Lost & Found // Ongoing

9. ka-chow

"Please do not tell me people actually wait two hours for this." Brad groaned as we walked up to the Car's roller coaster. The wait time for the ride was 130 minutes, the line of sweaty people going down the sidewalk.

"You would be surprised." I mumble, my eyes scanning the area for model boy's mom. 

Where are you? I text her.

In front of the ride. I have a blue monster's inc. baseball cap on. She responds.

I roll my eyes. Every other person in this park has that hat, she thinks that narrows it down? I relay the description to Mary and her lovely spawn of satan boyfriend, and they begin looking around at our fellow park goers.

I spot a middle aged woman wearing the generic hat a few feet away from us. She's squinting down at her phone, trying to read it through the glare of the sun.

I walk up to her warily. When she doesn't look up I lean over, and unsure of how to get her attention, I poke her arm. She looks up, shocked.

"Can I help you?" She snaps.

"Um, I think, uh, I have your child's cellular device?" I say under my breath, looking down at my feet.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She says grumpily, and walks away briskly.

I look at Mary, and she shrugs, chuckling to herself. Someone taps my shoulder, and I turn around to see a tall, thin woman standing behind me. A teenage boy trails behind her, holding the hands of two small children. To my disappointment, the boy is not model boy.

"I think you're looking for me. You have my son's phone?" She speaks up, and I detect a slight Australian accent. Wow. Of course him and his family are Australian. Because he wasn't already hot enough.

"Yeah! Here. I have it. By the way, I'm Harper." I stutter, reaching into my pocket for the phone. She watches me impatiently, tapping her foot. Her hand is extended, waiting for the phone. I hand it over, and she checks it as if looking for any damage.

"I didn't do anything to it." I say, narrowing my eyes. 

"Of course not." She purses her lips, "I'm Tammy. Where's my son?"

"I have no idea. Don't you think I would've maybe, I don't know, given him his phone back if I knew?" I retort, and I hear Mary cough behind me.

The teenage boy chuckles and steps forward, "I'm Frank. This is Lace and Carli." He refers down to the children dragging behind him. One of them waves at me, and then sticks her finger straight up her nose. I wrinkle my nose in disgust.

"Nice to meet you." I say, forcing a smile on my face. The ice cream worker side of me likes to force her way into conversations sometimes.

"Well, as great as this little get together was, we'll be off to find Noah." Tammy says abruptly.

Noah? Huh. I definitely thought model boy looked more like a Logan. Or maybe an Elijah... 

Focus Harper.

"Wow wow wow. As the person who has been tracking Noah all over the park in 100 degree heat, I'll have to stop you right there. I'm coming with you." I say stubbornly. 

Brad groans from behind me.