Happy Monday everyone. I hope your weekend was exactly what you needed. Mine was nice and quiet. Which as I will begin the shopping and cooking for Thanksgiving next weekend, I really appreciate. But now, we have a bright new week ahead of us before the holiday crazy begins so lets see what the morning prompt brings. Timers set for fifteen minutes and off we go.
I like this set up. I would expand it more, add in a lot of emotions. The concern and worry, the shock the betrayal. And I kind of like the idea of someone casually admitting to a forgery at the police station.
Monday, November 17th: When was the last time you saw him?
“When was the last time you saw him?” The question was calm, professional, detached even. Certainly expected.
Still Clara swallowed hard and tried not to look guilty. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that she hadn’t done anything to feel guilty about. She was just reporting a missing person, not confessing to a crime. Still after a lifetime of being told it was best to avoid the police and stay silent if you had to be near them. It felt wrong to give them information.
“A little over two days,” Clara said. “I called when he didn’t come home the first night but was told that I needed to wait forty-eight hours. I called hospitals and medical centers and looked for accident reports…” She realized nerves were making her babble. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again.
“I saw him Monday at lunch,” she said. “We met at the sandwich shop on fifth as it was between our two offices and our schedules aligned.” Clara tried to remember the name of the sandwich shop. “Sally-Ann’s Soup and Sandwiches,” she finished.
It wasn’t her favorite place. The soups always tasted like someone realized they hadn’t made enough and thinned it out with water and added no extra seasoning to make up for it. The sandwiches were mediocre at best, but Calvin liked it. Claimed it reminded him of his mother’s cooking. Having tasted his mother’s cooking, she could say the comparison was accurate.
She was careful never to say it though.
‘Mustn’t criticize mother,’ Clara repeated to herself. ‘Even in absentia.’
As the officer at the front desk took down the information, Clara wondered where Calvin’s mother was at the moment. She knew she went on and returned form a trip to the Bahamas. She was reasonably certain that she already went on the Milan trip as well. ‘Aspen, or maybe Aruba,’ Clara thought. She thought the current trip began with an A.
She set it aside as she answered the questions asked of her. Once the basics were down, she was promised someone would look into it. She thanked the officer and stepped away. As she did her phone rang. She looked at it. It was Calvin’s number. She stopped and answered it.
“Hello, Calvin, where are you?” She turned back to the officer thinking information might be necessary. She pressed the speaker button words like abduction circling through her mind even though she couldn’t think of a reason someone would abduct Calvin.
“Argentina,” Calvin replied tersely. “With Mother. I’ve filed the divorce papers, mother put your signature where it was needed and it is a done deal so there is no use complaining. Your copy is in my top desk drawer. You have my permission to go into my study to retrieve it. Don’t touch anything else. I will be back on the 22nd and I want you out of the apartment before I return.”
Ten til Midnight 