| |
Nora
A uniformed officer carried a large paper cup of coffee through the front door of the police station, and Nora’s mouth watered.
She’d been waiting a long time, and Doris continued to ignore her, so she stepped toward the officer to ask him for help, but at the last second, she grew intimidated and stopped.
Be brave, she told herself. He’s just a man like any other. But then it was too late. He was already gone. She wanted to smack herself. She didn’t have time to be intimidated. The truth was, she was a little scared of the police. They’d come around more than a few times when Levi’s father had still been living at home. She winced at the memories: the blinding blue lights filling up the whole neighborhood; the deep male voices hollering into the house, trying to get Brian to come out; the gazillion questions they drilled her with when they couldn’t find Brian. The logical part of her brain knew that the police were the good guys, but they hadn’t felt like good guys back then. She shook her head to jerk herself back to the present.
The next time an officer walked in, she promised herself that she would stop him. She would swallow her fear and her pride and grab the man—or woman’s—arm. Suddenly, she madly wished for a female cop. Surely, a woman would understand. Then she looked at Doris. Maybe not. She started pacing again, not getting far from the door so that she’d be ready when another officer walked in.
Except that one never did. She paced and paced, got tired and sat down, couldn’t sit still, and got up to pace again. She looked at her phone seventy-five times and finally an hour had gone by. Her frustration morphed into anger, and she approached the counter. “Excuse me.”
Doris didn’t look up.
“Do you know when I might be able to speak to a police officer?”
Still not looking up: “The officer who deals with these issues isn’t in right now.”
Nora’s temperature climbed. “Can you call him? Ask him to come in? Or maybe I could just talk to him over the—”
Doris finally made eye contact so that she could interrupt her more efficiently. “He’s busy with something else. I’m not going to bother him right this second.”
A lump swelled in Nora’s throat. She tried to speak past it, and the squeaky weakness in her voice made her ashamed. “I know my son, and I’m telling you, he’s in trouble. He needs help. Please. Help me.”
Doris’s expression softened. She sighed, nodded, and spun toward the phone.
Nora stepped closer to hear, but Doris kept her voice low and didn’t say much. When she hung up, she looked at Nora. “He said he’ll keep his eyes open.”
Nora hesitated, waiting for more, but nothing came. “That’s it?”
Doris let out a long breath. “That’s it for now. I’m sorry, but we know your son.” She looked out the window. “It’s morning. He stayed out all night causing trouble, and while you’re here worrying, he’s probably already home in bed.” She tried for a smile. “Why don’t you go home and check? If he’s not there, I’m sure he will be soon. He’ll need to eat and sleep. Call us again tonight if you still haven’t seen him.” She stopped talking, but then like an afterthought, she tagged on, “But don’t worry. Officer Pettiford really will keep his eyes peeled for him.”
Nora spent a few seconds staring at her dumbly, trying to think of an argument, but none came. As she turned to go, out of habit she opened her mouth to thank the woman but then decided against it and snapped her mouth shut. Her face was burning, and as she stepped outside, the rain did nothing to cool her.
She trudged toward her car, trying to calm her breathing. She’d never hyperventilated before and wondered if she was on the verge. She was so exhausted. If she didn’t find him soon, she wasn’t sure she was going to survive this.
