Stories, Thoughts and Snippets
A Day Out 1 A Day Out 2 A Day Out 3 A Day Out 4
Most of my inquiries were politely rebuked with a short and to the point "Back off, mother fucker." But I was able to learn from a purveyor of steamed sausages that a pair fitting my description had in fact walked past him not a moment or two before, and proceeded down into the subway. The subway made sense to me as I thought about it, it was a public space, sheltered and heated, where I would inevitably have to go in order to return home, which I was certain the woman learned by asking my daughter.As I descended to the platform I thought that I would have to offer this woman something for her trouble. Not finding them on the platform I wondered, "Could it be possible that this woman has gone to the trouble of taking my daughter all the way home?" Admittedly I did linger in the shop longer than I had promised or intended, but that would be such an imposition on her time that almost anyone would have chosen a different course of action. But my daughter was very intelligent, and could doubtless direct the woman unerringly to our front door. I boarded the next train and thought that I must indeed give to this woman a substantial gratuity, which I must admit gave me some consternation because my wallet was much lighter after my days marketing than it had been before.
I arrived home and found neither the woman nor my dearest daughter, though my wife had prepared a batch of fresh bran muffins which filled our humble home with a delicious smell and I had some difficulty concentrating on anything other than the though of splitting one open, spreading it with butter and losing myself in culinary pleasure for a moment or two. My wife was understandably upset when she realized that our child was no longer with me. Explaining the situation to her in no way seemed to console her, such was her state. Even when I presented her with my purchase and suggested we make immediate use of it, that we might approach our problem in a calm and satisfied state she was so terribly unhappy as to strongly disagree with, what I considered, a very sensible course of action.
I was myself at a loss to conjure a reasonable explanation for why my daughter was not now safely in the bosom of her family. Could it be that I had spent so long in the store that the caring woman had assumed that I had abandoned my daughter and, as such, had taken her directly to the authorities to report me as negligent? This would be a most unfortunate turn of events, but as the recovery of my daughter had to take precedence, even over my pride and public face, my wife immediately contacted the police to see if she had been brought in, and when the answer came back that she had not my wife again began to cry. Recovering her wits somewhat she returned to her conversation with a very understanding officer, using tone and language which I found unflattering, particularly towards myself, she proceeded to explain to the officer what had happened in detail.
I was left now thinking that the only possibility, the only course of events that could reasonably have taken place was that the woman, a being of such profound moral fiber, had decided, after I left my daughter in her charge, that anyone who would bring a child on such an errand clearly did not have the best interest of the child at heart, and she had taken it upon herself to see to it that the child was raised in a decent and loving home, even though the personal inconvenience to her be beyond the ken of an average man. This thought consoled me somewhat for, as any father does, I truly wanted the absolute best for my most wonderful child, and if she could receive a better education as to the proper way to live in a home other than my own, then that was where she most truly belonged.
I took for myself a muffin and lost my consciousness in consideration of the wonders that, even now; my daughter must be experiencing in her new home. Truly it must be a beautiful life if it bests that which I could provide her, how lucky a day this was, that by mere happenstance my princess would have a life of greater joy and prospects than I could ever have given her. My reverie so consumed me that I did not notice the front door open, or the voice of my wife conversing with that of a husky man. When I did look up, a large police officer, with a moustache that did not entirely suit him, stood next to my still weeping wife. "Good evening, officer. Can I help you in some way? Has my daughter been found after all?" I asked earnestly.
"No sir, I'm afraid you're going to have to come with me. You are under arrest for criminal negligence, and we have some questions we would like to ask you down town." He replied in a gruff fashion that I must say I found rude and distasteful, considering this was the first time he had been invited into my home.
The officer read me a list of rights, each of which he said was mine, though I thought that I must have more rights than those he enumerated. He was profoundly insistent, even placing his hand under my arm to assist me in standing, and so I went along with him, not entirely understanding how the police could be so confused as to believe I had in some way done my beautiful daughter a disservice.