North by North Tree-st

North By North Tree-st Part 3

   "Don't you worry, babies; Mommy's comin'!" Linda, running on empty, and only four hours sleep, gathered supplies for the day. She put extra snacks on the table, along with some blankets, while looking out of the window every so often, as if expecting the kids to show up.

The search had gone on well into the night, but still no sign of the kids. She and Bob had had to be dragged into the ranger station to get some sleep. Teddy was there with them, of course, asleep in a comfortable office chair, snoring loudly.

   "The rangers found no tracks," said Park Ranger Danny, watching Linda pore over the map, while Bob focused on filling up some bottles of water.

   "They didn't find anything?" Bob straightened up.

   "Well, they found adult footprints, so we might have accidentally gone over them."

   "Great; that's just great!(!)" Bob threw down an empty bottle. "So, what have you found?"

Danny was interrupted by the rest of the search party entering the little station. Jimmy, Trev, and Sylvester all had dark circles under their eyes, and were yawning. Harper and Mason were no longer with them, the couple had gone home late last night, but there was a steady stream of park rangers. Jimmy rudely brushed past Bob to get some water, and flopped down on the sofa. Jimmy's nose was still bruised, and Bob couldn't help but smile when he saw that. That was a small bit of payback after all the crap he had put up with over the years.

   "The helicopter didn't pick up anything," Danny said, and Jimmy gawped at him.

   "You guys brought in a helicopter?"

   "It's the most useful tool for this kind of search; the thermal imaging can spot them, even when the naked eye can't see anything."

   "But they found nothing?" asked Linda sadly, and Danny nodded.

   "But, as it was night, it was to be expected; the kids were probably sheltering somewhere. It'll be easier to spot them in the day time."

   "But, a helicopter? I mean, can't we just use those thermal thingies ourselves?"

   "It's like you don't want your kids to be found," Bob said, filling up yet another water bottle.

   "Hey, I want to find my kids as much as anyone else here; I just don't wanna be charged for a freakin' helicopter, when we could probably find 'em ourselves."

   "Well, we clearly need it, don't we, if we've been looking all day and night, and haven't found anything yet." Bob did his best to remain calm.

   "All right, all right; keep what's left of your hair on. We'll get 'em today."

   "We'd better," Bob muttered. He wasn't sure how much longer he could stand to be around Pesto.

   "If you guys are all, ready, we'll head back out," said Danny, and Bob and Linda eagerly gathered up their supplies, and headed out of the door. Jimmy heaved himself off the sofa, muttering something about having just sat down. "Remember to keep calling your son's phone," said the ranger, as the two of them exited.

   "Yeah, I will, I will," Jimmy mumbled. "Even though the battery's probably dead, but what the hey, I'll keep calling." 

Danny was walking ahead of him, and Jimmy looked down at his phone; fully charged, of course, because he had the sense to bring a charger and a power pack with him wherever he went. "Helicopters!" he scoffed to himself, walking past the picnic tables. "What next, bloodhounds?" He was worried about his children, of course he was; he wasn't a monster. But he felt that everyone around him was going a little bit crazy. The kids were holed up somewhere, bored out of their skulls, just waiting to be found. What was worrying about that?