Missing by Kayla Cain

As Molly pushed her dolls’ faces together and danced them around her bedroom window sill, she could see Mr. and Mrs. Green in their house next door. Molly named her favorite boy doll Bill and her prettiest girl doll Jill – last name Green, but no one else knew that.

Molly’s mom called to say she had to cover an extra shift at the grocery store this evening, so Molly heated up a microwave meal for dinner. Then she placed Bill and Jill on her shelf and tucked herself into bed. Her dark room felt like a black hole, and her house was so quiet she might as well have been sucked into outer space. She wanted to cry, but she grabbed Jill off her shelf, and the inanimate companion stopped her tears.

Molly brought Bill and Jill to school to show the new girl in her 5th grade class.

“What’s your name again?” Molly asked, fingers reaching back for the wall of the gym, body leaning forward, prepared to run.

“Genevieve,” the new girl said before the coach blew the whistle. Then they sprinted for the balls lined up across the middle of the gym.

“Jennaveev, Jennaveev, Jennaveev,” Molly whispered to herself. She could not remember that name! She had never heard a name like that. Even after playing together the past two days, Molly could only recall Something-Like-Jenny.

***

During lunch, as an opening to reveal Bill and Jill, Molly asked Genevieve, “So what do you want to do today at recess?”

Genevieve remained silent. Molly watched her look toward the group of girls giggling down the table with their pink lunch boxes full of fresh fruit their moms had packed.

“Or… do you want to play with someone else today?”

Molly tried to stay cool.

Genevieve did too.

“I think I want to hang out with some other people today.”

So Molly, Bill, and Jill played by themselves under the wooden playscape. The drama became intense between Bill and Jill, inspired by a conversation Molly had overheard from the Greens on their porch last night.

“It would have taken you thirty minutes to go get an oil change!” Bill yelled. “Then the mechanic would have found the leak before you broke down on the highway!”

“I thought I could drive it a little longer before it had to be looked at!” Jill said.

“That was so dangerous!” Molly turned Bill away from Jill. “And the car is probably totaled. How are we going to afford this?”

Molly understood the Greens had some problems, but they were married, which meant they had promised to work through everything together because they loved each other so much. Molly knew the importance of that promise because her parents had never made it. That’s why she didn’t know her dad.

***

After school, as the bus slowed down for Molly’s house, she saw Mr. Green sitting on his front steps. She stepped down through the folding door, and after the bus drove away, she could hear Mr. Green.

“Her name is Kara,” he said. “No, it’s only been a couple hours, but she should have been home by now. I can’t get a hold of her.”

He paced down his walkway.

“Her phone keeps ringing and ringing, and then goes to voicemail,” his voice quivered like he might cry.

Molly had never seen an adult cry before.

“She always answers or texts, but I haven’t heard back from her,” he said. “Something’s wrong.”

Mrs. Green was missing.

Mrs. Kara Green.

Kara.

Molly thought. Wasn’t it just last week that she saw Mrs. Green, or Kara, sitting among the trees at Mirror River Park? Yeah. When Molly had looked down from the highest tower with the big slide, she saw Kara by the water, just beyond the playscape area.

No one else might know to look there.

Molly left her mom a note on the kitchen table and then walked the two blocks to the park.

Daring to venture out of the mowed grass of the playscape area and into the 20-yard strip of forest around the river, Molly found Kara sitting on a rock, watching the water. Engines droned in the distance, but the trickling water and brushing leaves almost hid the sounds of civilization.

A branch cracked as Molly stepped forward.

Kara turned her head. “Oh!” She straightened and wiped her eyes. “Hello!”

“Hi,” Molly said. “What are you doing?”

“Umm,” Kara hummed, shiny eyes red. “I’m just sitting here thinking.”

Molly moved a little closer to her, and then asked, “Are you ok?”

Kara took a deep breath and forced a smile.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said.

“You look like you’ve been crying.”

Kara let out an audible breath.

“Well, yes, I’ve been crying,” she said. “It’s just – sometimes my husband – See, we’re trying –”

Tears filled Kara’s eyes.

  “I guess I’m not ok yet, but I just need a little time to cry and think alone, and then I’ll be ok,” she said.

Molly had never thought about it being normal to not be ok sometimes. When she scraped her knee or made a mistake, her teacher or mom tried to make it better. She didn’t realize tears could be the way through a problem.

“So, you’re getting ok?” Molly said.

“Yes, I’m getting there.”

“And this helps you do that?”

Kara nodded and actually smiled a little.

So Molly walked back to her house.

She threw away the note still on the kitchen table, and after eating her microwaved dinner, she played with Bill and Jill on the window sill. A little later, as the street lights glowed to yellow life, she saw Kara walk up the sidewalk. Her husband ran from their porch and embraced her. Arms wrapped around each other, they walked into their home.

Molly placed Bill’s arms around Jill and twirled the couple around. Then she set them together on her shelf and tucked herself into bed.

Molly missed her mom. And she wished Jenna-Whatever wanted to play with her. She probably would if Molly brought her lunch to school and had the pretty fruits and cool snacks, but to afford that, her mom had to work more, and when her mom worked more, she missed her…

Molly cuddled her blanket and cried herself to sleep. Maybe she’d be ok in the morning.

Kayla Cain

Image: male and female dolls from pixabay.com