In the Shadow of His Wings (7 page)

Hilda then began to talk to Laura with a stern voice, “Well, eat your cookie and have some milk, but don’t eat more than one or two. We’ll be having supper soon. I’m making pork chops with apple sauce and scalloped potatoes. I hope you still like them.

Gerhard said you probably have lots of new favorites but I hope you don’t expect me to wait on you and treat you like a princess. Just because you’re chained down here and can’t come upstairs and do the cooking, doesn’t mean I’m going to cook everything you want. I’ll cook what
I
want and you’ll just have to live with it. Is that clear?!” Hilda glared at Laura.

“Yes ma’am, that will be fine.” Laura whispered.

“Ma’am? Ma’am? What’s this ma’am stuff?” roared Hilda as she threw back her head and laughed. “Maybe that trip you took out into the world actually taught you some manners.”

Laura tried to eat the cookie but she was grateful for the glass of milk because the cookie seemed to stick in her throat. She hoped she would be able to keep it down. She didn’t notice what the cookie tasted like.

“I watched my shows upstairs today while I baked the cookies, but normally I watch TV down here in the afternoon. So you can get used to that. You can watch TV

with me or read a book in your room, whatever you like. We had a maid clean the place for awhile but after Gerhard installed the chain he had her stop cleaning the basement. So that will be your job from now on. The maid still cleans upstairs on Mondays and I don’t know if Gerhard told you, you can yell all you want and she won’t hear you. The pope himself could be sitting in the living room and you could turn the TV on full blast and he wouldn’t hear it. This place is fully sound proofed.” Hilda looked smug as she filled Laura in.

“Now you get the TV trays out from over there” Hilda gestured to a TV tray rack beside the TV. “We’ll eat dinner while we watch some game shows” Then climbed back up the stairs to get their supper.

“Good job Christine, nicely done. I think this is going to work out well. Mom is looking happier already.” Gerhard leaned back in his seat and smiled happily.

“Gerhard!” yelled Hilda from upstairs, “Get up here and help me carry the food down the stairs!”

Gerhard reminded Laura to set up the TV trays and hurried up the stairs. Laura fought back more tears and quickly set up the trays. She didn’t know how she was going to eat pork chops, or anything else for that matter. Her stomach was in knots. Her knees felt like they were made of jelly.

How did this happen? What do I do? I need to get out of here!

“Jesus” Laura whispered the name over and over. She couldn’t think straight to put together an actual prayer. Soon after Gerhard and Hilda came back downstairs, the three sat together and ate supper while watching game shows. Hilda didn’t seem to even notice that Laura barely touched her food; she got caught up in the game shows calling out the answers she knew and cheering on the contestants. The remainder of the evening was spent watching TV with very little conversation until Hilda announced it was bed time. She simply got up, went into her room and closed the door.

So she does use the other bedroom down here. Probably because she finds it so
hard to climb up and down the stairs.

“Good night Christine, I trust you will find everything you need. If not, write it down and tomorrow I will go shopping for you.” Gerhard smiled at Laura and departed up the stairs with the leftover dinner and dishes. Laura went into her room, closed the door and fell on the bed. She knew she should brush her teeth, do the normal bedtime routine things, but this just wasn’t a normal bedtime type night. She didn’t even have the strength to look for pajamas or think about changing her clothes. She just pushed off her shoes and got under the covers. It wasn’t long before she fell sound asleep.

Chapter 6

Laura woke up the next morning, feeling confused about where she was. It took a few seconds for the events of the day before to sink in and then all of a sudden it hit her.

She sat straight up in bed and felt like someone had punched her in the stomach.
Jim!

What about Jim? I have spent so much time thinking about poor me that I haven’t been
thinking about what Jim must be going through, or Josh and Lacey! Lord, what’s
happening with them?

Laura had seen enough news broadcasts about missing women to know that the first person the police suspect was the husband. That would mean the police would be all over Jim, questioning him on every aspect of their relationship. They would doubt every answer that Jim would give, he would be their number one suspect, and because the police would suspect him, so would others. They must be questioning Josh and Lacey as well. Friends and relatives would be interrogated. What a nightmare! Niagara Falls was a small city which would mean her disappearance probably would make the front page.

While she was weeping over her situation, she didn’t even think about what her husband and children were going through.
How selfish can I be?

Laura could only imagine what it must be like for Jim. The endless hours of repetitive questioning. Jim insisting on his innocence. Oh how her heart ached for him.

If only she could get a message to the police and tell them Jim had nothing to do with her abduction. They had a wonderful marriage. In all the years they had been married they had seldom fought. Well sure they argued sometimes but that was normal stuff.

All husbands and wives argue, don’t they?
Well there was that one year when
they went through a very difficult time. Oh no! If the police find out about that they will
suspect Jim even more!

They got through it and now they respected each other and never put each other down in front of others, especially the children. They both agreed that this had a lot to do with the strength of their marriage. All she could do for Jim now was pray that the police would see the truth and go easy on him. She prayed that his friends would stand by him and give a good testimony as to his character. He was an honest and trustworthy man and had never been in trouble with the law.

Laura also thought about Lacey and Josh. She was sure the police wouldn’t suspect her children of any wrong doing but they would no doubt question them thoroughly. This would be a difficult time for them. She also lifted them up in prayer and asked the Lord to strengthen them and help them through this.

Oh God, will I ever see them again? I trust You Lord and I know You are with
me, but what’s going to happen to me?

Laura lay back down and prayed some more until she fell back asleep, but it wasn’t a peaceful sleep. In her nightmare she found herself in the living room but where the bookcase had been there was a huge picture window and Jim, Lacey, and Josh were on the other side. They were looking for her and calling her name. She ran to the window and yelled out to them but they didn’t hear her. Pastor Brooks and June arrived who also started calling her name. Laura yelled as loud as she could but they still couldn’t hear her. She pounded her fists on the glass but it did no good. She began to look around for something to break the glass. She ran back to her room to get the chair from the desk, planning to use that to break the glass, but when she got to her room Hilda was sitting on the chair, laughing, and refused to move. There was no way she could budge the large woman from the chair so Laura ran back into the living room.

By now the police had arrived and were starting to pull her family away from the window and Laura knew she had to find a way to break the glass soon. She grabbed one of the TV trays, headed for the window and began to bang the TV tray against the glass.

The glass however would not break. It wasn’t normal glass, it was soft and rubbery and when she slammed the TV tray into it, it just stretched out with the tray and then came back in again. Laura tried again and again to break the glass but the TV tray could not get through. Her family, the pastor and his wife together with the police were all moving away! Then Laura thought, just a small hole would do it. The glass was soft and she was pushing at too large an area. If she poked a small hole with something like a pencil, then maybe she could work it into a bigger hole, yell through the hole and they would hear her.

She did not want to return to the bedroom where Hilda was sitting so she looked around for a pencil. She found one beside the TV guide where Hilda had been working on a crossword puzzle. Quickly Laura grabbed the pencil and went to work trying to poke a hole in the strange glass. She stabbed at the glass and it worked! There was a hole. She poked her finger in the hole and tried to stretch the hole and make it bigger.

She quickly worked at the hole and soon had it the size of an orange. She pulled back her hands and got ready to yell through the opening, but before she could yell, water started coming through the hole. Just a trickle at first but it quickly grew and soon Laura had to stand back as water came pouring into the room.

Water began to flood the basement and soon the living room floor was covered.

Laura ran back to her room to alert Hilda but the large woman was gone. Laura waded through the water to Hilda’s bedroom and knocked on the door, calling out to the woman to warn her of the water. Hilda didn’t answer no matter how loud Laura knocked or yelled. Laura looked up the stairs and saw Hilda and Gerhard looking down at her. They just smiled sweetly at her as they retreated into the upper rooms and closed the door, locking it behind them. Laura tried to get up the stairs and away from the rapidly rising water but her chain only allowed her to reach half way up the stairs. She sat on the steps and watched the water rise with horror, knowing there was no where she could go and no one who would help her. She closed her eyes tight and waited for the cold water to cover her, waited for the darkness to envelope her when through her closed eyelids she saw a bright light.

“Wake up! This isn’t the Holiday Inn and you aren’t on vacation. There’s no way I’m letting you sleep until noon and bringing you breakfast in bed.” Hilda barked.

“Oh for goodness sake, will you look at you! What did you sleep in your clothes for?” Hilda sat down on the chair at the desk and Laura was instantly reminded of the scene in her nightmare. She quickly turned her head to look out into the living room to see if there really was a window where the book case was but of course there wasn’t.

“Gerhard went to a lot of trouble buying you some clothes. You could at least try more of them on. I know he bought you pajamas as well. I’m sure something he bought must fit. Go take a shower and then try on some of the stuff in your closet. If you don’t like anything, well that’s too bad. You’ll just have to deal with it. It’s not like anyone’s going to see you in it anyway.” Hilda laughed as she said this last sentence. Then she went into the living room and sat down in her chair.

Laura got up and closed her door. It was then that she noticed there was no lock on her door.
So much for privacy.
She could only hope they would leave her alone while she showered and changed. Laura didn’t want to wear any of the clothes Gerhard had bought but she couldn’t stay in the one dress and her own shirt was now ruined. She was feeling very stiff and sore, so perhaps a hot shower would do her some good. Laura checked the cabinet over the sink in the bathroom and found a bottle of aspirin. She took a couple of those and then proceeded to undress for her shower.

Laura had to admit that she did feel better after her shower, well at least as good as one could feel under such circumstances. She went through the drawers in the bedroom quickly looking for something to wear. She kept glancing at the door wondering if Hilda or Gerhard might decide to come in. She hoped they would knock first but certainly didn’t count on it. She found a pair of sweat pants with a matching sweat shirt that looked like they would fit and would certainly be comfortable. Not her usual style, but this was far from her usual type of day, so what did that matter. She quickly put them on. She had no idea what was expected of her next but figured it was better for her to go out into the living room than to sit in her room and wait, so that is what she did.

“Took you long enough” Hilda barked, “Set up the TV trays, Gerhard should be down soon with our breakfast.”

Laura quickly got out three TV trays and set them up for breakfast, then sat down and waited. It wasn’t long before Gerhard came down the stairs carrying a large tray with three plates of food on it. Gerhard served his mother first, giving her a plate that was piled high with an assortment of breakfast foods. Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, potatoes and toast. He had a similar plate for himself and for Laura as well.

He hurried back up the stairs and returned with another tray containing a pitcher of orange juice, a carafe with coffee, and everything else they needed.

“Ok let’s dig in!” Hilda cheered as she grabbed her fork and started eating.

Gerhard smiled at Laura and began eating as well. Laura looked down at her food and didn’t know how they could expect her to eat so much, but she had to admit that she was hungry.

Hilda and Gerhard had no trouble cleaning every last crumb from their plates but there was no way that Laura could eat that much food. The food may have been good but to Laura it had no flavor, she was only able to eat about half of what was on her plate.

Gerhard got up and began to gather up the dirty dishes.

“You didn’t eat much, Christine,” he noticed, “but then you never did have much of an appetite. I’ll be heading to the office soon; did you write down anything on the pad of paper for me to buy for you today?”

“No, I couldn’t think of anything.” Laura said.

“Ok, no problem. I’ll check with you later tonight and I’ll remember to pick up some catalogues for you. Oh yes, before I forget, I wanted to tell you that you won’t be able to turn the TV on yourself. There is a password lock on it and only mother or I can turn it on.” Gerhard departed up the stairs with the dishes.