Running Stitches

by Carol Dean Jones

  “I’m okay. Just tired and discouraged.”

  “Come over when you get back. We’ll have a relaxing dinner, play around with the quilt patterns I have here, and get your mind off of this for a few hours. Maybe a refreshed mind will lead to new ideas.”

  “That would be good, Sarah. But I can’t stop worrying about this young girl. I’m out here on the streets looking for her, and the thought of her being out here too is devastating. There’s a reason I turned down juvenile work years ago. I just can’t take it.”

  “You’re a very caring person, Amanda. This must be hard for you.”

  “It’s always helpful to talk with you, Sarah. I’ll bite the bullet and work on this a couple more days, and then we’ll have some relaxed, creative time together, okay?”

  “Absolutely. Thanks for keeping me in the loop,” Sarah added as they hung up.

  Chapter 33

  Caitlyn had been eating scraps from behind the pizzeria. She longed for a hamburger or a piece of chicken. She knew she could probably eat better behind one of the other restaurants, but most of them had tall dumpsters. She wasn’t climbing into one of those, at least not yet.

  The stomach pains had returned. She was bone tired and prayed for a bed, at least for one night. She was afraid to go to a shelter for fear of being turned in. She wondered what being turned in might mean. Being placed in a foster home? Maybe that wouldn’t be too bad. But what if they send me back to Buck? She couldn’t take that chance.

  She longed for the times she and Mattie were able to sleep in shelters and have at least one good meal every day. She wondered where her mother was.

  Caitlyn searched for Mattie for several days and finally found her coming out of an alley behind the diner where Caitlyn had spent her last change buying a cup of bean soup. She was overjoyed to see the old woman. Mattie turned right and limped up the street pushing the two wheel cart Caitlyn had found for her in someone’s trash. “Mattie! Mattie!” she called, running to catch up with her. Mattie turned and looked at the girl.

  “Who are you?” the woman demanded. Without waiting for an answer, she began striking the girl and screaming, “Get away from me! Get away from me!”

  Caitlyn began to cry and plead. “It’s me, Mattie. I’m Susan. Remember me? Oh Mattie, please remember me. I need you,” she cried.

  Mattie turned and limped away muttering as she went. Caitlyn sat down on the ground and sobbed. “Don’t cry, little girl,” a man said. “She gets like that sometimes. She doesn’t mean it.”

  Caitlyn looked up to see an old man. He appeared to be at least in his eighties, but Caitlyn remembered what Mattie had said about living on the street. She wondered what she would look like if she stayed on the street. She felt she had already aged far beyond her years. “You know Mattie?” she asked tearfully.

  “She comes and goes every few months. Sometimes she’s gone for a year or more. No one knows where she goes. Sometimes she makes good sense and sometimes she’s as mean as a hornet.”

  “I thought we were friends,” Caitlyn sobbed. “She took care of me. We took care of each other.” She wiped her eyes and stood up, picking up her backpack and putting it over her shoulder. She didn’t mean to cry. She was embarrassed that the man saw her break down. “I’m fine,” She said to him, starting to walk away.

  “Here take this,” the man said. He held out two twenty dollar bills.

  “No. I can’t take your money,” she said emphatically.

  “My son came to the alley this morning and gave me a wad of twenties. He does that every week or so. It’s so I won’t come near his house. He says it’s to help me but I know better. Anyway, what am I going to do with all this? Take one of them, at least. Go get some food.

  She didn’t want to take the man’s money, but she couldn’t bring herself to refuse. She imagined a hot meal or maybe a room for the night in one of those cheap hotels Mattie told her about. A shower! Oh, a hot shower! She took the money and smiled at the old man. “Thank you. Thank you. I’ll pay you back somehow.”

  The man waved his hand dismissively and said, “Forget it, little girl. I have.” And he shuffled off toward the park.

  Caitlyn didn’t spend her money that night for a room or a shower. But she did get two hamburgers and a milk shake. She wished she had only eaten one sandwich because her stomach ache got worse, but she felt stronger and the pain went away after a while.

  A few hours later, she walked through the park and found a secluded place to spread out the jacket she carried in her backpack. She lay down under the bushes and slept straight through until morning. As she began to wake up, she thought her mother was lying beside her, but it was only a dream. She was totally alone.

  Chapter 34

  When Sarah and Sophie arrived at the prison, the guard recognized them from their previous visit to Bryce Silverman. Sarah was surprised he remembered them. “Don’t see two nice ladies like you here that often,” he explained. “Hard to forget that. You here to see Silverman?”

  “No, actually we’re here to see a good friend of ours, Andy Burgess,” Sarah explained.

  “Oh, ol’ Andy,” The guard said with a smile. “Nice guy. I’ve been taking his computer class and I actually sent an email to my sister last week. She couldn’t believe it,” he chuckled. He signaled for the guard to open the gate to the visitor’s area and buzzed Andy’s cell block. He requested that Andy be brought to the visitor room.

  Since this was a minimum security facility, the visitor room was very informal. There were two couches and three or four tables with chairs around each one. There were several people visiting already. There was one guard on duty. When Andy walked in, Sarah rushed to him with her arms out. They hugged and, with his arm still around her shoulder, they walked over to where Sophie waited. Sophie wasn’t one for hugs but she put her hand up and touched his cheek. “Good to see you, old friend,” she said with the slightest crack in her voice. They moved to the nearby table and sat, Sarah by Andy and Sophie across the table from him.

  “It’s great to see you ladies,” Andy began, “but what’s this all about? Is there news about Caitlyn?” His voice was not hopeful. Sarah figured he didn’t really expect news about her.

  “No, Andy. I’m sorry,” Sarah began. “We don’t have anything yet, but everyone is working hard to find her.” As she looked at Andy, she remembered the day Amanda came to her with the news that a body had been found. She was thankful that she wasn’t here to give Andy such devastating news. At least not yet.

  “We came to talk to you about the quilt, Andy,” Sophie said.

  Andy looked hopeful. “Did you find anything?”

  “Well, perhaps,” Sarah began. “We’ve detected something very small, and it’s metallic. Our magnet responded to it, but, believe me, it is very small.”

  “What is it?” Andy asked.

  “We don’t know,” Sophie responded.

  Andy looked confused. “Didn’t you get it out?”

  “That’s why we’re here. We don’t want to disturb your grandmother’s beautiful stitches, or to possibly damage your quilt without your permission. Do you want us to try to get it out?”

  Andy hesitated. “Well, I’d like to know what’s there, but I agree that it would be a shame to ruin the quilt. What do you think, Sarah?”

  “Here’s what I’ve been thinking,” Sarah began. “Perhaps we could take the quilt to Ruth. You remember her? She has that little quilt shop over on Main Street.”

  “I remember,” Andy said. “You take classes there.”

  “Exactly. Well, Ruth has experience with antique quilts and would probably know how to go about getting the item out with the least damage. We could take the quilt to her and see what she recommends.”

  “I’m for that,” Andy said. “I don’t expect the fortune that my brother said was there. I don’t even expect money. But someone in my family started the story about there being something valuable in the quilt, and I’m curious to find out what that’s a
ll about.”

  “Ok. That’s settled. Now. Sophie, I think you should tell Andy the story of the disappearing quilt. Only your wittiness can give that episode what it deserves,” Sarah said with a chuckle.

  Sophie began acting out the comedy of the missing quilt, the up-tight policeman, and the remorseful dog. Visitors and inmates at the other tables stopped talking and turned toward the little group to enjoy the entertainment. Sophie was in rare form, enjoying an attentive audience.

  As Sarah and Sophie left the prison grounds, Sophie slipped her hand under Sarah’s arm in an unusual gesture of closeness. “I’m glad we came,” she said with a smile.

  “Me too,” Sarah responded, patting Sophie’s hand. “Me too.”

  Chapter 35

  “Ruth, we have a question for you.” As Sophie and Sarah walked into the shop, Ruth stuck her head up over the short divider that ran between the shop and the classroom. “But first, what’re you doing back there?” Sarah asked.

  “I’m making Anna’s baby quilt,” Ruth responded without stopping the machine.

  “What’s the rush?” Sophie asked. “That baby isn’t due for weeks.”

  “Not true! The doctor said it could arrive any day now. Her Ohio doctor must have made a mistake with the calculations. Actually, Anna said she may have had the dates wrong in the first place.”

  Suddenly Ruth stopped the machine and looked up at the two women. “Oh, but you said you have a question.” She pushed her chair back and walked toward the front. “How can I help?”

  Sarah pulled Andy’s quilt out of the bag and together she and Sophie told Ruth the whole history of the quilt up to and including the search for a hidden treasure. Ruth totally forgot about the baby quilt she was working on and became engrossed in the story. “Feel this right here,” Sarah said. “Doesn’t that feel like something inside? Charles’ magnet responded to this area when we scanned over it.”

  “Magnet?” Ruth seemed surprised. “What made you think of a magnet?”

  “Well, I must admit, that was Charles’ idea and, actually, a good idea since we never would have detected it otherwise. Do you think we can remove it without damaging the quilt?”

  Ruth examined the intersection of the block and the sashing right where she could feel the small item. “It feels smooth,” she said. “Yes, I think we can do it.”

  “I thought we could go in through the back…” Sarah started to say, but Ruth interrupted.

  “No, I think our best bet is to clip these few stitches right here where the sashing meets the block. We can probably pull it out with tweezers and then replace the stitches with a tiny blind stitch and an off white cotton thread.” Ruth reached for her magnifying glass and examined the quilt more closely. “Shall we try?”

  “Andy gave us permission. Let’s do it,” Sarah responded excitedly.

  Ruth handed the clippers to Sarah, but she held her hands up and said “No, no! Not me. Please Ruth, you have the steady hand and the experience.”

  “Okay, but if I ruin it, you have to explain it to Andy,” Ruth responded.

  “He already knows that’s a possibility. He’s willing to take the chance.”

  Very carefully, Ruth clipped about a dozen tiny stitches and removed them with her tweezers. Using a small crochet hook, she carefully slipped through the small opening. “I’ve touched something,” she said moving very cautiously. She switched to the tweezers. No one breathed. Very carefully she began to pull the tweezers out and exposed the edge of a thin metal item. As she continued to ease it out, they were able to see the entire thing: a very tiny metal key!

  “What can a key that size possibly open?” Sophie asked, looking disappointed.

  “I have no idea,” Ruth said and Sarah shook her head in agreement. “It’s very old.”

  “I haven’t seen a key that small since I was a kid and had a diary. My brother popped the lock so the key never worked again,” Sophie said with a frown. “…I sat on him,” she added quietly.

  “I think we have all had that brother,” Sarah said with a chuckle.

  “This is disappointing,” Sophie said. “It’s too small to be to a lock box or a trunk or anything where something valuable could be stored. I guess we’ll never know the story behind this tiny key.”

  At that moment the phone rang in the shop. On her way to answer it, Ruth’s cell phone rang as well. “Good grief,” Ruth exclaimed. “Why does everyone want me at the same time?” She answered the shop phone first. She let out a loud whoop and hung up. “Anna’s on her way to the hospital! The baby is coming!”

  Ruth flipped the sign on the door to closed, grabbed her keys, and was half way out the door before she realized Sarah and Sophie were still inside. “Come on girls. I’m locking up.” She hit the lights and they all hurried outside, with Sarah carefully carrying the wounded quilt.

  “Thank you for this,” she called to Ruth. “We’ll see you at the hospital later today.”

  “Thanks girls. I’m almost Aunt Ruth,” she added with a giggle.

  Driving home Sarah and Sophie were very quiet. Finally Sophie spoke up saying, “What now?”

  “I don’t know. Fix the quilt, I guess. Talk to Andy. That’s about all I can think of,” Sarah responded.

  “This is quite a letdown.”

  “True,” Sarah replied. “What did you think would be in the quilt?” she asked Sophie.

  “Well, I thought there might be a gold coin or maybe a treasure map or perhaps…”

  “Yeah,” Sarah responded. “I was hoping it would be something that would make Andy’s life better but, when you think about it, Andy’s life is just fine. At least it will be once he gets back home. Andy makes the best of whatever comes along.”

  “It will be even better when Caitlyn is found,” Sophie added.

  “True. That’s really all Andy wants.”

  Sarah drove Sophie to her door and then headed to Charles’ house to show him the key, tell him about Anna, and pick up Barney.

  Before she left Charles’ house, he told her he would drive over in about an hour and pick her up so they could go to the hospital. He had looked at the key and said it was not strong enough to open anything of much significance. He said, in fact, that it looked like the key his sister had for her diary.

  When they got to the hospital, Geoff came out to say they were taking her into surgery to do a Cesarean, but everything was fine. The baby wasn’t positioned correctly for a natural birth, but the doctor wasn’t worried. Within an hour, he came bursting into the room with a big smile and announce that his little daughter, Annabelle, had arrived and that mother and daughter were doing just fine.

  Charles and Sarah congratulated the family and headed home, each silently remembering the fears and excitement of becoming a new parent. Charles reached over and gently touched her hand. She looked at him and smiled.

  The unspoken words of love, she thought.

  What the heck does that look mean, he wondered.

  Chapter 36

  Caitlyn still had $14.67 of her twenty dollar bill. Still dreaming of a hot shower, she decided to see what the cheap hotels charged for one night. Mattie had taken her to one when they first got to Hamilton, but they decided not to spend their limited funds on it. Caitlyn thought she could find it again.

  Caitlyn walked up and down the streets in the neighborhood where she and Mattie had spent most of their time. She spotted the hotel on the other side of the street. Letters were missing from its name, but she recognized the rundown buildings on either side. Both were boarded up. She started up to the door but hesitated, wondering if the people who run it might call the police. She decided to take the chance.

  Once inside, the squalor made her wonder if she wasn’t just as well off on the street. The stench caused her to catch her breath. Again, she wondered if she should do this. “Do you have hot water showers?” she asked the man at the desk. He took the toothpick out of his mouth and stared at her. “What do you care?” he asked.

&nb
sp; “I might want to stay one night,” she responded.

  “Oh, aren’t we the lucky ones. Her highness might want to stay one night.” The man had a pock-marked face and looked greasy, especially his unkempt hair. He wore a soiled red tee shirt and was bone thin. His hands frightened her because they made her think of a skeleton.

  “How much is it?” she asked, her voice trembling ever so slightly.

  “Depends,” the man said. “How much you got?”

  “Eight dollars,” she lied, hoping to keep a few dollars for food.

  “That will get you a room with no bath and no television. No sheets neither,” he added.

  “Is there a bathroom and a shower I can use?”

  “Yeah. Up the hall.”

  Caitlyn counted out eight dollars and gave it to the man. He handed her a key and pointed toward the stairs. “Third floor, 305.” He turned his back to her and picked up his magazine.

  Caitlyn made her way up the dark staircase and down the even darker third floor hallway. She couldn’t see the numbers on the rooms. She looked for the bathroom and found it half way down the hall. There was no door on the room, but there were doors on most of the stalls. The shower was in the corner facing away from the door. It was filthy and covered with mold. She decided she would shower with her clothes on and hang the clothes up to dry in her room.

  As she walked back down the hall, her eyes were beginning to adjust to the dark. She found Room 305 and put the key in the door. It opened easily, perhaps a little too easily. She wondered if it had been locked. There was a single bed and no sheets as the man had said. There was a pillow. There were no towels, but she decided she could use a tee shirt for a towel. Then she realized she had no soap.

  She walked back down the dark stairwell, past the greasy man who didn’t look up, and out onto the street. She walked to the corner where she remembered seeing a drug store. She picked up a bar of soap, a tooth brush, a travel sized tube of toothpaste, and a candy bar. Her supply of money was getting very low, but she desperately needed these things.