A comment on Stolen ch 13 touched me deeply. I am a parent and I know that if one of my children disappeared I would NEVER accept they ran away unless they told me to my face. So I sat at my computer and tried to think HOW Sky's family would react. No ideas came to me so I went surfing the net and looked at songs. Music often inspires me. I found the words to a song I heard a few years ago and thought how well the words and song fit Janetta/Sky. After finding the song this story just flowed from my fingers to the keyboard.
The song was "HOLY WATER" sung by Big & Rich.
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Marina walked into the lounge room from the kitchen and placed her handbag on the hallway table as she glanced at the flickering light that showed they had a message on their answering machine.
"Jim, we have a message. It's probably the plumber calling about when he can come and put the new pipe work in the laundry." Marina called to her husband.
Jim came in through the front door carrying a heavy esky.
"Just check it would you Love?" Jim asked as he headed into the kitchen.
Marina looked down at the answering machine and pressed the button to play the recorded message.
"You have... two ... new messages." The mechanical sounding voice of the machine said as Marina turned away and placed her scarf and gloves on top of her handbag.
"Bob from Robert's Plumbing here. I have Saturday morning free and can do your work then. Give me a call if there's a problem with that." The recording crackled slightly, then the familiar beeps sounded that heralded the next message.
There was a slight pause as if the person who had rung was put off by the sound of the recording then the sound of someone clearing his or her throat.
"Hey Mum. It's me, Janey. I'll be home tomorrow night on the 10pm bus. We'll talk then. I love and miss you," The receiver being replaced clicked loudly in Marina's shocked ears.
"Jim! It was our Janey! She's coming home!" Marina said then burst into tears. It had been thirty-five days since their youngest daughter Janetta had disappeared without a word.
Jim rushed in from the kitchen and pulled his wife into his arms, he held her for several minutes until she regained control of herself. Jim reached out and rewound the last message then pushed play once again. Relief filled him as he heard his daughter's voice, she sounded a bit hesitant as if maybe she doubted her welcome but that could soon be fixed when they met the bus the following night.
"I can't wait to see her!" Marina exclaimed, "I wonder what happened for her to disappear like that?"
"We only got to wait until tomorrow night." Jim soothed his wife.
"The others! They'll want to know Janey is coming home! I've got to ring them!" Marina exclaimed as she reached for the phone.
Marina pressed the button on the phone base that automatically dialled her oldest daughters mobile phone, she waited anxiously for her to answer.
"Hallo Caro speaking."
"Carolyn! We just got home from shopping and there was a message on the phone from Janey! She's coming home tomorrow night!" Marina said as her tears stared afresh.
"Oh Mum! That's wonderful news! Have you told Robby and James yet?" Caro asked.
"No, not yet. I thought I'd tell you first. I know how you worried and fretted." Marina said. Her older daughter had confided in her mother how she had felt she was to blame for her sisters' disappearance because she had been the last one to see Janey before she mysteriously vanished.
"I'll be home in half an hour Mum. So see you then." Caro said to quickly finish the phone call. She knew her two older brothers would be eager to hear their mothers' news.
Marina pressed the call end button and handed the phone to Jim, her hands were shaking badly as she sat down on the chair by the hall table.
"You call Rob and James. I'm too surprised." Marina said as she clasped her hands in front of her to try to still their shaking.
"You sit there and take it easy for a minute. I'll put the kettle on so we can have a nice cuppa once we finish talking to the boys." Jim told his wife gently.
Marina watched as her husband pressed a button on the base of the phone then headed into the kitchen. She listened to him moving around as he filled the kettle with water.
"Hey James, good news son! We've heard from Janey! She's on her way home. Says she'll be in town tomorrow night." Marina heard Jim saying.
She listened, as there was silence for a few long moments.
"We don't think Janey run away either, we never have." Jim said softly. "Yeah, yeah. You take care driving home. Don't rush just to be here when Janey gets home."
Jim was dialling in a number as he returned to the lounge room and extended a hand to Marina to help her to her feet and followed her to the lounge. His call was answered quickly and he sat on one end of the lounge beside Marina.
"Hallo this is Jim Wilkinson speaking. May I speak to Senior Detective Wilkinson please? Yes, I'm his father." Jim was silent while he waited to be connected to his second son.
Marina squeezed his hand nervously.
"Ah Robby! We were out and got home to a message on the phone from Janey... yeah apparently she will be home on the 10pm bus tomorrow...Yeah, it would have to be the bus from down south. Do you think she could have been around Coffs Harbour all this time?" Jim asked his son.
He listened intently as his son talked; finally he gave a curt nod. "Yes we are going into town to meet the bus. And you'll be here tomorrow evening? Fine. See you then." Jim hung up and glanced at Marina.
"How about I make us that cuppa tea?" Marina asked climbing to her feet.
Jim followed Marina into the kitchen and stood by as she poured boiled water into the teapot over tealeaves. He watched as she took two cups out of the cupboard and placed them by the teapot as they waited for the tea to brew.
"I still get the feeling there is something horribly wrong around Janey." Marina said faintly.
"Our baby will be home tomorrow night and then you can fuss over her all you like." Jim said as he put his arms around Marina.
Five weeks ago they had returned to their campervan in the middle of an evening out because Marina had been unable to shake the feeling something was wrong with Janey. They had arrived at the campervan to find Caro in a state of panic because her sister had failed to return from the campground showers nearly an hour previously. The resulting search had failed to find any trace of her or any signs that something had befallen her.
The police had been called and refused to take her disappearance seriously as she had had a minor argument with her parents only that morning over meeting a boy at the beach. Twenty-four hours had passed before the police allowed them to file a missing persons report. Despite the family's belief that Janey would never runaway the police had put her down as a runaway.
It had not been until eight days later that someone had recalled there had been two men hanging around watching the beach that day. No one remembered what they had looked like other then the fact they had kept to themselves.
Marina tried to push aside the fear she felt as she turned to her husband. She had always been especially close to her youngest daughter, right from the time she had been handed the small red faced squalling infant after giving birth.
"Oh god I hope she'll be home. Maybe then I can sleep without waking up thinking I can hear her crying." Marina said faintly.
"Janey sounded just fine." Jim said firmly and released Marina so he could pour them both a cup of tea.
As Jim handed his wife her drink he didn't comment on what she had said, he had long ago learnt not to question the closeness she share with their children. Especially with their youngest Janetta.
* * * * *
Carolyn Wilkinson helped her mother clean up the last of the plates from the table where the family had had tea. Her mother was busy washing up while her father and two brothers were in the lounge room talking quietly. Carolyn, or Caro as she preferred to be called; was waiting for the time they would leave to drive into town just as anxiously as the rest of her family.
She still blamed herself for her sisters' disappearance five weeks earlier. If only she had stayed with her and waited to walk back to the campervan together. But happily there had been a phone message the day before and her younger sister Janey was coming home.
When Janey had first disappeared all of the family had been beside themselves with worry. And that had only increased with passing time as they knew that no matter what the reason was behind her disappearance that Janetta would not fail to phone if only to say she was okay.
Putting the last of the washing up away Caro and Marina headed for the lounge room.
"I want to leave early so we can get a park where Janey will be able to see us as she steps off the bus." Marina announced.
"James, Caro and I can go in my car. That way Janey wont feel crowded on the way home, if she did indeed runaway like the rest of the police believe then she is probably feeling pretty foolish." Robby said.
Robby was a police detective and was still angered that he had been unable to convince his colleagues in missing persons that his youngest sister would never runaway over a silly little argument with her parents. He had been told repeatedly that most families of runaways found it very difficult to accept the fact that the person had voluntarily chosen to leave.
"That sounds like a good idea." Jim said and glanced at his son with a grateful smile.
"It's not time to go yet," Marina fretted. "We got another half hour."
"Why don't we leave now? You can go to the plaza and if it's still open get a chocolate mud cake to have when we get home." James said.
James was the one who looked the most like his youngest sister. His hair was several shades darker then hers, but much lighter then the auburn hair Robby and Caro had inherited from their father. He and Janetta had blonde hair like their mother.
