In the Shadow of His Wings (8 page)

Laura wondered why the TV would have a lock on it. What did they care whether she turned the TV on or not? Then it occurred to her,
the news
. If she turned the TV on to a local channel and the news came on there might be a story about her disappearance.

Then Hilda would see Laura’s face on the TV with her real name and she would know that she wasn’t her daughter Christine. Of course, that had to be it. Gerhard probably didn’t worry about his mother watching the news on her own. Somehow she didn’t seem the type to watch the news. She seemed more interested in watching soap operas, game shows and mindless sitcoms.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Hilda asked, staring at Laura.

“Excuse me?” Questioned Laura, having no idea what Hilda wanted now.

“This basement isn’t going to clean itself! All the cleaning supplies are in the linen closet in your bathroom. Get busy young lady.” Laura hadn’t even noticed the cleaning supplies when she first looked in her bathroom closet but Hilda was right. They were all there at the bottom. Laura picked up a rag, some furniture polish, went back out to the living room and got to work.

Chapter 7

Laura spent most of her morning trying not to think too much and just clean the basement. It was just such a bizarre situation that she knew if she stopped to really think about it, she would probably end up screaming hysterically. Hilda sat in her reclining chair either working on crossword puzzles or looking at magazines, but often just staring at Laura. Laura tried to ignore her but it wasn’t easy. After a few hours of this, Hilda brought out some sandwiches and said, “Christine, come and sit down, have some lunch and talk with me for awhile.”

Laura came and sat on the couch unsure of what would come next.

Hilda began by saying, “I’ve been sitting here thinking, wondering what you have been up to for the past thirty years, do I want to ask you about it? Do I really want to know? I’ve been pondering about it a lot and what I have decided is that I don’t want to know. It’s in the past. It’s over and done with. We will consider the past thirty years a closed chapter of your life and won’t discuss it. You left and although it hurt me very much, I forgive you. You’re back now, that’s the important thing. So we will forget about everything in between and start over from here. What do you think about that?”

“If that’s what you want, then that’s fine” Laura said. Laura was rather relieved with this because now she didn’t have to make up any kind of fictional ‘life of Christine’

to please Hilda and keep Gerhard happy as well.

Hilda clapped her hands together, “Good, then we are in agreement. Now let’s see what’s on TV and eat our sandwiches. It’s a little early for my shows, sometimes there are some good talk shows on.”

So they sat together and watched a talk show about a family who recently gave birth to seven children. The type of show that normally Laura would have enjoyed but today she just sat and stared, glassy eyed at the TV. Hilda seemed to enjoy the program, making lots of comments on the cute babies, guessing which ones might grow up and break their momma’s heart. After the talk show came a cooking show and they watched the host bake an elaborate dessert made out of chocolate and pecans. Hilda was practically drooling as she watched it. Then it was time for Hilda’s soap operas to start.

This was clearly part of her normal routine something the woman enjoyed. She made herself comfortable in her chair and asked Laura to get her a soda from the small fridge by the TV. Once she was settled she released Laura to either watch with her or go to her room, whatever she liked. Laura welcomed the opportunity to retreat on her own for awhile.

Once in her room Laura closed her door and began to think once again about the possibility of escape. She just couldn’t accept the fact that this was to be her life now.

She wanted to go home! She sat down on the floor and examined the spot where her chain was attached. It looked to her like it was welded securely to a ring that was bolted right to the floor. There didn’t seem to be anyway she could loosen it without a sledge hammer! She went into the bathroom looking through the cabinet for a nail file or something similar that she could try to pick at the lock of her hand cuff. She couldn’t find any sort of file so she went to the desk and started going through the drawers more thoroughly, to see if she could find anything there. She had no success in the desk either but she did find a pen with a metal clip on the side so she bent that back and forth until it broke off. Then went and sat on the bed and began to pick away at the lock.
I’ve watched
many movies over the years where a villain has managed to escape with something like
this so there has to be a way for this to work. Lord, please help me here!
Laura had no idea how to pick a lock. It was a skill that she had never needed before so all she could do was wiggle the piece of metal back and forth inside the key hole, hoping to connect with something. She was concentrating so hard on what she was doing that she didn’t hear her door open slowly or notice Hilda peek in to see what she was doing.

Suddenly the door flew all the way open and Hilda came into the room, her face red and angry.

“What do you think you are doing?” She screamed as she grabbed the piece of metal with one hand and brought her other hand swiftly down across the side of Laura’s face. The blow was so quick and so hard that it knocked Laura off the bed and caused her head to bounce into the wall. This knocked the wind out of Laura and for a few moments she just sat on the floor stunned. Hilda looked at the piece of metal in her hands in disbelief.

“I can’t believe you are actually trying to get away! What were you going to do?

We go to all this trouble for you! We buy nice new furniture, get you wonderful new clothes. We spend years searching for you and go to so much effort to bring you home and this is how you repay us! Gerhard even promised to buy you anything you want, for heavens sake. You are so ungrateful, but then you always were, weren’t you! Well you can just stay in here all by yourself for the rest of today and I don’t think we will bother to bring you any supper either. We’ll see how you like that, now won’t we?” Hilda stomped back out to the living room slamming the door behind her. Laura slowly got up from the floor holding her hand to her sore face. Her eyes burned with tears she fought to keep back. She went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. The side of her face was all red with a clear imprint of Hilda’s hand. She wouldn’t be surprised if the area would be bruised by tomorrow. It was already starting to swell. She knew she should put some ice on it but she certainly wasn’t going to open the door and ask Hilda for any. The back of her head was tender where she hit the wall. So much for her grand escape attempt!

She didn’t mind the thought of being confined to her room for the afternoon.

That’s something she could handle. She had no desire to sit and watch soap operas with Hilda. Soap operas were something she had watched for a few years when Josh was born. She soon realized what an incredible waste of time they could be, how they could consume her entire afternoon day after day, week after week leaving her with nothing but empty feelings, longing for more ‘things’ and better clothes. The characters in those shows seemed to lead such exciting lives, yet they were never happy for long. There was no such thing as a happy marriage in a soap opera, at least not one that lasted longer than a month or two. It was amazing how the story lines could draw you in and keep you watching. She only watched a little bit when Josh was a baby because it was something to do. The TV kept her company but it wasn’t long before she was hooked. She didn’t turn the off the TV right away when the soap opera was finished, so it wasn’t long before she was hooked on the next one, and then the next one, and the next one. Soon her entire afternoon was spent watching soap operas as she took care of Josh.

When she found herself turning down afternoon invitations with friends because she didn’t want to miss ‘her shows’, she knew the situation was out of hand. The best way to break a habit like this is to just stop watching the shows all together. So that is what she did. She concentrated on her son and he was only three when Lacey was born so she had another child to occupy her attention. It was amazing how liberating giving up the soap operas were for her as well. It gave her her afternoons back. Several hours that were spent in front of the TV were now free to do other things. Time that was once wasted was now spent on her children.

Her children…thoughts of her children brought fresh tears to Laura’s eyes. She wished she could see them right now.
When will I see them again?
Laura didn’t want to be consumed with self-pity and spend her afternoon lying on the bed crying so she tried to turn her thoughts to other things. She looked around the room to think of what else she could do, trying not to think about how much her face hurt where Hilda hit her. As her eyes scanned over the books on the bookshelf over the desk she knew an important book that was missing. She didn’t recall seeing one out in the living room either. She knew then something she would write on the pad of paper for Gerhard to buy. She hoped her little escape attempt wouldn’t mess that up. She went over to the pad of paper and wrote

‘a bible’ at the top of the list.

Laura knew there was great comfort to be found in the word of God and having a bible to read at a time like this was essential. She was amazed she hadn’t thought of it sooner. Since she didn’t have a bible right now she looked at the other books on the shelf to see what else there was. There were a few old paper back books but she couldn’t imagine being able to concentrate on a silly teenage novel right now. She took down the note books that looked like journals. They had belonged to Christine. Since Christine ran away when she was fifteen, these must be from just before then. Laura decided that this could make for some interesting reading and give her some valuable insight on Hilda and Gerhard. She checked to see which one was the first one Christine started with. She began to read that one.

Chapter 8

The day after Laura’s abduction Jim sat in the living room with Lacey and Josh.

Pastor Brooks and his wife had left and they found themselves alone for the first time since Laura disappeared. Even through the night the police hadn’t left them alone, someone had been with them constantly, asking questions, watching them, and testing their reactions. They were all exhausted yet none of them felt like going to bed. The kids had dozed on and off on the couch during the night, but Jim had been unable to do little more than rest his eyes for a few minutes at a time. He knew their friends well enough to know it wouldn’t be long before someone would be stopping by to see how they were doing and probably bring by some supper for them. Not that he cared about the food but he appreciated the support of his friends. He needed them desperately right now.

He just couldn’t imagine what had happened to Laura! He had gone over and over it in his mind. Every possible scenario he could think of. They had a comfortable life but hardly worth kidnapping for a ransom, and if that were the case, the police figured a ransom call would have come in by now. Her purse was left behind, including her wallet and cash so that left out a mugging and robbery. It also excluded her running away, not that this was something Jim would consider but he was sure the police would.

The only thing he could think of was that some sick person had his dear sweet Laura and that thought caused his stomach to twist into painful knots.

Jim definitely remembered the stranger that had been eyeing his wife in church a few weeks ago and he had been sure to tell the police about the man. However the only information he, or anyone else from the church, was able to give the police was the man’s first name, William, and a brief description. It wasn’t much to go on. The police promised to interview the rest of the congregation and with the help of a sketch artist they would try to put together a picture of the man. The police were clearly not convinced of Jim’s innocence but at least they were willing to consider other possibilities.

“Mom’s on the news again” Lacey said. She sat on the couch staring at the TV, her eyes red and swollen from hours of crying. Josh sat beside her occasionally rubbing her back and trying to be comforting but not really having any idea of what to say. The story of Laura’s disappearance had been on the news twice yesterday and again today on both the twelve o’clock and now the six o’clock news. The camera showed their church and Laura’s car with the door hanging open and her torn purse on the ground. There was a shot of the police questioning Jim. Then they showed the scene at the police station where he made a plea for information on the disappearance of Laura.

Seeing all this on the news again brought out a fresh river of tears for Lacey as well as for Josh. Being the brave older brother was not easy!

“This will probably be the last time.” Jim told them. “This is pretty big news for Niagara Falls but for mom’s disappearance to be the number one story four times in a row is probably it. By the time the eleven o’clock news rolls around they will be on to something else.”

“Maybe by then mom will be home!” cried Lacey.

“I pray you are right sweetheart” Jim hugged her tight and cried more tears himself.
Lord, we need you desperately right now. Where are you? Please wrap Your
arms around Laura and hold her close to Your heart. Keep her safe Lord and PLEASE

bring her back to us!

The doorbell rang and Josh jumped up to answer it. Lee and Janice Barnhart walked in carrying takeout chicken with all the trimmings. They put the food down quickly and without saying a word proceeded to hug the worried family. After Janice hugged Josh and Jim she sat on the couch and held Lacey letting her cry. She knew Lacey and Laura were very close and that this young girl’s heart must be breaking in many pieces right now. Lee encouraged Jim and Josh to have some food and the three men sat at the kitchen table discussing what the police were doing.