator dude, Larry?”
“Huh-uh.”
“Okay, it’s your party,” I approved, “And don’t say, huh-uh. Your dad yells at me for that. What about your mommy? Should we invite her?”
“Hmm? Okay,” she decided. That shouldn’t have been a question. She invited the elevator attendant over her mother. I jumped over that line too, although I have to say Ms. Coast was a lot nicer to talk to than the ice princess herself.
Once we delivered our very glittery invitations around the hotel, Pea crashed on the sofa and I crossed that unacceptable line. I used Pea’s tablet and searched listings for New York television stations. Wow, there were a lot. Although Farrah didn’t work with one of the top three, she was in the top five. And I found out why she was behind the scenes and not in front of the camera. Her daddy owned the place. I bet she didn’t work at all.
“Hello, can I speak to Ms. Brighton, please?”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Brighton is in a meeting. Can I take a message?”
“Sure, could you just tell her this is Pea’s nanny, and I would like to speak to her about her birthday?”
“Pea?”
“Oh, sorry. I meant London. Could you tell her it’s about London? Her daughter.”
“Certainly. Is this the number for her to reach you?”
“Yes. This is my cellphone.”
I had asked Pea before she fell asleep where her grandma lived, but she said the swamp. That didn’t help much. I sear
ched high and low in Blake’s office, but found nothing. Who would have her number?
I startled and jumped when my phone rang and vibrated on the black shiny desk. I left the office when the non-English speaking maid wanted to dust in there. Why? I have no idea. She was there twice a week to clean stuff that didn’t need cleaning. It was three, but I whined to Blake enough to make her stop. I kept the kitchen clean, Pea and I made our beds as soon as we woke, and I did our laundry. We weren’t that messy, unless you count the glitter. I’m sure a few of the words spilling out in Spanish weren’t pleasant. She would be sweeping glitter from cracks for years to come.
“Hello.”
“Hello, this is Farrah Brighton. I have a message to call you about my daughter?” She asked in a snooty, uptight tone. Great.
“Yes, I was hoping you could come to her birthday party on Saturday. It’s going to be held here at the hotel, out by the pool,” I added for fun.
Or not.
“Why?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why is she having another birthday party? We did that when she was one. Everyone knows that you don’t publicize a third birthday party. We’ll do it again when she is five. Is there anything else?”
I don’t know, maybe, how is she, tell her I said hey, anything… “Ms. Brighton, this is for Pea, I mean, London. We weren’t planning on making it public.” What? For real? “Maybe your parents would like to come too,” I offered.
“My parents have been in Japan for four years. They’ve only seen her once. I’m sure they won’t be interested in that. Look, I have work to do. Is that all?”
“Yes, okay, well it’s at two if you want to come. I’ll send your invitation to your office. London made them herself.”
“Yeah, you do that.” Click.
I was appalled. Really? My mother told me about people like this. People just like Farrah Brighton. Some of the people behind the scenes at the symphony hall were like her and even some of the bigwigs at the hospital. Money really was evil.
Whatever. Move on. Let’s just hope Ms. Coast wasn’t as wretched.
I tried to find her number by process of elimination. After the eighteenth call to the wrong Coast I groaned. How the hell was I supposed to invite her grandmother if I couldn’t even find her? What the hell kind of family was this, anyway?