Off the Carousel

Have You Seen My Wife?

"Iwantmymommy," Michael heard again from the crevice in the ground. Holy, he'd never noticed this before...

"It's okay Zola, I'm going to help you," he said calmly. "We'll get you to your mother. Just calm down and take slow deep breaths..."

"Kay," she snuffled.

The girl was barely visible in the dark, if it wasn't for her bright pink pj's, he probably wouldn't see her. "Can we get some more light in here?" he asked the man, George, was it?

"Yeah, hang on," he said, "There's a flashlight here somewhere..." Rustling and scraping followed as George shuffled around in the dark cellar. Just then, a beam of light filled the space causing shadows to dance around them.

"Lights!" Bailey exclaimed with a bounce. "Zozo!" He pointed to the crack, and wrenched his hand out of Michael's.

But he snatched Bailey's hand again, stopping him just short of the crack. "Stay right there, little guy," he said, peering down to get a better look. Beside him, George shone the flashlight, illuminating the crevice. Seeing Zola, he raised an eyebrow in surprise. An African girl? That was new... But there was no time for doubts or fear, he simply had to pull her out. Michael relinquished his grip on Bailey as George picked him up, holding the light at the crevice so he could see better.

"Okay," he got on his stomach. "You'll be just fine," He said to Zola, pushing some of his curly hair away from his face. He reached down through the rock and the dirt until he felt the smooth warm skin of her forearm. "take my hand, I'll pull you up."

A tiny dark hand found its way into his strong grip, and he pulled. For a second, there was upward motion, but then she was still stuck.

"Ow," Zola grunted.

"What's wrong?" Michael peered down through the shadows to see.

"My foot," she said. "My foot is stuck."

"Can you... turn it-,"

"It hurts!" she exclaimed, her body shaking with fear.

"Okay..." he breathed, thinking. And then he smiled. He knew what to do. He adjusted his grip so his hand was around her wrist, and reached down with his other hand...

"Are you ticklish, Zola?"

"Nooo," she said in a way that meant yes.

"Oh really?" he smirked. With his free hand, he reached down along her shoulder, to her other arm, and danced his fingers all over her...

"Hey, ha-ha ooh, hee-hee, stop it!" Zola squirmed in the little space, her body relaxing, muscles loosening.

He pulled her up...

Pop! She was free. Both hands under her armpits, he slid her out of the crack. The little girl said nothing, seemingly in a state of shock.

"Oh, thank God," George murmured, dusting off Zola. "Now, come on. We should get back outside. I don't know how structurally sound the house is, that earthquake was a knocker."

Earthquake? Michael thought, is that what knocked him out? Carolyn must be worried, he thought. God, he hadn't even thought of how she might be feeling about all this... the baby, the engagement...

He swallowed a lump in his throat. Dammit.

But Zola pulled him out of his negative spiral. "Where's my mommy?" Zola whispered, pulling on his fingers.

"Mommy went fwoosh..." Bailey answered, but then he looked around, "Momma?" he asked, peering around as if she might pop out from some dark corner.

George sighed and picked up the blonde toddler, "She's probably outside, worried sick. C'mon kiddo."