chapter 135

word count: 1250

trudy returned the newspaper to its metal rack,, and approached the young shop keeper.. he continued texting,, and trudy had to come off with a stern, “uhump!!” before he even bothered to look up at her.. 

“can i help you?” he asked,, still not looking up from the keypad on his phone..

“um, yes,"  trudy answered.. “it seems as if i have been kidnapped!! held against my will!! i need you to call the police right away!!”

the word “kidnapped” seemed to get some attention out of the store clerk,, and he looked up from his phone long enough to see trudy clad in what passed for a dress at the local convent.. 

“kidnapped??” he asked as he took a better look at her.. she looked clean and well cared for.. she was wearing clothes that he easily identified as belonging to the sisters of mercy cloister just up the road.. 

“kidnapped?? by the sisters of mercy?? i find that hard to believe.. you see i happen to know…” the young shop keeper began to respond to her most unlikely predicament in a disbelieving tone..

“just call me a god damn cop will ya!!” the old trudy reared her ugly head.. 

“i mean please,, could you call the police?? and when you do,, could you ask them to send detective buzz miller?? did you get that?? detective buzz miller.. it is important that he comes to get me, personally..” trudy softened her tone.. after all,, she had no way of placing the call herself,, all the phone booths had long since been removed from the streets of new albany.. 

“well none of this makes any sense to me..” the young man said as he tapped 911 into the keypad on his cell.

trudy listened in on the one sided conversation the clerk was having with the 911 operator.. 

kidnapped. detective buzz miller. quick shop convenience store.. so far he seemed to be getting it all right.. 

“hey,, what is your name?” the clerk leaned over the counter and asked her as he had evidently been prompted to do so by the 911 operator.. 

“trudy. trudy hunt.. just make sure they tell buzz,, um, i mean detective miller,, that it’s me.”

she listened as the shop keeper gave her name to the dispatch operator,, and reiterated her desire for detective miller to respond to her call.. as he clicked off the call trudy was satisfied.. her distress flag had been sent up.. now it was up to buzz..

there was nothing she could do but wait.. she decided to take a seat on the front stoop of the store.. if buzz came for her,, that meant it was written in the stars,, and she would go off with him and live happily ever after.. if not,, she still had the sisters to fall back on,, after all they hadn’t exactly kicked her out,, they had just suggested that she take a walk till she calmed down.. 

“what was it with them and their suggestions??” trudy asked herself as she sat down on the cool cement step.. 

“why on earth would anyone choose to live such a ridged existence based solely on suggestions??” trudy pondered as she waited to hear the scream of a siren in the distance,, a siren that would mean her knight in shining armor was at last coming to her rescue.. 

as some time passed,, and trudy heard no siren in the distance,, no knight in shining armor coming to sweep her off her feet and take her away from all of this,, she wandered back into the store to verify with the shop keeper that he had given the right address.. she even went so far as to suggest that maybe he ought to call them back and verify they had taken all of the information down correctly.. 

once again,, not looking up at her as he was dedicated to typing in yet another text message,, he assured her that he had done everything that she had requested of him,, and no he wasn’t going to call them back.. he suggested maybe the delay was due to them trying to locate her detective miller.. 

“ugh!!” trudy, visibly disgruntled,, and very much wanting to rip the guy a new one,, decided she better keep her lid on and go back outside.. it was safer that way,, if she continued to watch him texting,, his total lack of concern for her and her well-being very well might push her over the edge.. and she didn’t want buzz to walk in and see her flying off the handle.. 

no.. this time she wanted to present herself as cool, calm, and collected.. she wanted him to see that she had changed.. and looking down at herself in this burlap sack the sisters called a dress,, she just knew buzz would be moved by the changes she had outwardly made in herself, and would be only too happy take this new trudy back home with him.. 

as she plopped herself on the cement stoop,, still listening for the siren song that would surely come and save her,,  she was more than unpleasantly surprised when she saw the plump little faces of sister esther, and sister ruth turn the corner and approach her with wide welcoming smiles.. 

“you had us worried, “ sister esther said as she extended her arms to trudy, inviting her to stand up..

“we are still quite unsure as to who it was that hurt you in the first place,, and decided he may still be lurking,, and that maybe we had been wrong in sending you off all alone in the dark of night.. “ chimed in sister ruth.. 

trudy shifted uneasily as she stood up and joined the sisters.. she didn’t want to burn that bridge just yet.. after all she couldn’t be sure buzz was going to come for her.

“well,, thank you for your concern sisters, but as you can see i am fine.. just needed some time to think things through,, so i thought i would sit here for a while and…”

just then the young shop keeper poked his unwelcome head out the door.. 

“sister esther!! sister ruth!! how nice to see you both!!”

“good evening, ahmed!!” the sisters said in chorus.. 

“i see you know miss hunt?  i had presumed you did based on the fact that i recognized your signature attire.. “ ahmed started.. 

trudy could see where this was headed and quickly jumped in to head him off at the pass,, she couldn’t allow him to spill the beans about her having him call 911 and report her as kidnapped!!

“well sisters,, what do you say we head back.. it’s getting chilly out here this evening!!” trudy exclaimed nervously..

“i feel as if i am ready to apologize to sister rebecca,, in fact i feel a strong desire to do so right now!!” trudy continued as she took each of the sisters hand in hers and attempted to guide them away from ahmed as soon as possible.

“glory be to god!!” sister esther proclaimed.. “i just knew you would see his light!!”

“hallelujah!!” sang out sister ruth as the three joined arms and began to walk off into the darkness.. 

“hey!” ahmed called out to them as they began to walk away,, and the distinct sound of a siren could be heard in the distance..

“what do you want me to tell the cops when they get here?”