Going Home

by Jan Prins

  Suddenly he was sitting upright, he heard something downstairs. That did not sound right. Definitely a burglar! He stepped out of bed softly, picked up a baseball bat in the corner, and gently crept down the stairs. They were shocked: Merry from a Zach who held a baseball bat threateningly in the air, and Zach from a Merry dressed in nightgown sitting at the computer behind the desk.

  “What are you doing?” Zach uttered, terrified. “I write an email to mother to tell her how shameful it is that she has done to us. To leave us like that and then apparently a hidden life that she led. It is unbelievable: five passports! Is she a spy or something? Well I will write to her what I think of it!! “

  Zach dropped the baseball bat on the floor, walked to her, and looked over her shoulder at what she had written.

  “Well, well, that is heavy,” he said, startled, “Soon she will be so startled that she will not come back!” “She will not come back any more” hissed Merry “And I do not need such a mother anymore. It is just common what she does and she is deceiving us too, “she said, sobbing.

  Zach grabbed her, she cried terribly and was inconsolable. After she had become more relaxed, Zach said “Let’s give her another chance, just write that we miss her and ask her if she comes home, for us and Ethan, that little one is completely lost”.

  She realized that this was a good idea and the mail was adjusted and sent. But whether there would be an answer?

  Training

  “Ethan, come and shoot. Eat your plate empty because you have to go to school! “Zach said at the breakfast table the next morning. He ate his breakfast with long teeth, he was in no hurry. At last Zach could say: “Here are your shoes and your jacket, then we go because otherwise the Miss Megan is angry again and I do not want to experience that again!” Ethan changed his backpack and was finally ready.

  After some pressure they walked out the door ten by eight, Zach had taken his own bike with him, so that he could drive straight to his HIgh School, that saved time.

  Miss Megan was already in the schoolyard waiting for the students. With a meaningful look at Zach and a look at her watch, Ethan was welcomed. “Pfff”, sighed Zach, “that has ended well!”

  He cycled a lot, but despite the fact that he stuck a lot, he still arrived ten minutes late. But fortunately the concierge did not bother about this, but he first asked how he was doing now. It pleased Zach very well that he was being looked at, it was also a fine man extremely popular with the whole school. Fortunately, in the classroom this time no difficult topics were discussed for him personally and it was a fun day with his classmates.

  After the school day, he cycled to the sports field at Prince George`s Stadium for baseball training.

  Zach arrived at the sports field where his teammates had also arrived. The boys played together a bit while changing clothes in the locker room and finally went to the sports field where coach Hux was waiting for them. He divided the boys into two teams who had to compete against each other. Zach played alternately as a short stop and as a pitcher and was very good at it. In addition to a good game insight, he was able to respond very quickly and immediately saw how he had to throw in to get the maximum result. He also had a high average as a batter. During the game, the coach regularly stopped them to give instructions on the game technique or to point out individual errors. The outcome of the “match” was of no importance.

  During the break, Zach called his sister Merry to ask if she had already received an answer to her mail to mother Carolyn. Very disappointed she reported that this was not the case. “Come on,” Zach said consolingly.

  Sweating, the boys searched the locker room where they showered and changed clothes. “Zach, I would like to talk to you before you go” it sounded from the coach’s mouth.

  They walked to the dug-out where they could talk undisturbed and sat down. “Zach, I have good news for you. You’ve been playing the stars from the sky lately and a scout has been watching and selecting you. If this is the case, you will have a chance at a scholarship with which you can go to the University where you can combine your studies and sports and possibly start a sport career in the Eastern League. It is ninety percent sure, he will also watch the last matches and then he makes a decision “said the coach seriously, but with a happy smile” Personally, I think that’s great, it never happened that a pupil of mine so got a chance! “

  Zach looked at him speechlessly and did not know what to say.

  “Your mother will also be very happy with this great news” he continued “would soon go home to tell it”

  Zach became even quieter: Mother? Which mother? But he dressed himself and showed a happy smile and said: “How nice, I am very happy with that, it gives me a great opportunity to make my hobby my job. But I owe that to you, coach Hux! You have brought me so far! I’ll never forget!!”

  “Go soon. She will be happy and surprised! “

  Outside, his teammates were waiting for him. “What did Hux have? It sounded mysterious! “. Zach proudly told what he had just been told and the congratulations from his friends were cordial and sincere. “Fine Zach!” That’s how it sounded from a lot of mouths “You’ve got it hard enough without a father and now that you get that chance gives you real opportunities to earn a good living. You deserve it”.

  Zach became agitated and was able to control his tears with difficulty. (Boys do not cry!) He did not know much more, said good-bye and drove home, to Teal Lane 13.

  When he came home, he joyfully told Merry what he had just been told and she hugged him warmly and congratulated him warmly. “Finally a good message. We look at how we do it, but you go to the University! We will not let that chance run. Even if I have to work for it! ”” Merry, you’re a sweetheart! My dearest sister. Of course we are going to save that. Time comes advice “he added philosophically.

  Together they checked the mail, but unfortunately no message from ma. They had to swallow something, but the joy about the scholarship and the university won it.

  They were drinking tea, while Ethan was watching TV when the house phone rang. Zach ran towards it and picked up. As soon as he heard who was on the other side of the line, his face moved. “No, Miss Megan, my mother is not home. I also can not give you time to be reached, because she is on a business trip and it is not yet known when she will return, but it will certainly not be sooner than a week “.

  Merry could almost literally hear what she was talking about in the phone. “Madam I promise you that once she is back I will tell her that you have called and she will call you ….. No, I promise, that will be fine!” With a sigh he put the receiver on the hook and looked helplessly at his sister.

  “What Megan said” Ethan asked stubbornly. “That you are a very sweet boy and she asks if you will come again tomorrow” Zach said very tactfully, but very sidelined the truth…

  Half an hour later the phone rang again, you can say that wretched phone! Zach walked into the shoes with lead and picked up. This time it was Carolyn’s boss, very angry. Zach did not know what to say and passed on the phone to Merry.

  This created a fantastic story on the spot about a family member who had become seriously ill and probably would die. Carolyn was asked to watch and take care of this and she had traveled there very unexpectedly. No, she could not say how long that would take, that depended on the death and then of course there was the funeral, no she could not say when Carolyn could come back to the estate agency.

  Carolyn’s boss hung up and Merry looked surprised at where that noise was coming from. It was Ethan who had heard the conversation and understood that Mom was not coming home for a long time.

  “I want to see mom. Why does not she call to talk to me? I do not get it. I miss her!”

  Merry explained that you could not call a sick person and then suggested very tactically to get Chinese food for dinner. That stopped the tears. Zach took him to the Chinese and he was allowed to say what they wanted to eat … Looking at the wallet, Zach notic
ed that the content was getting less!

  That night, after Ethan had been put to bed, they looked at each other and thought the same thing: how should that continue? But above all, the pressing question was: where had their mother gone? They took all the things they had found through the house during their treasure hunt from the cupboard where they had put them on the table to look at it again.

  Zach looked through all the papers and tried to get out of it. “It seems like she has lived in many countries, because those passports are all different and from different countries. Always a different name and a different date of birth. But the photo is definitely made of ma, sometimes the hair is different, then black, then light again. But she is! Very weird”. “What would that be for keys?” Merry wondered. “No idea, but will I go to the key king tomorrow? Maybe he has an idea “That was certainly a good idea and Zach would do that tomorrow.

  “But then those weird lists with numbers. And that diary, what kind of language would that be? “Merry said.” Is it an idea to scan them in and do a search through Google? ”” Girl, that’s a very smart “, Zach remarked, and that’s how agreed. “When I get out of school tomorrow, will I try to crack those laptops? Maybe there is a password or code in those papers or in those booklets. I can try everything, “he suggested. “It’s so weird” see Merry “I’ve been looking for her on the internet for a long time, but all accounts have disappeared completely, you can not find anything in her name. It seems like she went up in smoke. It is very mysterious “.

  That’s how they talk for hours, they watched everything over and over again, always from a different angle, but they did not get any further. “We just have to stop and go to bed” Zach finally, we have to look further tomorrow, you on Google and I go to the key king.

  They wished each other good night with a kiss and turned off the lights, unaware that they were being watched from the dark by Miss Megan….

  Routine

  The Plump family, Zach, Merry, Ethan and, until recently, Carolyn, live in Bowie in the state of Maryland of the United States of America. This is in the North not far from the Canadian border.

  Bowie has about 55,000 inhabitants. After the construction of a railway in 1869 on the initiative of Colonel William Duckett Bowie, the small town of Huntington City was established on that railway. The son of the Colonel, Oden Bowie, later became his successor as President of the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad and also Governor of Maryland. In 1880 the place was renamed Bowie in honor of this son.

  It had all the facilities a city must have, various schools and a university, sports facilities, many shopping centers, parks etc.

  On her bike, Merry drove towards Laurel Bowie Road, which cuts through the city, to the Bank of America to try to exchange a Traveler Check there, which they had found from her mother. They had long talked about whether they would try, but in the end there was no more choice because the money was finally finished. Their mother had brought them into this situation, so she could not object to receiving a check, right?

  But that did not reassure Merry, slower she drove on her bike until she finally arrived. She put the bicycle in a bicycle clamp and locked it and then looked at the bank with some fear. To recover, she sat down on a bench and sat courageously. She had heard that a large fine was imposed on the collection of unsecured checks and that Banks took that high. But she had to do it anyway, because they could not bite at all.

  With hesitant steps she walked into the imposing bank building and looked for the beautiful interior and modern art hanging on the walls. It was the first time she was in a Bank, so it was a strange experience in itself, but it was very beautiful here! They would earn a lot! But yes, what? But that did not matter now and she drew a number and waited for her turn.

  There was a call from office number seven and with lead in her shoes she walked towards it. “What can I help you with, young lady?” Asked the desk clerk in a friendly tone. “I would like to cash this check” came out hesitantly “Is that possible?” “I would not know why. That’s what we are for. “He took over the bearer’s check and began to go through all sorts of procedures to see if the check was real, if he was covered, etc. The frightened sweat was Merry on the forehead until the redeeming answer came; “All right, here is the five hundred dollars that the check is worth”.

  Merry did not know how to thank her and quickly walked out to go home with the money, but before she did, she drove on to the Burger King across the bench to take away some goodies to treat. Her choice fell on the Double Whopper. Then she quickly drove home.

  When she came home she ran in. “It worked out” she exclaimed, and Zach and they made a high five of joy. “Great girl. I was so in the rats if it would succeed! Have the thumbs all the time. Just great, we can move forward for a while “. “There are still 29 checks left, so we do not have to worry anymore,” she said cheerfully. “And say Zach” she said suddenly in a very sweet tone “I brought some goodies from the Burger King, we deserved it!”

  The Double Whopper tasted like them and with what Cola was there it was just party.

  “Will I then go shopping at Bowie Marketplace?” Zach suggested. “Fine, but I also wanted to buy something” she said sweetly. “Opposite the Burger King I saw a very nice leather jacket at Bowie Plaza. I want that one for a long time. May I buy from this money? He only costs 125 dollars “.

  “Well, well, there you ask what” said a surprised brother “Who knows how we still need that money”. “We can always get money again and besides, I have not had anything to get my diploma. Think of it as a gift “and she gave him a kiss and looked at him again sweetly. “You know how to sell, say. Well, I’m not up to that. Because you are my dearest sister, I think it’s good, but only for this time!! ”” Promised “she said” I will always be grateful to you, really! “And that’s how they each went in a different direction: Zach went shopping do for the household and Merry went on the road to score that beautiful leather jacket, with perhaps a nice scarf!

  After the first shock after their mother suddenly disappeared without leaving a trace, there was gradually a little regularity in their lives. Every school day, Zach brought his brother Ethan to school, where he was always welcomed by Miss Megan, who still looked forward and thoughtful. It never grew, and Zach just started to hate her, while Ethan was totally crazy about her and found her very sweet. Strange, but true. But in the end it was because he was in her class, he liked going to the Bowie Preschool.

  Apparently she did very well because Ethan told me about all kinds of nice things they did, about games and they also went somewhere regularly. There were nice play corners in the class: for cooking, a doll’s corner, a construction corner and even a haunted castle where the boys liked to scare the girls. In the schoolyard there was also everything and the children were able to climb and scramble that it was a sweet delight. There was even a large pond where they could fish and if it had been frozen they could skate on it.

  No, Miss Megan could not go wrong, but Zach thought of his: he had a strange feeling about it, it was as if she were playing a game, he thought, and in reality it was very different, even secretly! “

  In the afternoon, Merry picked him up again and Miss Megan started thawing more and more and even tried to have a chat! But Merry was not from yesterday and was not allowed to hear. No, imagine that she broke up! It was comparable to an armed peace, she only talked about cows and calves. Miss Megan had jealously looked at her new leather jacket and even asked where she had bought that beautiful jacket. There was nothing secret about that, so she just told her.

  Zach often had free intermediate hours at the High School, and in that time he was racing on his bike to the supermarket to do the daily shopping. That was often a drag because the bottles of soda were quite heavy and they needed quite some.

  If they were all at home after school, she took care of the small one in turn so that the other could do homework and later cook the food. Even Zach tried to do that sometim
es, although he was more specialized in fetching junk food!

  In spite of everything it was often pleasant to each other, but every day there were times when little Ethan started to ask his mother. It was not easy to take him there, especially because he was very worried about whether or not she would be home when he would soon be six years old! The two oldest children had not yet found a solution, but they still had a few weeks to come up with an excuse.

  After dinner they all watched the children’s television with Ethan looking forward to Ernie and Bert. After the coffee, they took him to bed in turns and read something to him. Then it became quieter in the house and Zach and Merry could continue their homework. But they also took turns to the gym, Planet Fitness, which was not that far from their house. The sports did them both very well, they emptied their heads and they spoke to someone else again. Anna, the friend of Merry, was there often and also the baseball friends were very many. It was very nice.

  But it was no different than they often spoke about the situation they were in and they tried, each in their own way, to find the truth, Merry was very focused on searching the computer via Google, but whatever she was looking for it seemed more and more that their mother was digitally erased. Now she was looking in her past and that was also very disappointing. They never knew the parents of their mother, they had died long ago, according to their mother. But whatever she was looking for in files from schools she had been in or from places she had lived in, she did not find anything at all.

  Zach had inquired about the keys found at the key king and only one key was familiar to the man, according to him it was kind of a safe key, but not from a bank known to him. He did not know it either. Now he tried to crack the two laptops to see if he could be wiser of the content, but so far he had not found the passwords.