The Ghost Guard

Chapter 1: A Hero Is Born

"Hello, police?" Both of Mrs. Frizelia's hands were clutching the bright pink wall-phone receiver. She continued before the operator on the other end had a chance to respond, "My neighbor, Marie Elizabeth Dainger, has not left her house all morning. And I know this may not seem strange to you, but her son has a very strict schedule due to him being...well, you know... special."

"'Special, ma'am? Could you please elaborate?" The operator asked.

Mrs. Frizelia paused for a moment, debating on the right words to describe Frankie Dainger, the teenage boy from across the street. Her eyes jolted in different directions, her bottom lip swinging from side to side, competing in its own ping-pong match as she searched for the appropriate word.

"He has Down syndrome," Mrs. Frizelia said abruptly. "She is a single parent and I always told her that a woman shouldn't be alone for too long. The boy needs a father. His passed away some time ago, Lord rest his soul. Coast Guard mission gone awry. God bless our fallen heroes."

"We understand. Please state your name, ma'am," the operator said.

"Connie Frizelia. You should know who this is." Mrs. Frizelia responded.

"Thank you. I am transferring you to an officer now," the operator said.

"Ronald!" The operator shouted from the receptionist desk. "It's Mrs. Frizelia calling about an issue with the Dainger residence."

"Thank you, Jan. I will handle it," Officer Ronald said picking up his desk phone. "Hello, Mrs. Frizelia." I understand there is an issue at the Dainger residence? I went to school with the boy's father, Tim Dainger. May he rest in peace. This is Officer Ronald by the way."

Officer Ronald worked at the same police station since his junior year of high school. He and Tim Dainger were close friends back then. They had bonded over their dream of being in the military after graduation. Each wanted to join a separate branch and had a friendly rivalry going over which was more important, the Coast Guard or the Marines. By graduation, Tim went off to the Coast Guard, but Ronald's parents forbade him from going. They needed him to stay and help at the family store, Berdaldo's Grocer, named after his father.

Officer Ronald leaned back, belly protruding as he nestled his curvatures into the reclining pleather black office desk chair in the empty, white-walled police department.

"Oh, my stars, Officer Ronald," Mrs. Frizelia said. "I'm thankful it's you. Last time someone had picked up but never even said a word. I was talking to dead air." She expected everyone to know who she was and be at her beck and call since she made it her personal mission to know everyone else.

"Well, no need to worry now. We'll get someone over there posthaste," Officer Ronald said, now sitting up straight in his chair eager to send someone out to check on Marie Elizabeth Dainger and her son, Frankie. He picked up the phone to make another call and within the next ten minutes, two police cars were outside the home.

Mrs. Frizelia was waiting in her favorite chair near the window sipping her English breakfast tea. She enjoyed watching the neighborhood from it. It was perfectly positioned so that the whole street in front of her home could be viewed. She had put on a record to calm her nerves.

"Why don't you, you trust me!" she belted out the song lyrics to "Trust in Me," by Etta James.

Her hands were shaking as she brought the tiny teacup to her lips. A splash of it spilled on her fluffy crème bathrobe. The shaking of her right leg on top of her left surely didn't help steady anything. The right white slipper, oddly resembling the Easter bunny, was on the brink of being flung into the living room due to the forcefulness of her shaking. Her hair was nestled on top of her head and desperately battling for air beneath all the curlers.