Thousand Word Meme: Prompt 6

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Missing

At the South Moffat Mall the noon crowd at the food court had been busier than usual. Weekdays at the midsized mall south of town usually consisted of women and small children shopping while the older kids were in school. Huddled around the smaller tables in the food court were shop owners or employees on their lunch breaks, talking business or making plans. A few couples were eating at the food court as well, most likely a lunch date or a break from shopping.

The atmosphere was relaxed, the chatter bright and noisy, it was near the end of October and already the Christmas decorations graced the walls, the court and some of the shops. South Moffat was a good place to shop, a safe place. People in Moffat trusted one another and often went out their way to help a stranger. South Moffat Mall was the kind of place parents could turn their kids loose in the toy store while they shopped in the clothing or electronics stores nearby.

This particular Wednesday noon, however, would turn this particular mall, the town, and the communities surrounding Moffat, into a nightmare. This noon would change the lives of the people who never locked their doors or had to worry about where their children were at every moment. Safe would suddenly become a bygone word.

Benny and Marsha Banks had spent the morning at the hospital. Their only son, Jeffry'd had his cast removed from his foot. Benny had taken the day off to be with his wife and son on this special occasion and decided to celebrate Jeffry's "freedom from crutches day" by having lunch at the mall, then do a little shopping for Jeffry's Halloween costume.

Late October in the upper Midwest was cool, but pleasant. Indian Summer required only a light jacket in the daytime. The nights had begun to dip below the frost level giving the trees a reason to start dropping their gold, red, and purple leaves.

As Benny and Marsha ate their lunch they talked about raking up the leaves that covered their front lawn when they got home. As they talked about Jeffry jumping into the first pile of leaves for the season, enjoying the crisp, musty scent of fall, they laughed over their own childhood experiences with piles of fall leaves and crisp, cold nights.

Jeffry was halfway through his plate of spaghetti, with lots of cheese, when he became restless. He needed to use the washroom and being eight since the fifth of September, he reassured his parents that he was now old enough to go by himself when his dad began to rise from his chair to escort his son to the Men's room. "Dad!" the boy proclaimed proudly, "I can do this by myself. It's just across the room, I know the way."

Jeffry's dad shrugged his shoulders at being rejected as a bathroom escort and sat back in his seat. Jeffry's mother reminded her son not to run because he had just gotten the cast he'd worn for the last six weeks removed and they certainly didn't want to go back to the hospital today. She also reminded her son to be sure to wash and dry his hands good. Jeffry replied that he was now old enough and smart enough to know how to use the Men's room alone. With a nod from his father, he slid from his chair and half walked, half skipped off across the wooden floor of the food court to the hall that led to the restrooms between Taco Bell and Sun's Teriyaki "n' Noodles. The hall between the two fast food venders was well lit and many people were coming and going.

Benny watched his son disappear into the Men's room then returned his attention to his wife and continued their conversation.

Fifteen minutes had passed and Benny looked at the Men's room door expecting his boy to burst out and skip back over to the table at any moment. They had finished their lunch and were just waiting for Jeffry so they could start shopping.

Twenty minutes past. Twenty-five minutes. "Well sometimes boys dilly-dally around in the bathroom, or maybe Jeffry had more business to do than just pee," Benny reassured Marsha.

Thirty minutes had elapsed since their son had disappeared behind the heavy wooden door to the Men's room. Marsha looked at her watch and gave her husband the look. The "he's your son, you go get him" look.

Benny explained that he'd give the boy another minute or two and then if hadn't ripped through the door he'd go see what was taking so long. "He's probably got every faucet running and using up all the paper towels—you know how he is in our bathroom," Benny joked with his wife.

Marsha chuckled at the thought. "I know all too well what a mess he makes of washing his hands." she checked her watch again.

The tables in the food court filled, emptied, and filled again. Benny rose from his chair and headed for the Men's room. Marsha turned to watch her tall, handsome husband of fifteen years, swagger towards the hallway of the restrooms. Much like John Wayne, he tilted his head and shoulder to one side when he walked, or rather, kind of glided across the room.

They had married in their senior year of college and held off starting their family until they both had good jobs and a home of their own. Two years later they were comfortable and secure enough to start their family. Benny wanted all boys, a whole baseball team. Marsha wanted a well rounded number of boys and girls. After spending five years trying to get pregnant and on the verge of giving up and adopting, Marsha finally got pregnant with Jeffry. Now he was eight and making bathroom trips like a big boy. Her heart swelled with pride at the thought.

Another few minutes had passed and she figured that her husband had probably taken the opportunity to use the restroom while he was in there.

She'd turned her chair around to watch for them to return to their table at any moment. The clatter of the food court grew increasing louder as more shoppers filled the tables. Babies crying, impatient for someone to feed them. Children laughed, whined and wiggled restlessly in their seats while parents stood in line at any number of vendors offering hot, fast food. Nothing unusual about this scene at all. A normal, weekday. A normal shopping day. One that she and Jeffry participated in many times after school or with Benny and Jeffry on the weekends.

Caught up in the activities of the food court, Marsha hadn't seen her husband return to their table. Before she had time to register the moment, Benny was beside her, his face flushed with worry, the look of someone who's lost something or someone dear. The look of fear.

"Marsha," Benny groaned, "Jeffry's not in the Men's room. No one has seen him. Stay here at this table while I call the mall's security, incase Jeffry's just wandering around somewhere and comes back. Please don't leave this table."

Marsha, dazed at the thought of her missing son, swallowed hard and started to gather up her things. It didn't register in her brain that she was ask to sit quietly at the table while her husband and security looked for Jeffry. "Marsha?" Benny said more firmly, "Please, you have to stay here in case Jeffry comes back…do you understand that?"

Marsha understood that her son wasn't in the restroom where he was supposed to be. Marsha understood that Benny needed to get a hold of security, but she didn't understand that she had to wait at an empty table. A table with the half-eaten plate of spaghetti, the half empty cup of root beer. A waded up paper napkin smeared with red sauce. She stared at the empty chair where Jeffry had been eating, at the red and black jacket scrunched up on the back of the seat. "Marsha?" Benny repeated. "Do you understand? Stay here…please…I'll be right back."

No one in Moffat had ever been abducted. No one had ever lost a child to a predator in this town. This was a safe town. No murders, now crime, burglaries. Everyone left their windows open at night, their doors unlocked. Everyone welcomed strangers and lent a helping hand to anyone who needed it. The Moffat police had little to do other than the occasional parking ticket or speeder. Moffat's reputation was the reason Marsha and Benny settled there to raise a family.

The thought of Jeffry being lost, missing, abducted, chilled Marsha to the bone. Not here, no crime here. No. Big cities, yes, but Moffat? No.

Within three minutes after Benny had left to call security, three men in blue uniforms, radios attached to their belts, Mall Security plastered across the gold emblem on their hats, patches on their sleeves, were standing next to Marsha asking for a description of her son. "What was he wearing?" Marsha blinked. "Orange shirt with a cartoon tiger imprinted on the front. Long-sleeved," she added. "Faded denim jeans, the right leg split open up to the knee, where his cast had been."

"Shoes, socks?" one officer asked. By now two of Moffat's Police officers had joined Marsha and Benny at the table. Marsha held tightly to her husband's hands. Fear widened eyes filled with tears. The scuffle of table and chairs moving around her, the eerily quieted food court, alarmed her. She blinked again, tears falling into her lap. "Well worn red high-tops—Converse, white tube socks with red and black stripes on the top."

Benny pulled a picture from his wallet and handed it to the police officer. "His school picture, taken only a few weeks ago." A bright carrot-red mop of unruly hair atop a cheerful, happy freckled face…a grin a mile wide with a missing eyetooth on the right side looked back at the officer. "He has dimples—deep dimples and gray-green eyes…just like my son. You said he's just turned eight?" Benny and Marsha nodded.

The other police officer picked the boys jacket from the chair. "Jeffry's?" Benny and Marsha nodded again, their faces flushed and wet with tears.

"We have the whole security team searching the mall. He couldn't have gotten far. You said he was in the bathroom thirty minutes?" the head of mall security asked.

"At least," Benny said. "I had my eye on the Men's room door most of the time. I saw him go in but he never came out. There were at least a dozen men and boys coming and going from there while I waited." Benny cleared his throat. The thought of never seeing his son again choked him. "I've always escorted him to the restroom when we're out together. Marsha, too. She waits outside the door, of course. He never came out. He'd insisted—he said he was old enough to go it alone from now on. I let him go but kept an eye on the hall, the door. He never came out."

Hours had passed, by now Marsha had gathered up their things and been escorted to the security office where she was given a cup of coffee. A female employee came in to sit with her, comfort her, while Benny went with the police and mall security officers to look for the boy.

Marsha's thoughts tormented her. A mop of unruly red hair would surely be spotted a mile off. A bouncy boy who'd just had a cast removed would surely be noticed.

By the time the mall closed, the parking lot cleared, Marsha and Benny were still sitting in the mall's security office. She refused to go home until they found Jeffry. Benny was feeling deep remorse. In plain sight. He'd watched his son enter the Men's room. He had a clear view of the hall, the door. He never came out.

Two weeks had passed before Jeffry's body was found in a drainage ditch behind the mall's service entrance. Jeffry's appearance had been altered—his hair had been whacked short with scissors, a black knitted cap had been pulled down over his ears. His bright orange shirt had been covered with a navy blue coat and a pair of dark black jeans had been pulled over his faded ones. Only his red Converse shoes remained the same. The boys battered, bruised body had not been recognized right off. The whole town was looking for a smiling red-headed, freckle faced boy with dimples in a bright orange shirt with a tiger.

The abduction of Jeffry Eugene Banks had shocked the community. Never before had a child predator been so bold as to grab a young boy in the men's room, dope him, change his appearance and walk him out in plain sight of his parents, right out the back of the mall and through the service doors. The boy had been taken away from the mall in a delivery van, beaten, strangled and sodomized within minutes of leaving the mall. The boy had been alive, joyful and playful at lunch time, then molested and murdered before dinner time.

The town mourned with the Banks family. Forever after the town locked their doors and held onto their children tightly everywhere they went. They trusted no one. Everything had changed when the Banks boy went missing in Moffat.

Dorothy B - July 26, 2008