Chapter Eleven Page Six, Mary, Mary's House

PREVIOUS PAGE

Mary called her dad twice more, but he never picked up. She left two messages. The first sounded like “Hey, where are you?” and the second sounded like “Is everything OK? I am worried because I miss my father.” She thought about what she could do. Mary decided to call her older sister. She found her sister’s number in her contacts list.

Mary’s sister picked up. Mary immediately heard a commotion in the background; a lot of people talking at a very loud volume with dull music filling in non-existent empty space.

“Hey,” Mary said, “Do you know where dad is?”

“HEY,” Mary’s sister shouted, “I CAN’T REALLY TALK RIGHT NOW.”

“Yeah but have you heard from dad lately?”

“NUH UH,” her sister shouted.

“He’s usually gone on weekends but he almost always gets back on Sunday mornings plus he usually replies to my texts,” Mary said, rapidfire.

“HE’S PROBABLY BUSY TOO.”

“Ok, sorry,” Mary said, “Call back if you hear from him.”

“YEAH OF COURSE,” Mary’s sister promised, “CALL ME BACK WHEN YOU HEAR FROM HIM SO I KNOW EVERYTHING IS FINE.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Mary said, “Bye.”

Mary thought about what she was supposed to do in such a situation.

While four forty wasn’t late, Mary still felt like it was. And, not having heard from her dad was disconcerting. Mary tried calling him again but didn’t bother leaving a message. She wondered what Dani was doing. Maybe Dani will have an idea.

But when she tried calling Dani, she became disconnected after the fourth ring. An automated voice informed her that The Connection Has Failed Please Try Again Later which Mary thought was pretty lame. Mary had never had trouble reaching Dani before.

She put on her jacket and grabbed her things, intending to head over to Dani’s house to see what was up with her, when she realized she could try calling Will first.

“Hey,” Mary said, when Will answered, “I’ve been trying to get in touch with Dani but her phone is broken or something.”

“Broken?” Will asked, “Oh no, she’s just hanging out Downtown. I can tell you where. But. I should tell you. It’s dangerous where she is. Her not answering her phone just proves me right.”

“Proves you right? Did you two make a bet about doing something ridiculously stupid?”

NEXT PAGE