The Lucky Paw

Chapter 6

"Katy! We're home!" Mrs. Patterson shouted from downstairs. Katy scrambled out of the attic, closed the tile, and flopped on her bed. She hurriedly put in her earphones,and pretended that she had been listening to The Climb the whole time.

Starting to read her mother's journal had made Katy curious again about what may have happened to her mother. Katy decided to do some research.

First, she found a website that let her look up people and find out where they lived. It was a government program that Mrs. Patterson would never have let her use, and she lied a little about her age while signing up, but Katy was desperate and determined to find her birth mother.

Since Katy had no idea where her mother might be living now, she could only type in her name and age to try and find her.

Katy typed in: Chandler Strook, 34. The entries that popped up were not encouraging. All of the 34-year old Chandler Strooks had a different middle name than her mother had had. Her mother's middle name was Mary.

Next Katy typed in: Chandler Hawkins, 34. The results of that search were not encouraging, either. No Chandler Hawkins with a middle name of Mary. The only search result that had the name Mary showed Katy's address. There was nothing after that.

Katy was very puzzled. The website was a database. If her mother was still alive, she should be in the database. The only ways that Katy could think for why she wouldn't be listed were if she was dead, was living by an alias, or was homeless.

Of course, Katy couldn't think of any reason why her mother would have an alias, and considering her talent at sewing and painting, it was highly unlikely that she could ever become homeless, so she was probably dead.

Katy shut down the computer, tears welling in her eyes. She missed her mother so much!

If she tried hard, Katy could almost smell her sweet cherry blossom perfume. She could feel the gentle touch of her mother's arms hugging her and the silky material of her favorite blouse, pressed up against Katy's cheek. Katy turned her back to the door, so no one could see her cry.