by Jesse Reiss
Chapter 18
Angelina woke up and looked at the alarm clock. 9:07 a.m. She had slept two hours past her usual waking time. She looked over and her mom was still fast asleep.
The first thing her mind went to was the boy she had met during the night. Where was he now? Across the hall in his room? Upstairs? What would she say to him when they met again? Would he mention their meeting last night? As she got dressed she worried about this, wishing she had brought something a little more provocative to wear. She had jeans and plain T-shirts only — no short shorts or spaghetti straps. She brushed her hair and put on some make-up. Slipping on her flip-flops, she slowly opened the door and looked out.
The hallway was quiet. The blinds were open on the far windows, showing a clear summer day. She looked back at her mom, who hadn’t woken, and decided to let her sleep. It seemed she had the most stress yesterday and needed the extra rest.
She slowly walked down the hallway, for the first time taking careful notice of the photos on the walls. There were various police community events with Officer Stanley posing with Hollywood celebrities she recognized, for things like food drives, drug prevention seminars, the Police Activities League events and others. She saw that the door to Neil’s room was open an inch, but couldn’t see inside. The idea of knocking made goose bumps rise on her arms.
As she went up the staircase she realized with some disappointment that the house was silent. A handwritten note lay on the kitchen table from Lee Stanley:
“Morning! Help yourself to whatever you find for breakfast. I’m off to work and Neil is at baseball practice. He should be back late in the morning and can help with lunch and anything you guys need this afternoon.”
Angelina fixed herself a bowl of granola and wandered into the living room, munching on it. Her attention was immediately drawn to a new object in one corner next to the windows overlooking the valley. A telescope. She had seen these before up at the Griffith Observatory in the evenings when they bring them out onto the lawn and let the tourists look through them, usually at the moon or a planet as not much else got through the city lights. This telescope, even without the large tripod, came up to her shoulder and was as thick around as a basketball. This must have been what Neil was doing in Arizona, she thought. An astronomer. How boring. Something in her started to deflate.
She finished her breakfast and wandered back downstairs, noticing now the pictures of Neil with his dad on the walls. No other women appeared by their side. He had to be adopted she thought, but who was his mother and why was Officer Stanley unmarried? Or was he? She was intrigued by the circumstances and uniqueness of the family set up. It was missing a big hole, like a book with no pages. Then again, so was hers.
She stopped by Neil’s room and decided she would harmlessly poke her head in as if the door was already open and she happened to notice. She gave the door a slight knock and it nudged open a few more inches. No one answered so she lightly pushed it all the way open.
The lights were off, but the windows were open, allowing ample light in. It was more than a typical boy’s room she saw. It was approximately three times the guest room’s size and filled with things. She had seen a few rooms her past boyfriends occupied and they usually were a mess and had a strong dirty laundry smell. Due to this she had never stayed in one for very long and had broken up with a boyfriend once over this fact alone. Rather than porn stars in scanty or no swimsuits and video game action heroes plastering the walls, Neil had baseball and football players, some signed and in frames. Rather than Nine Inch Nails and The Rock movie posters, he had images of Saturn, distant galaxies and the Table of Elements. His bed (which she noticed was neatly made), dresser and closet were up on a dais that led to the bathroom, putting some separation between the two living spaces. A UCLA jacket hung on the back of a chair before a desk that housed an oversized Apple computer screen.
A large bookshelf attracted her attention and she walked over to it, noting the sports and electronic equipment that all had a spot somewhere in the room on shelves or in wire baskets. She began reading the book titles. Half seemed overbearing and abstract, having to do with physics and astronomy. On the lower shelves were books she was more familiar with. She bent down and looked over the authors, John Grisham, J.R.R. Tolkien, Wilbur Smith, Piers Anthony and others. Some she had never heard of and some she had. She picked up a Ken Follett book titled Pillars of the Earth, reading the back and thumbing through it. Might be interesting, she thought. She noticed he had the full Harry Potter and Twilight series and smiled. Those she was familiar with.
She strolled over to his desk and saw papers stacked on it with UCLA masthead on a few. A physics textbook lay open with some bizarre diagrams and symbols. She figured he was a student at UCLA. She realized he was older than she thought and beyond her league and something in her deflated even further. She jogged the computer mouse and the screen came to life with a strange three-dimensional color bar display. The screen saver password prompt then came up. She stared at the display, realizing it wasn’t some fancy screen saver, but the computer was running a program. She read aloud the letters on top of the screen “S-E-T-I” and frowned.
She heard the door to the guest room open and her mother walked past the open door and went into the bathroom without looking in. An adrenaline rush ran through her and she darted from the room, leaving the door ajar as she had found it.
Paula had some cereal for a late breakfast, which Angelina poured for her. She called Mac to check that he had left a bowl of milk on their back porch for Lynx. After she called Jacqueline, who told her she had brought James’ employment records down to the station as requested and confirmed that his keys were left in the office and he was taken off the payroll. The other two employees knew he was fired and though the store was closed today, she would stop by there this afternoon to be sure everything was okay. Paula thanked her again for her help yesterday and ended the call.
“So, honey, how in the hell did we get ourselves in this mess and what are we doing today?”
“I don’t know, but I want to go see that owl,” Angelina replied.
“Oh, yes, the owl. I still can’t believe this owl story. There have been some strange things happening in our lives in the past week and that one might take the prize.”
That doesn’t even scratch the surface, Angelina thought, but stayed quiet. This wasn’t a subject she wanted to get into. “I’m going to take a walk out back and look around, get some fresh air.”
“Sure, good idea,” Paula said with a smile. As Angelina went back down the stairs and out the door to the backyard, Paula wandered around the living room, taking in the pictures and decorative amenities. Though pleasant and well decorated, she noted the place was mostly set up for utility and lacked a feminine touch. She sat down on the sofa and with the remote from the coffee table, turned on the TV.
The local weather came on. Why do they bother with the weather around here? she thought. Always sun, always dry and always hot. Nothing changes. The man enthusiastically talked about possible record highs in the desert and inland regions and a high fire risk for the next few weeks as the Santa Ana winds were predicted to be picking up, sending strong gusts of warm air down the valleys and passes. Paula thought that these guys say this every year and every year there are fires and every year they are finally put out after hundreds of acres burn. These things are as natural to this region as tides on the beach, but they treat it like unpredicted disasters.
The station went to ads and she changed the channel. Her jaw dropped and her face lost color. A news reporter was talking with a box in the corner showing Griffith Park from the air with the words “Park Abduction Averted”. The woman with the faux smile and gleaming teeth was saying:
“…the LAPD have not released any details of how the girl was found, but confirm she is safe and after being treated for her wounds, has returned to her family. They did confirm that a ransom was paid by the family for the girl’s release before being saved and that the assai
lants are still at large. There is no word on how much the ransom was for or how the girl was injured or whether she was abused in any way. Griffith Park rangers have issued a statement assuring citizens that the park is patrolled and safe, but as is the case in all parks, it is advised not to leave children unattended. We will keep you updated on this story as details emerge.”
As unsympathetic as the newscaster had given the story, she happily told her viewers today was going to be a hot one and, “Let’s turn to our meteorologist, Brent Andrews, for more.”
Paula slumped back in the sofa, not hearing the words as Andrews repeated the same weather details she already knew. How many times had she watched the daily headline news detailing helpless victims and their awful fates and felt nothing? It was like something else, something disconnected from her real life. Now the news was about her and she felt the fact of it violated her privacy, like her own life was being displayed for the world to see. She used to never pay attention to the inaccuracies that people would cry about with the media, but now she was sure this story would be reported with utter disregard for privacy and accuracy and cause a circus. Again she was thrust into the position feeling she was going to have to defend her daughter from prying eyes and attacks. To what extremes and to how far will a mother go in protecting her young? Precedents say there is no limit and Paula sure didn’t feel she had any.
Her thoughts were interrupted by loud music outside and a car parking in the garage. She hit the power on the remote and stood up, feeling strange to possibly be meeting a house’s occupant for the first time from within.
The door to the garage opened and a Chocolate Lab bound into the house, its tail and tongue wagging furiously as it sought out the source of the new smells like a heat-seeking missile. It spotted Paula and ran over to her, furiously sniffing her legs and hands. Paula gave the dog a big hello and scratched it behind the ears, making the tail beat even harder.
Neil came through the door, carrying his cleats and baseball mitt in one hand and a couple bats in the other. He was covered in sweat. He had taken his shoes off, wearing only socks on his feet. He smiled when he saw her and walked over, calling to the dog. “Tammy! Tammy! Settle down, girl!”
He moved the bats under his arm and extended a hand. Paula shook it and smiled embarrassingly. “Neil Stanley,” he said.
“Paula Russell. Your Dad was nice enough to let us stay the night.”
“Sure. He does things like that from time to time.”
The comment made Paula wonder if this meant she herself would soon become some insignificant person helped “from time to time”.
Tammy continued to sniff Paula’s feet and Neil reached down and pulled the dog back by the collar. The dog was immediately onto something else, continuing to sniff around the living room and then followed another strange scent down the stairs. “That’s all right. I don’t mind dogs. Obviously I’m a new smell for her.”
“Yeah, but I thought I met an ever-so-slightly younger and lighter version of you last night. Can’t be sure though.”
Flattering, Paula thought and smiled. “That’s my daughter, Angelina. She’s around, I think poking her head in your backyard right now.”
“Cool! Well, I’m going to have a shower and change. See you shortly.” He bounded down the stairs, taking them two at a time.
Paula slumped back into the sofa and she stared at the blank TV screen, her attention fixed back on the news report.
Angelina came up the stairs a minute later in with Tammy bounding at her feet. “Mom — they have a real cool dog here!” She looked at her mom, sitting pensive on the sofa. “Mom — what’s wrong?”
“Oh, just worried about yesterday and all that,” she said dismissively. “I need to settle down somehow, that’s all. Yeah, Neil introduced me to the dog. Her name is Tammy.”
“You met Neil?” Angelina’s face was frozen.
“Yeah, he’s downstairs showering. Surprised you didn’t cross paths coming up here.”
“Oh.”
Paula could see Angelina was interested in him. She put her fingers up in the air in mock quotations. “You guess he’s kinda good looking, eh? Maybe a little?”
Angelina blushed. “Mom! Come on! He’s so much older than me and besides, he’s going to UCLA — so out of my league.”
Paula laughed at her daughter’s typical response to being teased about boys. “Maybe we’ll send you to UCLA?”
“I’ll stick with my plans to go to Stanford, thank you very much.”
“Okay Hun. Ball’s in your court,” she said, mimicking her daughter’s comment from last night, which got a sneer from her. “I’m going outside to make a phone call. Be back in a minute.”
Paula went down the stairs and out the back door, leaving Angelina with Tammy in the living room. She flipped open her cell and called Officer Stanley’s number, which she had now saved to her phone.
Her tone changed immediately. “Mr. Stanley, good morning.”
“Hi Paula. How was your night?”
“Quite fine, thanks. I’m really appreciative of you giving us a place and all.” She got right to the point of the call. “Listen, I turned on the TV and saw a news bulletin about the incident in the park yesterday. How is this now being made worldwide public knowledge?”
“Yes, I heard it was on the news. I unfortunately have no control about how these things are reported to the press. There were questions already being asked last night by the media after all the activity and by law some answer has to be given. When I heard about it I called Detective Marley and made sure that as your daughter is a minor, her identity is not let out. But these incidents are made a matter of public record and there isn’t a lot we can do about that.”
Paula spoke with urgency in a hushed voice, “Officer Stan…Lee…Do you have any idea what’ll happen when my daughter’s story of how this incident went down — with that owl and all that — is let out?”
There was a pause on the line. “Yes, I’m aware of that.”
“Calling 9-11 in this city these days is like calling a TMZ hotline. There might as well be a direct connection between the two.”
“You’re right, Paula. As I said, your daughter is a minor so the details of her identity are protected and will not be released by the LAPD. I can assure you of that. Meanwhile, it is best for you both to lay low and let us complete this investigation and nab the a-hole behind this so you can get on with your life.”
“Okay, please update me on things like this as they happen. I’m afraid if I get any more surprises I’ll literally go into a psychotic break.”
“Right. I’ll keep you informed. You can count on it. Meanwhile, I’ll be home later in the afternoon. Neil should be back shortly and he has instructions from me to make sure there is enough food for dinner — whatever you two want to have.”
“Neil is here now. He’s a nice guy. We’ll take care of dinner.”
Paula reentered the house and went back upstairs. Angelina was perusing the large photo books under the coffee table, pulling out odd ones here and there and flipping through them. She sat next to her daughter and joined her. For all that happened yesterday, Angelina seemed surprisingly calm — at least a lot calmer than she was. They were looking at images from the Hubble telescope — neither sure what they were looking at — but admiring the beauty of it anyway.
Ten minutes later Neil came up the stairs, his hair tousled. He was wearing tan khakis, a blue tank top and Converse shoes. He was in excellent physical shape with broad shoulders, from years of sports and exercising. He saw them looking at the Hubble book and excitedly asked, “You both interested in astronomy?”
Mother and daughter exchanged glances, wondering how to answer the question. “I’ve been to the Griffith Observatory a few times and like the subject, but can’t say I’m that interested,” Angelina answered truthfully. “I see you’ve got quite a telescope so you must be really into it.”
Neil seated himself across from them, bendi
ng his elbows on his knees so he could see the book as well. “Yes, I am. I was in Arizona last couple days with some buddies at a star gazing event. Took some stunning photos of the Orion Nebula and can’t wait to show Dad.”
“Wow,” Angelina replied with no emotion — not at all tracking.
“So you were up all night in the dark watching the sky and then drove back here last night and got up early to go to baseball practice?” Paula asked.
“Yep.”
“Do you ever sleep?”
He let out a deep chuckle. “Sure, I sleep. But have you ever had it where you are so into something, sleep seems insignificant or secondary and you aren’t even tired?”
They exchanged glances again, nodding, but unsure.
“Anyway, I love baseball and I’m going to be trying out for the UCLA team in spring and I love astronomy and would trade a night’s sleep for a night under the stars any day of the week.”
“What are you majoring in at UCLA?” Paula asked.
“Not majoring yet. Just started my first semester a couple months ago. Taking basic courses, putting emphasis on physics. Plan to go into metaphysics and eventually do undergraduate studies at Caltech. Got a ways to go before I get there though.”
“Meta-what?” Angelina asked.
“Metaphysics: A branch of philosophy that studies the ultimate nature of reality. It comes from meta, meaning after, and physics, meaning the study of time, space and energy.” He nodded several times as he explained this to her with a smile.
Angelina’s last small bubble of hope that they would have some common ground went pop and she looked at him with a blank stare and open mouth. She gave her eyes a long blink and shook her head.
“That’s all right. Maybe I’ll explain it to you some other time,” he said. “Meanwhile, anyone here hungry? My Dad has ordered me to make sure you have plenty of food and that if you need anything we don’t have; I’m to go out and get it. So, what d’ya want?” He clapped his hands together.
“I’ll have a turkey sandwich,” Angelina said, getting up from her seat and glad to have something else to talk about that she could relate to.
“Sure thing.” Neil got up and headed to the kitchen.
“I can fix it myself, thanks,” Angelina said, giving him a look of disdain.
“Honey — we’re guests here. If he wants to do it, we’ll help him.”
Angelina resented being treated like a little girl by her mother in front of a boy and a scowl formed on her face.
“I’ll tell you what,” Neil said, picking up the thickening air, “since I know where everything is, I’ll bring out all the fixings and you guys can make it as you like, okay?”
“Sure,” Paula said and in a few minutes they were huddled around the kitchen table making sandwiches.
“You haven’t asked anything about us,” Paula commented lightly.
“Well, Dad told me you guys have had a rough past few days and not to ask you about it and really it’s none of my business, you know what I mean? He meets all kinds of people in his line of work and he so often goes out of his way to help them and I’m always willing to help him do it.”
She made eye contact with him. “That’s very kind of you, really.”
He nodded and gave her a modest shrug.
When they were near done eating their sandwiches, Angelina bolted up in her chair. “Virginia! Mom! I need to go see Virginia!”
Paula frowned. “Honey, I’m sure the bird is okay. Let’s take it easy today and we can find out from Officer Stanley what’s happening later.”
“No Mom! I need to see her today! Officer Stanley said she would be taken to the Glendale Avian Sanctuary.” She was pleading with utter urgency on her face.
“I’ll take you,” Neil volunteered with a shrug. “I’ve been there before. Who’s Virginia when she’s home anyway?”
“Virginia is an injured Great Horned Owl that my daughter found in the park yesterday,” Paula said.
“I didn’t find the owl, Mom.” She was about to correct her mother further when she realized it would open up a slew of new questions and now wasn’t the time. She quieted down, “I guess you could say I found it, but I need to go see it — today.” she gave her mother another pleading look.
“Okay. That would be nice of you Neil. I’m going to stay here and relax. Honey, they’ll probably not let you in wearing flip-flops. Go put on some shoes.” Angelina was heading for the stairs before she could finish her sentence.
Paula turned to Neil. “Young man, please be careful with my daughter. She has been through some stressful times in the past week and while she might not show it, I’m worried about her. And when you are out, please don’t listen to any news radio and don’t — whatever you do — let her out of your sight.”
“Sure,” he replied with a sincere nod, ignoring the thousand questions running through his head.