by Harper Lin
“You see, we need our cupcakes to look good in addition to tasting amazing. So if jeans hanging down around your knees and unlaced Timberlands looks good to you, I’m afraid you failed the test.”
“I didn’t really want this job, anyway,” the scruffy-looking young man said.
“That’s obvious,” Lila replied as she stood up, then she grabbed her folding chair and propped it against the truck before climbing back on board.
“Do you believe these people? I know we are just a food truck, but is it too much to ask that these people show up in nice jeans and a button-down shirt?”
“Apparently, it is.” Amelia sighed.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m better. Meg’s idea of cooking the first batch at home early this morning was a good one. So we aren’t rushing around, especially if we have any other interviewees coming by to disappoint us. Do we have any others?”
“Just a girl by the name of Beatrice Mooch.”
“Wow. Is that her real name or a stage name?”
“Real, I think.” Lila looked at the notes in her calendar book. “She’s supposed to be here in about half an hour. I thought we’d at least have some luck with the previous guy, but that was a crazy assumption on my end.”
Wednesday, business was more than crazy. Amelia didn’t mind. She was hoping the rush would make up for the two days the truck sat cold. The clouds overhead kept threatening with lightning and cracks of thunder. But just as they appeared to be splitting open with a downpour, they sailed by without releasing a drop. But it kept lots of people running to Food Truck Alley.
Amelia felt better when she was working. Had she stayed home one more day, she would have lost her mind. At least while she was working, the ovens kept her warm, moving her body helped open her sinuses, and she took her medicine every couple of hours, which kept the dripping and ooziness under control.
“Have you heard anything from John?” Lila asked.
“No. And that has me worried.” Amelia stroked the back of her neck, smoothing her hair down as she always did when she was anxious about something.
“No news is good news, I always say.”
“Excuse me.” A nasally voice came from below the order window. Amelia and Lila peered down to find a young woman in her twenties dressed in a black skirt with a white blouse buttoned all the way up to her neck.
“Yes?” Amelia replied.
“I’m looking for Lila Bergman. I have an interview scheduled. I’m slightly early, but I thought if there was any paperwork you needed filled out, I could get a jump on it.”
She had thick, round glasses, and her hair was a simple bob. In a word, she was a frump.
“I’m Lila. You must be Beatrice. I’ll be down in a minute.” Lila looked at Amelia with wide eyes. “This one looks serious.”
“Go easy on her,” Amelia whispered. It wasn’t polite to eavesdrop, so Amelia busied herself at the back of the truck. Just as she pulled out the latest batch of butterscotch cupcakes, her phone rang. It was Meg.
“Hi, honey. What’s up?”
“Mom! The school is on lockdown! They won’t let us leave the classrooms! I tried calling Adam, but he’s not answering! There are police all over outside!”
Suddenly, Amelia forgot where she was. She forgot about her cold, the cupcakes, the interviewee, everything.
“I’ll be right there, Meg. Just stay calm.”
“Mom, they’re telling us to get off our phones. They said we need to get ready to—”
The phone went dead.
Amelia switched to autopilot. Everything came into crystal-clear focus. She could hear the police-car sirens heading toward the school. It sounded as if every car in the city was on its way.
She grabbed her purse and ran to Lila.
“I need your car.”
“Sure. My God, Amelia. What’s wrong?”
“Meg called. The school is on lockdown.”
Nothing else needed to be said. Every adult in the country knew what it meant when a school went on lockdown. It meant that there were people there who wanted to hurt the kids.
Lila reached in her pocket and handed the keys over without saying another word.
“Are you a religious woman, Miss Mooch?” Lila asked as she watched Amelia speed away.
“I’m Lutheran,” Beatrice replied, wrinkling her nose while raising her chin.
“That will do.” Lila took her hand and bowed her head to pray.
Amelia didn’t see the traffic. If she’d had green lights the entire way or if she just drove straight through, causing a twenty-five-car pileup in her wake, she didn’t know. She didn’t care. When she’d gotten to the school, the police had closed the whole place with yellow tape and yellow barricades. No one could get close enough to the school to see any of the children.
While on autopilot, she parked the car on the grass in front of the school and got out with her cell phone in her hand. She dialed John’s number.
Washington West High School was not a big place. At most, they had a thousand students inside its walls at one time. The graduating class of that year was only one hundred seventy-nine students. There were a football field and track around the back. When you walked in the front doors, there was a trophy case that shone with trophies for basketball, football, wrestling, girls’ volleyball, the debate club, spelling bee championships, and even the chess club. Photos dating back to the school’s inception in 1961 lined the walls next to handmade posters for the upcoming sock hop, picture day in two weeks, cheerleading practice—“so don’t be late!”—drama-club tryouts for the upcoming production of Peter Pan, and the art club’s gallery showing of their work at The Edge Coffee House, located on Main Street.
Red lockers lined the hallways. Black and white tiles covered the floor like a checkerboard. Each classroom was set apart from other classrooms by the posters on the walls and books on the shelves. Pictures of Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charlotte Bronte were on the walls of the language arts classroom and Einstein, Tesla, and Thomas Edison the science room.
A visitor walking down the hallway on any given school day would hear the symphony of teachers lecturing, children talking, laughter, arguments, and the occasional stray child running to a locker for a forgotten book or heading to the bathroom. The deans would walk the halls, making sure everyone was where they were supposed to be and no child was unaccounted for.
But not today.
Today, the children were herded into classrooms, where the doors were locked. They were told to sit still, be quiet, and wait. Wait until they were told something.
Amelia was shaking as she put the phone up to her ear. Around her, more and more cars full of worried parents began to line up. All of the parents had phones to their ears as they looked for anyone who would tell them something.
When John finally answered, Amelia didn’t even notice his rudeness.
“Amelia, I told you that you’d be hearing from my lawyer.”
“John.” She began to cry. “I’m at the school. Meg called. The whole place is on lockdown. The police have it roped off. None of the parents can get through. I don’t know what’s happened. Meg called, but then her phone went dead.”
At first, Amelia didn’t hear anything.
“John? Are you there?”
“Stay calm, Amelia. It’s all right. I’ll be down there as quickly as I can.”
Amelia just nodded and hung up. She walked around the perimeter of the yellow tape, pacing back and forth with the other parents, who were getting more and more nervous by the minute. They had all been called by their children and were as worried as Amelia was.
Everything seemed to have frozen. People were moving and talking, but Amelia felt time had just stopped. She was stuck in this horrible in-between in which there was no news, no movement from the school, no one willing to give them any information. She wanted to scream.
Then, like a lighthouse to a lost ship, Amelia saw a familiar face.
D
etective Dan Walishovski pulled up in his unmarked police car. His face was grave. He walked up to the uniformed officers who were behind the barricade. They spoke and pointed toward different areas of the school.
Before Amelia had even realized it, she had run right up to the men and pushed her way between them.
“Dan?” It was the only word she could get out. Her eyes were filled with tears, and her lips trembled. She wasn’t even sure she could stay on her feet, but when he looked at her, the hardness melted away.
“Amelia. I didn’t have a chance to call you.” He slipped his arm around her shoulders and led her away from the blockade.
“Is it a shooter, Dan?” She clutched his shirt in a tight fist.
“I don’t know, honey.”
“No. Please.” The words burst from her with a rush of tears.
“I’ve got to go. I’ll let you know as soon as I know something.” Dan kissed her on top of the head.
Amelia felt nothing. She wouldn’t be able to leave until she saw the kids. She had to see them, hold them, hear their voices. There was no telling how long this was going to take, but Amelia knew she wasn’t going anywhere.
About ten minutes had passed when a tall, stern-looking giant wearing a suit and tie showed up and muscled his way through the sea of parents.
“Amelia!” John yelled.
She had been busy chewing her nails. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying. She walked to John almost in a trance. At this moment, she didn’t see him as her ex-husband. Amelia only saw Meg and Adam’s father. He stooped down and wrapped her in his arms, squeezing her tightly.
“What do we know?” he asked.
Amelia shrugged. “I asked Dan if it was a shooter, and he said he didn’t know. I’ve been watching the police, and no one has gone into the school, at least not from what I’ve seen. I can’t get either of the kids to answer their phones. John, what if—”
“You would have heard shots from inside the school, Amelia. You would have heard. If you haven’t heard anything and the police aren’t saying, well, that might be a good sign.”
“I hope you are right.” She folded her hands in front of her as she had been doing, kneading her fingers as she prayed.
“I’m going to go see if I can find anything out,” John said soothingly. “Maybe something has happened since Dan spoke to you last.”
Normally, Amelia would tell John to leave them alone and let the police do their jobs. He had the tendency to be rather abrasive with law enforcement due to the fact he worked in the law. But this time, Amelia couldn’t help but hope he rattled their cages. This wasn’t like waiting in traffic court. Her children, everyone’s children, were inside, and they couldn’t get to them.
She watched John go up to Dan, and the men shook hands cordially. John, as usual, did all the talking. Dan just shook his head. He muttered something back then patted John on the shoulder before shaking his hand again and returning to the group of uniformed police.
“What did he say?”
“Not a whole lot,” John grumbled. “I asked if this was a hostage situation, and he just said he couldn’t say anything for sure.”
Amelia knew that Dan would tell her what he knew if he could. After all, he had a job to do. She couldn’t expect him to risk people’s safety just for his girlfriend. But that didn’t change the fact that she wished he would.
“Finally.” John pointed. Dan was taking a megaphone from his car.
“Ladies and gentlemen, if I can have your attention.”
Everyone stopped what they were doing. Even the birds quit chirping. Not even a jet engine could be heard overhead.
“We are going to be leading the children out of the school. Please stay behind the tape. Your children are safe, and they will find you. But please, stay behind the yellow tape and let them come to you. Thank you.”
Just as Dan put the megaphone down, the front doors of the school opened up. Like a mass exodus, the children walked quickly and deliberately from the building as if they were practicing a fire drill.
Amelia’s eyes darted over every face until she finally saw Meg. She didn’t look hurt. Just confused and scared. When Meg saw her mother, she began to jog faster. When she finally crossed the yellow tape, she looked at her mom. She hadn’t realized Amelia had been crying. Seeing her mother that way made Meg start to cry.
“I can’t get Adam.” She sniffled.
“What?”
“I can’t get him to answer his phone. I asked if I could go to his classroom, but they wouldn’t let me.” She pointed to the kids still coming out of the school. “I couldn’t see him. I don’t know where he is.”
“I’m sure he’s all right, Meg,” John said soothingly, smoothing back Meg’s hair as she continued to hug Amelia. “In fact, I’ll go fetch him. I’ll bet he’s just bringing up the rear.”
With complete disregard for police orders, John walked underneath the yellow tape and headed toward the school.
“Sir!” several of the uniformed policemen called to John. When Dan looked, he held the officers back, nodding and pointing at John before quickly striding up to him. He took hold of John’s arm and pointed toward Amelia and Meg.
“My son is still in there. He won’t return our phone calls.”
“John, I understand you are worried, but you need to get back behind the tape. Your daughter needs you right now. Don’t make me arrest you in front of her.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Amelia could hear the conversation loud and clear. If she could hear it, Meg could hear it. And if she could, everyone standing around could. Why, why had she called John? He was never good in a family crisis.
There was a time when Adam was just a little boy and had a security stuffed animal. It was just a little plush snowman with a green hat that he slept with every night.
“No. Leave it in the car,” John had said as they unpacked the trunk for a picnic. “You’re just going to lose it if you take it with you.”
“Mama, I want green baby,” Adam pleaded.
“Okay, but don’t lose him,” Amelia said. Of course, he lost the little guy. When they packed up to go, the little snowman with the green hat was nowhere to be found.
All the way home, Adam cried pitifully for his friend that he was sure was waiting for him to come back and save him. Amelia cried because Adam was crying.
“I told you this would happen!” John spat. His eyes were completely dry. “You didn’t want to listen, so you got what you deserve!”
“John!” Amelia was furious. “He’s just a little boy! Don’t talk to him like that.”
“You aren’t any better! You should have listened! But you never do.”
“You’ve never lost anything, John? How come every day I have to help you find your reading glasses?”
“This isn’t about me. You had to have it your way. Now you both can live with the consequences.”
It was always more important for John to be right rather than compassionate. Of course, Amelia hadn’t learned her lesson that day. When she’d called John at work to tell him the principal had called when Meg was in sixth grade and having an issue with another girl, John scolded Amelia for disturbing him at work.
When Amelia had been playing with the neighbor’s dog, a friendly mutt she’d played with a dozen times before, and it had taken a nip at her hand, causing more blood than real damage, John exploded in anger.
“I told you it was going to happen sooner or later.”
Finally, Amelia had learned her lesson. John was not a pillar of stability she needed when there was a broken heart or broken skin. If she had waited one day and told him about the dog bite, he would have asked if she was okay. As with Meg’s incident. His first thought would have been “Is she okay?” not “Whose fault is it?”
The same situation was unfolding now. Amelia had no way of getting to Dan to explain the intricacies of her ex-husband’s mind. This one was just going to have to play itself out.
>
“John, this isn’t the time or place. You need to get behind that yellow tape, or I will arrest you.”
John clenched his teeth but did as he was told. All eyes were on him and then Meg and Amelia as people wondered who the jerk in the suit was and why he thought he could just go marching in while everyone else had to wait.
“Mom?” Meg whispered. “There’s Adam.”
Amelia let out a huge sigh of relief. John was furious.
“What took you so long?” he barked at the boy before he was at the yellow tape.
Adam stopped and looked at his father.
“Is this a game? Does this look like a game to you?”
“Adam, are you all right?” Amelia was near hysterics. She couldn’t believe the scene her ex-husband was making. All she wanted was to take hold of her son, hug him, and take him home, but John was standing between them.
Adam didn’t say anything. He just stopped and looked at his father.
“Adam.” Amelia pushed John aside, still holding Meg’s hand. “Are you all right, honey?”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “I’m okay.”
“I’m sorry, Adam,” John choked out. “I was just worried.”
Adam didn’t say anything to his father. He also didn’t hug his mother as Meg did. He got in the back seat of Lila’s car and waited.
“John? Do you want to come by the house? I could put on some coffee,” Amelia offered, but she was sure the tone of her voice was anything but inviting.
“No. No, I’ve got to get back to work. The kids are okay. I’ll see them this weekend.” He cleared his throat. “Amelia, I just want you to remember this when you consider what’s best for the kids.”
He stomped off without even looking back or saying goodbye to his children. As John was leaving, Dan quickly approached.
When he got closer, it felt as if both kids were able to relax. John didn’t have to worry. Amelia would most definitely remember this when she considered what was best for her kids.