When The Trinity Took a Toddler (previously posted on Facebook)
We all saw the news. Kids had been playing by the Trinity River and fell in. The older found, the younger disappeared in her currents. Everyone knew they didn't want to know about this.
Different ambulance crews came and went from our grubby house "station" Crews stationed with firefighters had it great, the food was amazing, and everything was clean. It was also fun to follow them out to fires and help change out air packs.
Hanging out in the old house, though, not as fun. Too much brown carpet. Only one bathroom and seriously uncomfortable beds. We had a kitchen, but all mostly ate junk food. Taco "Hell", Wendy's, and Kentucky Fried Chicken which in the 80s didn't strip your guts out. One of the guys carried a loaf of white bread and a jar of peanut butter everywhere. Child support and rent didn't leave much leftover for food when only making $3.75 an hour.
Coming and going through the days following the child's disappearance, the first person through the door would ask, "Find the kid yet?"
"Not yet," someone would mumble from behind a cigarette or mouthful of cheap burrito.
No one wanted to get that call. We always asked so we'd know if we could lay down the hovering dread or keep carrying it around like a dog with a moldy old tattered sock. Smelly but too familiar and safe feeling to let go.
A few days passed, and I groaned when my partner and I heard the call come in. Body calls came without loud alerts; no need to set off alarms and startle the shit out of everyone, but we were told to hurry. Media crews were on site.
We pulled up to a spot by the river where there was no public access. Camera crews. Fire trucks. Cops. All were impatiently staring. I immediately started to sweat and get clammy all at the same time.
"Oh, my God. Fuck. Look at this shit.", my partner grumbled, and I nodded. He was a father, and all the way over, chain-smoking, he'd talked about the tragedy of this. So painful, the poor parents, Jesus Christ.
I didn't have children. I was dreading it but not in the same way.
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