Nice to Know

Old News

BOY MISSING

PETER SHOEMAKER

AGE- 4 YEARS

HAIR- BROWN

EYES- BLUE

LAST SEEN- SYCAMORE PARK/3 PM/OCTOBER 20TH, 1999

IF SEEN DIAL 1-999-1818

I pulled the flyer off the wall slowly, trying to take in what I was looking at. Could it really be him? He even has the same name. 

I called to Peter, but when he didn't answer I looked up to see he wasn't there anymore.

"He went to the bathroom miss." The old man chimed in.

I turned on my heel, rushing over to him and laying the paper on the counter, "What do you know about this?"

The man's forehead crinkled as he evaluated the flyer. 

"That boy went missing a good while ago. Never found him, parents had a funeral and everything. Sad, sad business."

"So you remember it?"

He shrugged his shoulders and ran his hand over the thin bristles of hair on his head, "Only a bit. People just sort of assumed the worst and moved on."

"After a child went missing?" I felt my top lip curling as the words came through it.

"Listen, the family wasn't good news. Poor kids go missing all the time. People take one look at their druggy parents and throw in the towel. Happened then and it happens now." 

He laid the paper back on the counter slowly. 

I didn't even know what to say. Part of me wanted to yell at him for the sake of human kind, but I knew it wasn't his fault.

So I bit my tongue and asked, "Do you remember anything else about it?"

"Don't know why you care so much, all I can tell you is Sycamore Park is right down the road. That's where the boy went missing."

He leaned over the counter and pointed out the window to the left. 

"Thank you," I said, folding the paper and shoving it in my dress pocket.

I rushed over to the bathroom door and banged on it. When I got no answer I knocked again and added "Peter," to the end. 

After a second, the lock clicked and the door opened a crack. 

"I have a problem."