Painless

by Derek Ciccone

  “I could really go for some mac-cheese,” Carolyn said.

  Barbara turned misty. “Your mother used to always come over my house and say the same thing. My granddaughter, Claudia, is coming over. She’s about your age and likes macaroni and cheese also.”

  “Can I meet her?”

  “You sure can, and my son, Richard, would also be very interested in seeing you. You see, Richard and Nathan Pennington were best friends.”

  Minutes later, they were standing in the kitchen of the Kiely’s split-level colonial. The interior looked brand new, which Ken explained was the result of a recent renovation. Barbara finally got the color back in her face as she began to boil water for the macaroni.

  Dana walked to a sign that read, Welcome to Ken and Barbie’s Kitchen. “Ken and Barbie—I like that. Aren’t you the sickening cute couple.”

  The Ken and Barbie reference triggered Carolyn, “Aunt Dana, I need to give my Barbies a bath. Maybe we should go home so I can do that?”

  She definitely was homesick.

  “In a few days, Carolyn.”

  She sighed. “I just can’t get a break.”

  They moved into a modern-looking living room. A local news program was playing in the background on a fifty-inch, high definition shrine that anchored the room. Dana wandered toward photos hanging on the wall. “Is this your son?” she asked, pointing to a pale, blond man around thirty with a milk-stained mustache. With him was a young girl with wild blonde hair, who appeared to be about Carolyn’s age.

  “That’s my Richard and his daughter, Claudia. They live in Troy, about twenty minutes from here,” Barbara said proudly. Her tone then turned sour when she mentioned that Richard was raising Claudia alone after her mother ran off to California with another man.

  Billy had seen that play before, but he didn’t have time to bond in misery. He needed answers fast. “You said Richard and Nathan Pennington were friends?”

  Barbara answered, “Nathan was disfigured. All the older children in the neighborhood used to tease him and call him E.T.,” she paused, lost in a sad moment from the past, before adding, “Kids can be so mean. He was such a sad child, used to stare out a window in the Pennington’s house, watching the children ride bikes or play kick-the-can, or whatever they did back then. That was back when children actually played together outdoors and not sit in a dark room playing with their video games.”

  Ken interjected, “I know it sounds self-serving, but I was so proud of Richard for befriending Nathan. The Pennington kids became regulars over here. The other kids in the neighborhood turned on Richard, but they didn’t know any better, they were taught that garbage at home. Some of the parents actually started rumors that Nathan had AIDS.”

  “And that Beth,” Barbara said, a smile escaping her lips. “She was such a little stinker. I can’t believe little Beth has a child of her own.”

  “What did you believe happened to her?” Billy asked.

  “The last we saw of them they’d traveled to Manhattan to see a specialist for Nathan’s condition. They took almost nothing when they left, so we were surprised when they didn’t return. We didn’t know what to think, but we knew they were under a lot of stress the last few weeks before they left, and their personalities changed,” Barbara said.

  “How so?” Billy asked.

  “Like they were scared of something,” Ken said. “We tried to reach out to them, but it was like they didn’t trust anyone.”

  “After their disappearance, we were interviewed by the FBI. Their theory was that the Penningtons sold little Beth to the black market to make money to pay Nathan’s bills. Then when their scheme was discovered, they ran to Canada,” Barbara recalled. “We were skeptical, to say the least. But we never saw them again, so we really didn’t know what to think.”

  Ken sensed something was up. “We do know they were running from something, and I get the feeling you know who it was.”

  Billy didn’t want to reveal the details, but they were out of options, and badly needed an ally. So he recounted the parts of the story he’d pieced together so far about a covert organization called Operation Anesthesia that kidnapped and cultivated children with a rare genetic disorder called CIPA, turning them into a Special Ops fighting force. Dana had taken Carolyn to the bathroom, which allowed Billy to freely tell the tale of deceit, including shootouts at both the cabin and the train station in Schenectady. He detailed the story right up to when they took a seat on the curb in front of the Pennington’s old home.

  Ken and Barbie looked stunned, and couldn’t help but to stare at Carolyn upon her return to the room. “You are telling me that she can’t feel pain?” Ken asked. Based on his expression, Billy might as well have told him that she was an alien.

  Carolyn sighed apathetically, and then like Mick Jagger being forced to sing “Satisfaction” for the gazillion-and-first time, she said, “I can’t feel my boo-boos.”

  “It makes sense,” Ken said, which surprised Billy. He thought he might be forced to put Carolyn’s hand in the boiling water on the stove to make his point, or perform a demonstration in which she dropped heavy objects on herself.

  “I remember that the burns on Nathan’s face were the result of sticking his head into a burning fireplace,” Barbara picked up for her husband. “He was only two at the time. Carol Ann said Nathan stuck, and left, his head in the fire because he thought it was ‘pretty.’ We always thought he had some problem with self-mutilation, or some inner-demon worthy of an exorcist. He would do these horrible things like biting off his tongue.”

  Carolyn stuck out her own tongue, which still had visible stitches. Barbara looked horror-struck. Billy couldn’t tell if she saw Carolyn’s tongue or Nathan’s from twenty years ago. But then all thoughts returned to the present.

  The front door opened and voices echoed throughout the house.

  Chapter 64

  “Mom—Dad—we’re here,” shouted the male voice. A young girl’s voice followed in echo.

  It was Ken and Barbara’s son and granddaughter.

  Their son, Richard, burst into the living room half into a sentence, “Sorry it took us so long, but there’s a kidnapper on the loose, if you can believe that. Some lunatic named Harper, or something like that. There are roadblocks everywhere.”

  Billy’s heart sank. Part of him knew it was a matter of time before the investigation revealed that it wasn’t him and Carolyn in that fire, and would declare her “missing.” And when her parents also turned up missing, suspicion would logically turn to her babysitter. Billy knew he could’ve been spotted with Carolyn anywhere from Montreal to Schenectady. And they had been careless since arriving in the area. They could have been identified by the caretaker from the elderly Steve Pennington’s house, or perhaps it was the reason Martin suddenly bolted. Maybe it was the delivery boy from last night, the clerk at CVS, or the guy working the front desk at the motel. The possibilities were endless, and not even worth pondering right now.

  Richard looked at the unmentioned visitors with surprise. His blond hair was poofier than the picture, and his mustache was furrier. He had large, tanned forearms, and wore a short sleeve golf shirt despite the cool October temps.

  “Honey, I’d like you to meet Billy Harper, Dana Boulanger, and Carolyn Whitcomb,” Barbara said.

  His pale face reddened with trepidation. “What’s going on here?”

  “I met these people while your father and I were out walking this morning. I invited them in for some…”

  “Mac-cheese,” Carolyn butted in excitedly.

  Claudia locked eyes on Carolyn and they traded excited looks. “We are going get to eat mac-cheese?”

  Richard ignored the children. “Mom, the police are looking for these people. They said they are armed and dangerous. They’re fugitives!”

  “I think you should talk to them,” Barbara said.

  “What could a kidnapper and I have to talk about? Are they threatening you?”

  Billy pointed toward
Carolyn. “This is Carolyn Whitcomb. Her mother is Beth Whitcomb. But her original name is Beth Pennington. You know, Nathan’s little sister.”

  He appeared disoriented. “What is this?”

  “He’s telling the truth,” Ken said.

  “They are running from the law. They will say anything not to get caught.”

  Billy jumped in, providing the Cliff Notes version of the story, including why the police believed he had kidnapped Carolyn. It sounded crazier each time he told it, but it contained some undeniable facts, such as the photos and letters from the Evelyn package.

  Richard turned to his daughter. “Claud, why don’t you and Carolyn go with Grandma and eat some of that macaroni and cheese.”

  They gaily left together, shadowing Barbara into the kitchen.

  “So you think Nathan might be alive?” he asked, his tone said they had piqued his interest. But the cynical twitch of his mustache indicated the sales pitch wasn’t complete.

  “We aren’t sure, Richard,” Dana said.

  “Call me Rich.”

  Less formality was a good sign. Billy continued, “We don’t know, Rich, but we know we have to get to North Carolina to get answers from the Dr. Jordan I mentioned.”

  “We do know that Beth is in trouble,” Dana added.

  His face traveled back into history. “That was so many years ago. I always wondered what happened to them. Beth used to tattle on Nate and me all the time. I can still hear her whiny voice, ‘Mrs. Kiely—Richard and Nathan are pulling my hair!’ She was a stickler for the rules,” he said with a reminiscing smile.

  “That sounds like Beth,” Dana said, joining him in a smile.

  “Did Nathan ever try to contact you?” Billy asked.

  “I haven’t heard from him since they left. God, what were we, like, nine?”

  “How about the FBI—an agent named Hasenfus?” Dana asked.

  “Just when they interviewed my parents. But like I said, I was just a kid. I don’t remember the guy’s name.”

  The television seemed to pick up volume without anyone touching it. Photos of Billy and Carolyn plastered on the screen, accompanied by unflattering terms like kidnapping, armed and dangerous, and history of violence. Roadblocks were everywhere. They had been spotted just blocks away on Rockland Drive.

  Sirens screeched through the walls. Helicopters could be heard above the house. They were trapped!

  And the deflating part was that the kidnapping charges were the lesser of the evils. Billy knew if the authorities took him into custody, then Operation Anesthesia would have a free shot at Carolyn. With her parents captured, he and Dana were her last line of defense.

  Rich Kiely seemed to be grappling about what to do. Nathan was from a different life, a long time ago, and he had Claudia to think about.

  “She really can’t feel anything?” he asked. It was like the jury asking for some transcript before they render their verdict. What did it mean?

  “Yes.”

  “And you think Nathan had the same thing?”

  “Yes.”

  He nodded. “It makes sense now.”

  “We don’t have much time,” Billy urged.

  “What can we do to help?” Rich pledged his support, following an obvious internal struggle. “Nathan deserved better in this world. And I know how hard it is to raise a child without a mother. I want Carolyn to have her mother.”

  Support was great, but they had to get out of the area, and fast. But how? Carolyn and Claudia returned, appearing spooked by the nervous energy of the adults. Kids could read that scent like a shark sniffing blood.

  Billy moved toward a front window and strategically slid the curtain just enough to stealthily peek out. He noticed a police car drive by and jerked his head back to safety. But then like magic, he morphed into the calm quarterback. He would be the leader, and needed to transform his calm to the others.

  Upon another glance out the window, he noticed a group of children around Carolyn’s age, who were huddled by the sidewalk. Billy called Barbara to the window and inquired about them.

  Barbara followed his lead. “Those children are waiting for the bus to take them to afternoon kindergarten.”

  Billy suddenly had a plan. But he needed to know where a few things were located in Schenectady. Ken retrieved an area map and laid it out on the kitchen table. Billy found a highlighter pen and began marking points.

  In a division playoff game during Billy’s senior year of high school, their opponent scored with only six seconds left in the game to take the lead. It was a death sentence—they had no chance—all Altoona had to do was kickoff and the game would be over. Coach, as he always did, was able to put their predicament into philosophical eloquence. “Boys—you fought a good fight, but sometimes in life you find yourself in a position when you are royally screwed. So if you are getting screwed, you might as well relax and enjoy it.”

  Coach then called a trick play called the “muddle huddle.” On the kickoff, all of the Johnstown players ran to their own player who’d received the ball on the kickoff, like they were going to tackle him. They surrounded him, playing possum, waiting for the other team to run to tackle them and end the game. “Why don’t you run?” the fans yelled.

  But just as the opposing team arrived at what looked like a team that was giving up, all eleven players broke in different directions like a jailbreak—it was chaos. And by the time they realized that Billy Harper was streaking down the sidelines with the ball in his hands, it was too late. He galloped untouched to the end zone and Johnstown had rescued victory from the jaws of defeat. The Trojan Horse had nothing on the muddle huddle.

  Billy took one more look out the window and then gathered everyone in the living room. He talked over the sirens.

  “Folks—we are about to run the muddle huddle.”

  Chapter 65

  Dana held Carolyn’s hand as they stood waiting at the bus stop, mingling among five other rambunctious kindergartners. The story was that Barbara’s son and daughter-in-law, Nadia—being played by the actress named Dana—had just moved back in with them due to the recession and this was the first day at a new school for their daughter, Claudia.

  The actress-in-training, Carolyn, seemed to be enjoying the role-playing. She was playing the lead role of Claudia in the off-Broadway performance of “The Muddle Huddle.” She was also excited about returning to school—even if she was a little apprehensive about going to a new one. Will Ms. Stevens be my teacher? Are we gonna get to color? I really like to color. Will I get a water bottle like at my old school? Dana did have to remind her that while she was four years old, she would be five on the kindergarten bus. The irony was like an anvil to the head.

  Barbara continued chatting with the group of mothers. Some talked about the crazed kidnapper spotted in the area. “Those are things that happen in other people’s neighborhoods,” said a mother in curlers. “I figured school would be the safest place for my Lucy to be,” added a young Asian woman who was bundled in a heavy overcoat. They all agreed with the notion, and another mother mentioned that the mayor was just on the news and he encouraged families send their children to school, since it would be the last place a wanted fugitive would go.

  When Billy was formulating this plan, Barbara had explained that they never could have pulled this off a few years ago. Everybody in the neighborhood knew each other back then. Everybody knew each other’s kids. But that was a generation ago. The Kielys were now tops in seniority within the neighborhood, and had little connection with any family outside of the Garcias. All those they’d once been close to had moved away.

  The school bus eased to a stop in front of the curb. Dana turned emotional, playing the role of a mother sending her child off to school for the first time, always a tearjerker. But her emotions were real, she wasn’t that good of an actress. The other mothers looked at her like they were remembering the time they sent their own children off for the first time. They understood.

  “You be a good li
ttle girl,” Dana said.

  “I promise, no Dracula jokes.”

  Dana couldn’t help but smile at her. But it was short-lived, as an image shot into her mind of Beth splitting from her family. They hadn’t been seen since. But Dana knew this was the only way. The police would be looking for a man and a little girl. There was only one place she would blend into the woodwork—among a group of other children her age.

  “You know how much we love you, right…Claudia?”

  Carolyn smiled mischievously. “Yes…Mom.”

  Barbara then seamlessly played the role of the comforting grandmother, putting her arm around Dana as they watched Carolyn board the bus, the real Claudia’s Hannah Montana lunchbox swinging at her side. Carolyn wore an autumn sweater, a plaid skirt with white stockings, and a shiny black pair of Mary Janes on her feet. Her hair was combed straight, without her usual bangs.

  Dana wasn’t sure how they’d been spotted, whether it was Martin reporting them, or some random passerby. But regardless, they were now going to try to twist it to their advantage. Billy knew they would be looking for a little girl in a green and yellow Siena sweatshirt with double ponytails flowing off the sides of her head like a fountain. One of the few advantages in their favor was that nobody would suspect such an impromptu wardrobe change. To get clothes, they would have to buy them or steal them. But they didn’t count on Claudia Kiely keeping clothing and other items like lunchboxes at her grandparents’ house. And as luck would have it, she happened to be a similar size as Carolyn.

  But then another surprise happened. A uniformed man got off the bus. He appeared to be a security guard and Dana’s heart somersaulted. Her paranoid eyes caught a glimpse of a gun in his waistband—he was armed.

  “I just want to assure you that the Schenectady school district is taking all precautions to keep your children safe with this kidnapper on the loose. Security, like myself, will be on all buses, just as we will when your children return home,” he announced.