Running Stitches

by Carol Dean Jones

  Sarah studied the contents of her closet, wondering what one should wear to a hula hoop class and deciding on light weight crop pants and a matching tee-shirt. She looked at herself in the mirror and was pleased to see that the outfit looked attractive on her. She checked her hair and applied a touch of lip gloss. “I’m actually primping,” she told herself with an embarrassed giggle. “I’m acting like a young girl. It must be love.”

  Sarah had been in somewhat of a daze since Charles left. She wondered why she had been so reluctant to allow herself to acknowledge how she felt about him. He was a wonderful man, sensitive and kind and certainly in love with her. She looked forward to their date on Saturday. He had invited her to go into Hamilton to dinner and a show. He ordered tickets to a musical that he thought Sarah would enjoy. She knew he wasn’t a musical kind of guy and was doing this to please her. Just one of the many things that makes him so special.

  “Barney, where’s that new squeaky toy I bought for you? I haven’t seen it all week.” Barney looked at her with puzzlement. “I’ll try to find it when I get home,” she promised.

  Seeing that it was approaching time to leave, Sarah slipped a light cotton sweater over her shoulders, took one last glance in the mirror, and left the house. Half way down the walk, she turned around and checked the lock. “I guess his warnings are getting to me,” she muttered to herself with a smile.

  The instructor helped the class pick out their hula hoops. Sarah was surprised to see they weren’t the ones she had seen years before, but much larger and heavier. “These are for exercise and weight loss,” the instructor explained, “and much easier to use than the smaller ones.” She then demonstrated how to move and where to place the hoop in order to get it going.

  Sarah and Sophie stood in the back of the class, held their hoops in place, and began the swaying movement. Clank. Both hoops hit the floor. Sarah picked hers up but Sophie couldn’t reach the floor, so Sarah picked hers up as well. For the first fifteen minutes, they repeated these same steps over and over; they placed the hoop at the small of their back, swayed to and fro, watched the hoop slide down their body to the floor, and bent to pick it up.

  “I see how this is great exercise,” Sarah said as she rose up from the floor with Sophie’s hoop the umpteenth time. “I haven’t bent this much in years.”

  There was a sudden shriek from the front of the room as a very rotund woman lost her balance, falling over backwards. She fell into the man behind her who tried to catch her, but being very frail himself, he began falling too. The woman in the third row tried to move quickly out of the way, but her hoop was around her ankles at the time and she fell to the left into a well-built man in his sixties who was able to catch her and prop her back up. He then helped the other two get to their feet.

  All three of the participants who lost their balance moved cautiously to the chairs lined up along the wall and sat.

  “Bring me one of those chairs,” Sophie requested. “I’m ready to join the sitters.”

  “You can sit down, but I’m going to master this if it kills me!” Sarah said with determination. Fifteen minutes later Sarah was swaying and the hoop was spinning. As the hoop started to descend, the instructor called to her, “Sarah, stoop down and keep swaying. You can catch it.” Sarah stooped, still swaying, and the hoop was again at her waist. “Yippee!” she shouted with a laugh.

  As she continued to spin the hoop, Sarah noticed Sophie shuffling toward the door. A few minutes later she shuffled back with a cup of cocoa and a Twinkie from the snack bar. The whipped cream was piled high in the cup, and with her first sip it became Sophie’s mustache. Sophie gave Sarah a mischievous smile. “You were right, Sarah. This is fun!”

  Since all the participants were older folks, there was a wide variation in ability to do the hooping. The young slender instructor made it look easy, but by the end of the class only four students were left standing. Sarah was certainly the star of the class. She was also a few years younger than most of the others.

  “We’ll see you next week,” the instructor called to Sarah as she was placing her hoop back on the rack.

  “For sure!” Sarah responded. “That was a fun workout.”

  “We need lunch,” Sophie said as they were leaving the center. “Since we have your car, let’s drive over to Barney’s Bar and Grill. It’s Reuben day!”

  Sarah sighed deeply before she answered. She didn’t want to lecture Sophie, not that it would do any good anyway. Sophie was set in her ways. Sarah knew Sophie would feel better if she were to exercise and eat healthier, but it was up to Sophie, not to her. “Okay,” Sarah responded. “Shall we stop and get Charles?”

  “Good idea,” Sophie responded enthusiastically. “I have some questions for him about his intentions.”

  Sarah hesitated, not knowing what Sophie was up to. Sophie had been dancing around the subject since she saw them on the porch the night before. Charles had spent the early evening with her on the porch swing. She had to admit, they behaved like teenagers, talking, giggling, and occasionally sharing a kiss. Sarah didn’t want Sophie blindsiding Charles with embarrassing questions.

  “Let’s keep this luncheon private, just you and me,” Sarah suggested.

  “Um hum,” Sophie responded, nodding her head with a knowing smile.

  * * *

  After lunch, they stopped at Stitches. Sarah wanted to see how Ruth was after her visit with her sister. Ruth and Katie were rushing around the shop, apparently rearranging everything in the store. “What’s going on here?” Sarah asked.

  “We’re having guests!” Ruth announced with a proud smile. “My sister, Anna, and her husband Geoff, are coming to stay with us for a few days.” Ruth was so excited she couldn’t settle down to talk to her visitors, but kept moving bolts from one shelf to another. “What do you think of this area?” she asked, pointing to a new display.

  “Oh, Ruth! This is wonderful,” Sarah praised. Ruth explained that it was Katie’s idea. They’d picked up an inexpensive crib at a yard sale, lowered one side for easy access, and hung baby quilts on the three remaining sides. They then filled the crib with bolts of colorful baby fabric, a couple of pattern books, and a few soft cuddly toys to finish it off. “It’s just adorable,” Sarah exclaimed clapping her hands with approval.

  “I know Anna will especially love it. They’re expecting their first child.” Ruth beamed as she slid one of the baby quilts over a couple of inches. “I’m going to have her choose fabric and Katie and I’ll make the baby’s first quilt.” Ruth couldn’t contain her excitement. Sarah knew how happy Ruth was to be have made a connection with her family.

  “Well, Ruth, the shop is looking wonderful. When are they coming?”

  “They’ll be here Friday afternoon and stay through the weekend. Can you come to the Friday night quilt group? It’s been several weeks since you’ve come and we all miss you. Geoff promised to get here in time for Anna to come to the meeting too. I want everyone to meet her.”

  “I will absolutely be here!” She made a mental note to invite Amanda again, although she was probably still too busy.

  Sarah purchased some thread and a package of needles and the two women left the shop. After dropping Sophie off, Sarah pulled into her driveway. The blinds on the living room window shot apart and Barney’s big head appeared between the slats. “Woof,” he said with joy.

  Upon entering the house, Sarah scratched Barney’s ear quickly, and immediately turned to the answering machine to check for messages. “I’m acting like a teenager who’s waiting for her boyfriend to call,” she said to Barney with an exasperated smile.

  Barney smiled back and wagged his tail. The two friends headed for the back door. “Let’s go find that squeaky toy,” Sarah said.

  Chapter 28

  The shop was very festive when Sarah and Amanda arrived. There was music playing and helium balloons of all colors were drifting around the room. The shop was closed to the public and refreshments had been spread out on the t
ables in the classroom area. “Is it always so cheerful here? I feel like I’ve crashed someone’s party.” The young woman speaking appeared to be in her early twenties and there was no question who she was. The family resemblance was astonishing.

  “Sarah! Come meet Anna.” It was Ruth’s voice but Sarah didn’t see her. Suddenly Ruth rose from behind a counter with a basket of fat quarters which had, apparently, been knocked over. Ruth moved to the young woman’s side and guided her to meet Sarah. “Sarah,” Ruth said overflowing with pride. “I want you to meet my sister. Anna, this is my friend, Sarah.”

  “Ruth has been talking about you all week, Anna, and I’m so happy to meet you. And I agree that this looks more like a party than a quilt meeting. What’s going on?” Sarah asked.

  “I’ll let Ruth tell you,” Anna said, turning to her sister.

  “Well, where shall I begin?” Ruth said, out of breath. “It’s all so exciting. First of all, let me tell you about Geoff. That’s Geoff over there talking to Charles…”

  “Wait a minute,” Sarah interrupted. “What’s Charles doing here?”

  “Oh. Let me back up. When we decided to make this a celebration, I called you right away to ask you to bring Charles along, but you’d already left. So I just called Charles directly. I hope you don’t mind,” Ruth added, somewhat apologetically.

  “Of course not. I’m glad he’s here.” Sarah responded. “So, back to the story. What’re we celebrating?”

  “Okay. Geoff is a computer programmer. He asked to see my website and was astonished that I didn’t have one. Actually, I never even thought about it. Anyway, he’s offered to set it up for me, but the exciting thing is that he suggested I also have an online store!”

  “What a great idea and that’ll be great for business, but won’t it be lots of extra work?”

  “Now we’re getting to the very exciting part,” Ruth added, barely able to contain herself. “Geoff works from home and it doesn’t matter where he lives. They’re going to move here so he can help me with the computer end of it and Anna can work in the shop.”

  “Oh, Ruth! That’s wonderful! You and Katie will have a family operation. How exciting,” she exclaimed.

  “And a month ago, we didn’t even have a family!” Ruth was ecstatic. The two women hugged and walked over to where Geoff and Charles were standing.

  “Hi, Babe,” Charles greeted.

  “Babe?” Sarah responded with a grin. “Babe?” They both laughed and he gave her a friendly peck on the cheek.

  “We’re going to move this crib to the corner back there,” Ruth explained, pointing to the patterns and thread section, “and set up a nursery here in the shop for the new baby!”

  “That’ll be wonderful!” Sarah responded, looking at the excitement on the faces of the new parents-to-be and the soon-to-be Aunty Ruth.

  Amanda had been standing to the side somewhat lost in all the commotion. When Sarah noticed, she rushed over to pull her into the group. About that time, the members of the Friday night group arrived and were quickly caught up on the evening’s happenings. Someone suggested pulling the folding chairs out into the open spaces. They couldn’t form their usual circle, but what they did form worked just fine.

  “Let’s do show and tell while the guys are still here,” Sarah suggested. Geoffrey and Charles had decided to walk over to Barney’s Bar & Grill for a few drinks and to catch up on the game they were missing.

  “How about you just fill us in when we get back,” Charles said as they headed for the door. Sarah shot him a look but they both knew she was teasing.

  * * *

  “Hello?” Sarah said, eagerly answering her phone later that evening. Caller ID indicated it was a New York call, and she hoped it was news about Caitlyn.

  “Hello, Mrs. Miller. This is Stephanie Harris, Britney’s mother. I wanted to let you know that Caitlyn called here.”

  The previous week after getting Britney’s cell phone number from Danielle, Sarah had called and spoken briefly with Britney. She then asked to speak with her mother and learned that the father had been transferred to the New York office, and that the family was living on Long Island. Unfortunately, they hadn’t heard from Caitlyn, and neither Britney nor her mother had any idea where Caitlyn might go. They didn’t know of any relatives other than the parents, and the only friends Britney knew of were the ones at her school and the police had already spoken with them. Sarah had thanked them both and gave them her home and cell numbers, requesting that they call her right away if they heard from Caitlyn.

  Sarah was ecstatic to receive the call from Mrs. Harris. “I’m so glad you called! Did she tell you where she is?”

  “She told Britney she would rather not say where she was but from a couple of things she said, Britney felt she was somewhere in Hamilton. Caitlyn asked if she could come stay with us for a while.”

  “What did you say?” Sarah asked.

  “I didn’t talk to her. I was out when she called. Britney told her she would ask me and we’d call her back. Caitlyn gave Brit a cell phone number to call. I talked to my husband and we decided to tell Caitlyn we’d send her money, and we’d let you know so you could decide what to do next.”

  “And…?”

  “Well, when Britney called her back, a man answered. He didn’t know anyone named Caitlyn, and he claimed that he found the phone in a trash can.”

  “Did he say where he was?”

  “Britney didn’t think to ask.”

  “Okay. This is helpful. Give me the cell phone number, and I’ll give it to a friend I have with the police department. They might be able to track it. Thank you so much, Mrs. Harris, and please let me know if she calls again. In fact, if she calls, go ahead and make arrangements with her to wire the money. Let me know right away where and when she’ll be picking it up.”

  “Okay.” Stephanie Harris responded. “I’m just so worried about her. If you find her, please keep her away from that terrible man she was living with. She can come live here with us if she wants, but that man is a cruel drunk and shouldn’t be around children.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Harris. I appreciate all your help.”

  Sarah called Amanda right away and caught her up on what had happened with the phone calls. Amanda said she would pass the cell number and the information on to Hamilton. But before doing that, she dialed the number herself.

  “Hello?” a man’s voice answered.

  “Hello. This is Officer Holmes calling to…”

  (click)

  “Damn, I messed up,” Amanda muttered. The man had freaked and hung up. She called Hamilton Missing Persons and gave them the cell number and confessed what she had done. “

  “Don’t worry about it,” the detective said. “We’ll keep trying. He’ll turn it back on eventually. We should be able to at least find out what city the cell phone is in when he does.”

  Amanda got into her squad car and headed home. She wondered if they would ever see Caitlyn again.

  Chapter 29

  Caitlyn wondered about Mattie’s pills. In Middletown, Mattie had been going to the hospital clinic several times a week to get her medications. Caitlyn asked her where she would get them in Hamilton, but Mattie was evasive. When Caitlyn brought it up again a few days later, Mattie got agitated and said, “I don’t need crazy pills anymore. Stop talking about it.”

  Caitlyn didn’t bring it up again, but she thought Mattie was changing. She had been kind at first, but she was beginning to snap at Caitlyn. Once she didn’t seem to know who Caitlyn was. “Get away from me,” she had snarled.

  One morning when Caitlyn woke up in the shelter, she saw that Mattie’s bed was empty. She got up and looked around but couldn’t find her. Mattie’s cart was gone as well. As Caitlyn was coming out of the washroom, a counselor called to her, “Susan.” Caitlyn didn’t respond at first, forgetting that was the name she and Mattie had decided for her to use. “Susan?” the person repeated.

  Caitlyn turned and said, “I’m sorr
y. I didn’t hear you. What?”

  “I just wondered if you’re okay,” the shelter counselor said.

  “Of course,” Caitlyn responded with a smile not wanting to attract any attention. “I was just looking for my grandma.”

  “She left a while ago, Susan. Didn’t she tell you she was leaving?”

  “Oh yeah,” Caitlyn responded. “I forgot.” She grabbed her backpack and strolled out of the shelter.

  * * *

  Sarah was coming home from the grocery with bags in both arms. She had trouble unlocking the door and dreaded the minute Barney rushed to greet her, fearing she would drop one of the bags. And, of course, it will be the bag with the eggs!

  To her surprise, Barney didn’t meet her at the door. She went through the living room into the kitchen and placed the bags on the counter top. “Barney,” she called. “I’m home.” There was no response. “Barney?” Sarah was getting worried. “Where are you, Barney?”

  Sarah walked past her room and, not seeing him in his bed, she continued back to the sewing room. Barney wasn’t there. Beginning to get worried, Sarah called again, this time with a bit of desperation in her voice. “Barney, where are you?” She went into her bedroom where, not only was his bed empty, but so was his toy box. Looking down she thought she saw the dust ruffle move. “Barney?” she said hopefully. “Is that you?”

  A nose protruded between the folds of the dust ruffle but no eyes. Sarah bent down and lifted the ruffle, and there was Barney lying flat on the floor. “Come on out, fellow. What’s the matter?” Barney slowly scooted on his stomach and moved to the corner of the room. His tail was down and his head drooped. He looked at Sarah with the most forlorn look she had ever seen. “Poor fellow,” she said, “What’s the matter?” she moved to comfort him. He curled up and turned his head toward the corner.

  Looking back toward the bed, Sarah noticed the corner of a yellow toy sticking out from under the bed. “There’s one of your lost toys, Barney. Have you been taking them under the bed?” She got down on her hands and knees and lifted the dust ruffle. There were about a dozen toys scattered around under the bed. In the far corner, she spotted one of her favorite night gowns. She hadn’t noticed it was missing. The bed was against the wall so, rather than move the bed, she got a broom to coax it out. As the gown moved, she saw something behind it wadded up with a deep indentation in the shape of Barney’s curled up body.