Hello Little Girl

Chapter 31

By the time Mary reached Menlove Avenue, hysteria had set in. The walk from home to Mendips wasn’t a very long one, but it could have been years to the woman.

She wasn’t familiar with the area, but from the girls at work she knew the name of Mimi Smith’s house: Mendips or something like that. She saw the name written on the front of a gate, and shoved through it.

With no regard for neighbors or even Mimi herself, Mary marched right up to the front door and pounded her fist against it. “Mimi Smith!” she shouted. “We need to speak!”

A light came on next door, but Mary didn’t care. That boy, that awful boy, had run off with her daughter and that woman surely had something to do with it. She was probably just as bad as her sister, what with running around leading a pack of fatherless children and encouraging them to live the wild life that she had. Well Mary wouldn’t stand for it. All this madness would stop now.

She shouted through the door again. “Let me in this damn house right now!”

The door flung open so fast Mary jumped back and nearly stumbled over her own feet. She cursed and turned back to lay into whoever had opened the door, but as she caught sight of the woman in front of her, words failed.

Mimi had never been so angry. She didn’t like being jerked out of bed by mad strangers screaming at her front door, the neighbors would be talking for days.

“What is the meaning of this?” she hissed, growling low in her throat.  Mary pointed a shaking finger at the older woman and tried to keep her voice steady. “That John of yours has run off with my daughter.” She said. “And you let it happen.”

Mimi stared at her, wondering if the woman was drunk. “What are you talking about?”

“My daughter!” Mary shouted. “She and John ran off together and I haven’t a clue where they’ve gone!” The older woman shook her head. “I’m afraid there’s been a mistake, I think you should go home.”

She tried to shut the door, but Mary pushed past her and into the house. “Wendy!” she called. “Wendy are you here?”

Mimi was reaching for the phone to ring the police when the name made her pause. “Wendy?” she said.

“Yes, Wendy, my girl.”

“I know Wendy.” Mimi replied despondently. Hadn’t John been running around for a while now with a girl named Wendy?

She looked at the other woman—yes, she could plainly see this must be the girl’s mother…but what was all this running off business?

“Wait” she said, trying to get the woman to stop yelling. “John has been seeing your daughter but I doubt they’ve run off together.”

“Is that so?” Mary snapped. “Because I haven’t seen her since yesterday morning. Where could she have gone?”

“Well I’m sorry but John’s been around here all day.” Mimi said.

“What?”

“John hasn’t gone anywhere, I saw him just a few hours ago at dinner.”

Mary sank down into a living room chair, staring at the older woman. She had been sure there was no other place for Wendy to be. If she wasn’t with John, where in the world had she run off to?

“Wait here” Mimi said quietly. “I’ll go ask John if he knows anything about this.”

Mary nodded, but wasn’t really paying attention anymore. Her daughter had vanished into thin air, without even letting anyone know where she had gone or if she was coming back. Was everyone in her life bound to leave her in the end? First it was her parents, then her in-laws, her sisters, Robert, and now Wendy even. Her own flesh and blood didn’t want her. How long would it be before Scott started feeling the same way?

She rubbed her cheek furiously to keep from crying, but it only made her feel worse. What had she done wrong? Every decision she had made since becoming a mother had her children’s best interests at heart. She fought tooth and nail to give them things she’d never had herself, opportunities she only wasted, and it wasn’t good enough.

What am I going to do?

Mimi came back down stairs, pale and grim looking. Mary knew something was wrong, something was always wrong. “What?” she asked feebly. Mimi shook her head. “He’s not in his room.” she breathed. “John’s gone.”