Thorns on Wildflower Island

by Michelle Files

  “I know it seems that way, but you know that’s not true,” Tim told his daughter. He then looked up at Lola, who had been standing there, taking in the scene. “Lola, I’m sorry that I can’t go to the ferry to see you off. You understand, right?”

  “Yeah, it’s okay,” Lola’s shoulders slumped just a bit.

  “I guess since both you and Mom have to work, it’s just us and Frankie,” Piper replied to her father.

  “Lola.” Tim walked over to face her. “We’ve really enjoyed having you here and are sorry that you have to go. I’m glad that you have your aunt to take care of you now. We’re going to miss you around here, Kiddo.”

  Tim surprised Lola by hugging her. Lola was 16 years old and had been living with the Carmichaels for a little while. She didn’t remember Tim ever hugging her during that time. She had been put there by the state, due to some trouble that she found herself in. Though things didn’t always go as smoothly as they would have all liked, everyone eventually grew fond of the girl with all the tattoos, piercings, and an odd way of dressing. She rounded out their hodgepodge of a family.

  Frankie, another wayward teen that was living with the Carmichael family at the Wildflower Inn, walked out the door and onto the cafe deck, pulling her red hair back into a ponytail as she did so. She began laughing as she took in the sight. Tim hugging Lola, who had a surprised look on her face. And the twins standing there watching the scene, both looking as if they were about to cry. Frankie didn’t know why she thought the whole thing was funny, but she did.

  Lola turned to Frankie and frowned. “What is your problem?” Lola confronted Frankie as she pulled out of Tim’s embrace.

  Frankie put up her hands in a defensive manner. “Nothing, sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed. Come on everyone, let’s go. We don’t want Lola here to miss the boat.”

  As Piper, Mary, Frankie, and Lola walked back inside the Inn, Piper grabbed Lola’s suitcase and began rolling it behind her. As they walked through the bar, the bartender stopped them.

  “Hey, Lola sweetheart.” Cecily ran from behind the bar as the quartet of teen girls came to a stop. “I’m going to miss your face around here, you know. Come here.” Cecily wrapped her arms around Lola and squeezed her tight. She continued speaking as she slowly released her grasp and looked the girl in the eyes. “You call us once in a while, okay?”

  “I will,” Lola agreed, her eyes watering up just a bit. Until that moment it hadn’t even entered her mind that so many people cared about her. She thought she was just someone they all put up with. She almost wished she wasn’t moving in with her aunt. Too late now, she thought. The deed is done.

  “Where are you going?” Sebastian asked her. He and his brother had been hanging out at the bar talking with Cecily.

  “I’m going to live with my aunt in Iowa,” Lola explained.

  “Iowa?” Sebastian’s brother replied. “That sounds like tons of fun.”

  “Shut up, Andy,” Cecily snapped back at him. “Be nice. We’re all gonna be worse off here without her.”

  “Come on. We’ve gotta go,” Frankie spoke up.

  Just as the girls started on their way again, their dog, Sparkles, ran barking through the bar, with Roxanne chasing him.

  “Someone grab that dog!” the mother of the twins yelled as most of the bar patrons laughed at the sight of everyone scrambling after the dog.

  “Just another day in paradise,” Lola exclaimed as she stood her ground in the middle of the bar watching all of the chaos around her.

  Andy smiled at her comment.

  Three minutes later, Sparkles had been corralled and locked away. Roxanne had said her good-byes to Lola and off the girls went.

  Standing on the dock waiting for the ferry passengers to finish disembarking before Lola could leave, none of the girls were in a good mood. Though they didn’t want to admit it, they all liked Lola. She was certainly the odd one of the group, but she had become one of them. They didn’t know what they would do without her.

  Mary walked over to her first and surprised everyone by grabbing Lola and squeezing her as tight as she could. That was the last thing any of them expected. They were all pretty sure that Mary never really liked the girl, and was maybe even a little bit afraid of her. Mary didn’t talk to her much, and even went so far as to stand back away from Lola whenever they were in the same room. Lola herself had noticed Mary’s odd behavior whenever she was around, but never commented on it. Lola knew she was not everyone’s type.

  Mary didn’t say a word as she hugged her. It made Lola smile. After about a full minute, which is an eternity in ‘hugging time,’ Mary let go. As soon as she did, she noticed the girls all looking at her, and Mary’s face turned a bright shade of red. No one said anything to her though. They didn’t want to embarrass her more than she already was.

  Piper and Frankie took their turns saying good-bye. Each of them told her to keep in touch, which was pretty easy to do online. Lola promised she would.

  “I just want to tell all of you how proud I am of you,” Lola started, running her fingers through her jet black dyed hair. “All of you are wonderful people, and I’m a better person for having known you.” The words sounded odd coming out of Lola’s mouth. She didn’t care. She wasn’t trying to be the rebel of the group at that moment.

  “Even you, Frankie,” Lola laughed.

  They all laughed then. It wasn’t a secret that Frankie and Lola had never been the best of friends. That was something they both regretted in that moment, not knowing if they would ever see each other again. Frankie only nodded in response, as she struggled with the emotions of the day.

  “What’s so funny?”

  All four girls turned to see Eliza Porter, with her son, standing beside them.

  “Aw, can I hold Zachary?” Mary asked, holding out her arms.

  The toddler didn’t wait for his mother to answer, he put out his arms and leaned toward Mary. She took him from Eliza, who didn’t mind.

  “Whew, he’s getting heavy,” Eliza told her. “You can hold him as long as you like.”

  Giggling, Zachary smacked Mary in the nose with a small stuffed elephant, and all of them laughed.

  “Hey,” Eliza said to no one in particular. “Can you keep an eye on him for a minute? I need to run to the bathroom before Marshall gets off the ferry. I never get to go by myself anymore.”

  Eliza didn’t wait for an answer and headed for the nearest bathroom there on the dock. For the next few minutes, the girls all made such a fuss over the baby that he didn’t even notice that his mother had gone.

  “Hi girls, where’s Eliza?” Marshall said as he walked up and patted his son on the head. “Hey Buddy.” Zachary smiled at his father.

  “She just ran to the bathroom,” Frankie replied. “She’ll be right back.” Frankie turned in that direction. “Oh, here she is.”

  “Hi, how was your trip?” Eliza asked Marshall, making no move to retrieve their son from Mary’s arms.

  “Oh, it was good. I took care of that little problem,” he told her.

  Piper noticed the odd look between Marshall and Eliza at that moment. She had no idea what that was all about though and put it out of her mind immediately.

  “Zachary has gotten really big since I saw him last,” Mary remarked. “And his hair has gotten darker.” She smoothed down his unruly locks as she spoke.

  Marshall reached for his son and removed him from Mary’s arms.

  “Yeah kids do that. They grow.” He then looked at his wife. “Come on, let’s go.”

  Marshall and Eliza left with their son without saying another word to the girls. The four teens stood and watched them walk away.

  “Well that was weird,” Frankie remarked.

  Mary began to turn back around and kicked something that skidded several feet along the wooden dock. She caught it just out of the corner of her eye and turned to see what it was.

  “Oh no, Zachary dropped his toy.” Mary ran over and picked up the blue eleph
ant that was dangling just at the edge of the dock, threatening to spill over into the Pacific Ocean. She grabbed it just as a gust of wind picked up. “That was close,” she exclaimed, holding up her prize for all to see.

  Mary turned toward the road. The Porters were nowhere in sight. “Oh well, I guess I’ll have to get this back to him later.” She stuck the little blue toy into her pocket.

  An announcement came over the loud speaker.

  “Hey, it’s time for me to go,” Lola told the girls, smiling tentatively.

  Lola was not at all happy about having to go live with her aunt so far away. It was not her idea, and not her plan. Unfortunately the courts didn’t ask her what her opinion on the matter was. Lola loved her time staying at the Wildflower Inn and working for the Carmichaels. It was a stable home with very little conflict. Something she had never had before. And something she would miss when she left. She had a bad feeling that this was the last time she was ever going to see any of them. Lola turned her head away from the others, so they wouldn’t see her cry.

  Frankie, Piper, and Mary hugged Lola once again and watched her as she wheeled her suitcase toward the ferry. Lola turned one last time and waved at her friends as she boarded. Tears began to flow freely down her face and she didn’t care if anyone saw.

  “Did you notice how weird the Porters were acting?” Piper asked Frankie and Mary as they walked back toward the Wildflower Inn.

  “Yeah, it was kind of odd. But, haven’t they always been kind of odd?” Frankie asked. “I heard that they fight a lot and the cops get called on them all the time.”

  Chapter 3

  Zachary’s short life had not always gone so smoothly. A few months ago, Marshall and Eliza got the scare of their lives. Being such young parents as they were, the two of them have since learned to watch their son more closely. —

  “Zachary!…Zachary! Where are you!” Eliza yelled as she searched the neighborhood on that breezy day.

  Eliza ran frantically through the streets, screaming. She felt as if her heart would pound right out of her chest. Desperation clawed at her mind. How would she ever explain to anyone what really happened to her son? He was her whole world.

  When Eliza stopped running, just long enough to catch her breath, she looked up at the neighboring houses, wondering who was inside. She saw a few curtains fall back into place. Contempt crawled all over her as she felt her blood pressure rising. How in the world could those people just stand there, watching in secret, not wanting to help? Did they not care? She wondered if they were judging her. Of course they were. They were safe in their own homes, their own children playing safely in their rooms. And why weren’t they helping her? They were leaving her frantically searching through the streets for her child, with no sense of the responsibility required to live in a moral society? Since it’s not their child, then to hell with him? Is that it?

  Eliza’s mind was racing wildly. She had no realization that her thoughts were paranoid. Improbable at the very least.

  “What’s going on?” one of her neighbors, an older woman that Eliza barely knew, asked. “Are you okay?”

  Eliza stopped and turned to the approaching woman. “Nooo…” Eliza wailed. “I can’t find my son. He’s just a baby.”

  She couldn’t hold it in any longer. Eliza was starting to become hysterical. She clutched at her stomach and fell to her knees right there on the sidewalk, blubbering. She didn’t even notice that she tore the skin on both of her knees open and was bleeding. It was the least of her worries.

  Barbara, not really knowing how to comfort the distraught young woman, reached over and patted her on the back tentatively. “What can I do to help?”

  Eliza looked up at her. “Can you help me look? He hasn’t been gone that long, so he can’t be far. He only just started walking a few days ago.” Her voice quaked as she asked the question.

  “Of course dear. Let’s knock on some doors. I’m sure everyone will want to help.”

  During the next hour, the two women, who slowly were joined by several others, searched the neighborhood thoroughly. They knocked on every single door and checked every single backyard, whether the homeowners were home or not. The boy was just nowhere to be found.

  By the time that Sheriff Rex Roberts showed up, Eliza was sitting on her front porch step, and had calmed down a bit. The young woman was running her hands nervously through her very short, dirty blonde hair. It was a nervous habit of hers.

  There were at least a dozen or so people of all ages wandering around her yard and house, wanting to help, though none of them seemed to actually be doing anything. Someone had made her some tea. She was grateful for something to focus on, as simple as it was. Others were drinking beer that they had taken from her refrigerator without permission. She didn’t seem to notice.

  The sheriff took in the scene as he exited his car and walked up the walkway toward the grieving mother. He shook his head ever so slightly, amazed that people would be standing around drinking beer in the front yard, while a young child was missing. He had long ago learned to keep most of his opinions of people to himself.

  “Hello, Eliza. Where is your husband?” Rex asked her, looking around for Marshall. “I’d like to talk to both of you.”

  “He’s at work. He’ll be here soon,” she answered as she stood to face the sheriff. A blanket that someone had draped around her shoulders fell to the ground, unnoticed. “I just called him.”

  Rex looked around. By his judgment of the level of intoxication of the folks standing under the shade of the oak tree in the front yard, the ordeal had already been going on for quite some time.

  “You just called Marshall?” he asked Eliza. “Why wasn’t that the first thing you did when you discovered your son was missing?”

  Eliza looked around the yard. Chewing on her fingernails, she couldn’t make eye contact with the sheriff. By the tone in is voice, it was clear that he was unhappy with her.

  “I don’t know, Sheriff. I was upset and…focused on finding Zachary. Marshall was not on my mind at the time. Besides, I figured I would find him in the neighbor’s yard, playing with their Boston Terrier. He’s always chasing after that dog.”

  “I see. Well tell me what happened.” Rex pulled out his notebook and pen and started writing even before she began her story.

  “Um, well…I was in the kitchen making lunch while Zach was in the living room watching some cartoons. He was happy and quiet, so I left him alone to finish up. Then a few minutes later I went in to get him and he was gone. I looked all over the house, and in the backyard, but couldn’t find him anywhere.” Eliza couldn’t stop her voice from breaking up. “He must…have gone…out the front door.” She could barely get the words out, whimpering as she spoke.

  Her neighbor, Barbara, had been standing close by observing the exchange. She walked over and put her arm around Eliza, who laid her head on Barbara’s shoulder.

  “Hello Barbara,” Rex acknowledged the old woman with a nod. Barbara and her husband, George, had been island staples for as long as Rex could remember.

  “Sheriff,” she nodded back.

  Turning back to Eliza, “How do you think he got out?” Rex asked her.

  “The screen door sometimes doesn’t latch right. You have to kind of jiggle it to get it to connect.” Eliza demonstrated with a jiggling gesture of her hand as she spoke. “Maybe it wasn’t latched. I try to be careful and make sure it’s latched, but I don’t know. He just started walking and it wasn’t a problem before. I might not have made sure.” She began crying again.

  “Eliza, did they find him?” Marshall walked up and Barbara removed her arm from around Eliza.

  “Nooo,” Eliza cried. “It’s all my fault.”

  Marshall wrapped his arms around his wife in a very loving gesture. Rex waited a moment while the two of them comforted each other. Rex was always suspicious of people. It was in his nature and part of his job. But he could see that the Porters’ grief was genuine.

  “I
’m really sorry to interrupt folks, but I need to ask a few more questions, so we can find your son.”

  Marshall released his hold on Eliza and they both turned back toward the sheriff.

  “Now, is it possible that someone came into your house and took the boy?”

  “What? Who would do that?” Marshall asked, looking at his wife and turning back toward Rex.

  “That’s what I want to know,” Rex replied.

  “I don’t think anyone could have gotten into the house and taken him without me catching them,” Eliza answered.

  “Okay, fair enough,” Rex responded. “But he wandered out without you noticing, right? So it is entirely possible that someone could have taken him.” Rex directed his question at Eliza.

  “Um, well, maybe,” Eliza replied. “I just don’t know.” She shrugged her shoulders just slightly.

  Without speaking, Marshall and Eliza gave each other a look that Rex couldn’t quite put his finger on. Was it guilt? Resignation? Fear? It was his job to figure out which one it was.

  “Marshall, is there anyone you can think of that might want to take Zachary?” Rex asked him.

  “No…I mean, I don’t think so,” Marshall answered. “Can we just go look for our son, Sheriff?”

  Rex was not pleased that Marshall was being a pain in his ass, but he did understand. He had a daughter of his own and couldn’t imagine what these parents were going through. He took one last look in his notebook, flipped it shut, and stuck it in his pocket.

  “Folks, we are already working on getting a search party together. As you know, most people on the island are busy with the cleanup efforts from all the recent damage from the wave. But I’m sure we can get a bunch to leave that and help find little Zachary. Now let me get to it and I’ll keep you all posted.”

  Rex turned and walked back to his car. Two deputies had shown up by then and were waiting for him to finish with the parents.