I am at my window watching when Mommy leaves the house after dark. She has a big suitcase and I am afraid that she is going to Meheeeeeco to join the terrier lady. I don’t want to be left behind. But the suitcase is empty, she swings it at arm’s length as she goes. I stare because I’ve NEVER seen her like this. Mommy is NOT playful. I know she would not want me or anyone to see it. The streetlights are all out, tonight. It’s lucky for Mommy that those kids threw the stones and broke them, I guess.

Mommy goes to the woods. She is gone a long time and I almost start crying, because she is really GONE, this time.

I wait, and wait.

It seems like many hours, but it’s probably one or two. Mommy comes out of the forest. She walks through the long dark shadows of branches where they stretch across the sidewalk. When she goes through the breaks of silver moonlight, I see that the suitcase is heavy now. She pulls it slowly along the sidewalk on its little wheels. She goes right past our house without looking or stopping! I am surprised. Where CAN she be going?

The green trim on the terrier lady’s house looks gray in the moonlight. Mommy goes around the back of the house. I get into my bed and hide under my covers but I do NOT sleep. She comes in quietly, a long while later. I hear running water in the bathroom, the sound of her brushing her teeth. Then there comes another tiny sound. Mommy is humming.

In the morning she is as usual. She gives me a small jar of applesauce for breakfast, and a piece of bread. Her hands smell like damp cellar earth. I never see the big suitcase again, so I guess she sent it on to Meheeco without her. I hear her ask Big Ted to go to the store for ice cream.

I kept TRYING to tell Big Ted. I took him back to the yellow house with the green trim again and again but he still didn’t get it. I think he always knew somewhere deep down that it was Mommy. But he hoped so hard it wasn’t. Now he can’t avoid the truth anymore. Bam, POW, like being hit with a punch.

I can hear Big Ted crying.

TED

“Don’t move. You’ll make it worse.” Rob’s face is hung above me in the sky. It is even paler than usual.

“We have to tell someone.” My beard is wet with tears. “I know where she is. Please, please, we have to go now.” Another good thing about Rob is that he does not waste time on questions.