“Now James,” Darla purred as she approached the bed.  Miles stood to the side and was holding the bamboo switch again.  Joe’s eyes darted nervously between her and the switch.  “Momma’s not been very happy with you so far.  You haven’t been a good boy.  Are you ready to make it up to Momma?”

Flinching, Joe’s eyes widened in fear as Miles punctuated the question by smacking the switch against his own hand.

The little boy nodded, although he had no idea what he was agreeing to.

“Good,” Darla said as she sat on the bed next to him.  Immediately Joe moved away, but stopped when the switch hit a spot just in front of him.

“Your mother wants to sit next to you,” Miles said, his voice low and threatening.

Joe froze and stayed where he was as Darla moved closer to him again.  He stiffened when he felt her put her arms around him and try to draw him close in an embrace.

He was shaking and she frowned down at him. “What’s wrong, baby?  Momma’s here with you.”

The terrorized child could not take his eyes off Miles, who was now frowning at him.

Darla kissed the top of his head and inhaled the smell of his shampooed hair. “You smell so much better now, James.”

“Thank your Mother,” Miles roared, making Joe jump in Darla’s embrace and he managed to stutter, “T-th-thanks.”

That wasn’t good enough and Miles came closer, “Say ‘Thank You Momma’.”

“T-th- thank…you,” the child tried again.  He knew what they wanted but he could not give it to them. He was terrified that if he did call this man and woman, Momma and Daddy, that he would never see his real ones again.  So he couldn’t do it…no matter the cost.

He wanted his real family back!

So he shook his head, “N-not my Mommy!”

And he paid dearly as Darla let go of him and walked away from the bed, sighing tiredly as she did, “I hate bad children,” and then as she reached the stairs she turned a dispassionate eye on the child who had once again scurried as far away as he could from Miles. “Punish him Miles.  James has been very bad.”

Closing the door, she could hear the sound of the beating as she sat down at the table and polished her nails.  Giving the child his bath had removed some of their scarlet color, so as her husband ‘punished’ her bad child, she finished her nails and then popped a frozen pizza into the oven. 

She knew from experience that Miles was always hungry after a good workout.

* * *

When Miles was finally finished with the child, he tossed the switch to the side of the stairs and headed upstairs.

Joe had nothing left inside him to cry with, as he lay curled up on the floor staring ahead blankly.  His body was hurting and his sides screamed in pain.  His chest hitched painfully as he breathed…. He had no frame of reference for the type of brutality that had been inflicted on him.

His parents had always warned him about strangers…and as Joe found his thumb and stuck it in his mouth, he sucked it vigorously, having learned the hard way what they were trying to warn him about.

I want to go home, he thought miserably as he continued to suck his thumb – something he had never done, even as a baby.  Please Daddy…Frankie…come get me. I want to go home. I won’t ever be bad again….Please take me home.…

* * *

“Where is my baby?”  Frank heard his mother’s voice wail as soon as his father got into the house.  It was late and he was just starting to get ready for bed, but now he sat down and listened desperately, hoping to hear his father say he knew where Joe was and that he was coming home soon.

“We don’t know yet Laura,” he heard his father’s reply, and could hear the frustration in his voice.

“What are you doing to look for him, Fenton?  What?  I want my baby back…NOW!” He knew his mother was crying, and Frank pulled his knees up to his chest.

“I want him back too, Laura!” his father’s voice was raised this time, and Frank gave a little shiver. He wasn’t used to his mom and dad talking to each other like this.  Something else that’s changed, he thought miserably.

Gertrude must have come into the room then, Frank decided, as he then heard his aunt’s voice.

“Fenton, this never would have happened if you didn’t let them go alone into the horrid house!”

Frank cringed at the tone and wasn’t surprised to hear his father’s exasperated reply, “Gertrude we were standing just outside the door and it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.  Joey was picked by these people so it wouldn’t have mattered. They would have taken him anyway!”

“Picked by these people?  Fenton what’s going on? What aren’t you telling me??”  his mother’s voice was near hysterics. “You mean this McBride monster doesn’t work alone?”

His father paused.  Fenton had not wanted to tell Laura the truth but it had slipped out.

Frank heard a heavy sigh before his father continued, “McBride didn’t take Joey.  We now believe Joey was taken to replace someone’s dead son.”

“Thank goodness,” Gertrude said, “at least we don’t need to worry about that monster molesting him!”

Frank felt a chill go over him…molesting him?  Joe?  No!

Although he did not know what it involved, he had received the same “Bad touch/Good touch” instruction as everyone else had in his kindergarten class. And he remembered hearing that word related to bad touching.

No…not his brother! No one was going to ‘bad touch’ Joe, not if he had anything to say about it!

Determined, the 6 ½-year old changed out of his pajamas and back into his regular clothes.  He needed to go downstairs and talk to his dad, man to man.  Instead of arguing with his mother and aunt, his Dad needed to be finding Joe…and now!

* * *

The adults never noticed the quiet form that slipped down the stairs and watched them as they continued to argue in the living room.

“This still should have never happened,” Gertrude persisted, “you give those boys too much freedom!  They are just too young.”

“This is irrelevant right now,” Fenton argued, “We have to focus on getting Joey back…not on trying to figure out how it might have been prevented.”

“Fenton, it is highly relevant! Frankie is an old soul but he’s still too young to be expected to keep an eye on anyone…particularly Joey!  You know how Joey is,” His aunt never did know when to give up.

“Gertrude,” his father warned.

“No Fenton,” his aunt continued, her raised voice sending cold shivers down Frank’s spine as he stood unnoticed behind them, “I have held my tongue long enough…too long maybe.  But honestly what is the use of getting Joey back now if you’re just going to let it happen again…”

“SHUT UP…SHUT UP…SHUT UP!”  the sound of the small furious voice behind made them turn in shock, realizing too late that not only was Frank here but that he had heard them.

Instantly Laura was moving towards her son, but Frank shook his head as he backed away from her, and then bolted out the front door.

“Frankie!  Wait!” she screamed after him, but the little boy was sprinting down the sidewalk and did not even pause when he heard her.

Turning worried eyes on her husband, Laura did not need to say anything as he had already grabbed his car keys and took off out the door after his fleeing son.

“I’m sorry Laura,” Gertrude said tiredly, “I never would have said that if I knew he was standing behind me.”

Laura shook her head, “It wasn’t right of you to say it either way, Gertrude.  For God’s sake, this is our house…. You are a guest in our house.  When you are here you don’t have to like how we raise our sons, but you will show us some respect…”

“Sons?”  Gert said icily, not liking being rebuked by her sister-in-law, “don’t you mean ‘son’?”

Sucking in her breath sharply at her sister-in-law’s insinuation, Laura managed fiercely, “No Gertrude….I mean my sons.  Both of them!  Fenton will get Joey back.”

Shaking her head Gertrude walked down the hall towards her downstairs guest room.  She paused at her door. “You need to face the truth, Laura; Joey isn’t coming home.”

In the living room, the distraught mother heard her and broke down.  Falling down on the couch, she sobbed as she thought, maybe Gert is right.  Maybe we do expect too much from Frankie… he is only a child.  But then as she thought about both her sons, she realized that Gertrude was wrong.  They did give their boys freedom to grow and learn to do things themselves, but not without being there for them and giving them guidance.

Frank loved his role as big brother and it was something they would have never denied him.

And it was only a Carnival Fun House that both she and Fenton had been through a couple of times already….It should have been safe.

Oh Joey, she sobbed, wherever you are sweetie…just remember that Mommy loves you!

* * *

Frank had never run so far or so fast in his life. 

He knew his father would come after him, but he was determined not to get caught, so he cut through yards and got off the road as quickly as he could.

And he ran.

For some reason it made him feel like he was doing something.  Anything was better then waiting….He wished he was a superhero like Superman who had x-ray vision, so he could just look inside every house he ran by to see if his brother was there.

But of course he couldn’t. He was just a little boy.  A very scared little boy who was terrified beyond reason that he would never see his best friend…his baby brother…again.

So he ran.

* * *

Fenton slapped the steering wheel in frustration.  Frank had gone off road.

Oh God, he thought, what have we done?  We were so caught up in ourselves and our grief that we forget about the child upstairs.  The big brother who was no more…

Frank.

Oh my God, he thought again, let me find him…please.…

I can’t lose them both.

* * *

It was dark and he was afraid.

He was hurt and there was no one to comfort him.

He did not have to see it to know it was there.

The man had shown it to him. 

So he knew.

He knew that leaning against the wall at the bottom of the stairs was a bat.

Hard carved, the man said.

And in the morning, if he could not give them what they wanted…then the bat would.

So he waited and sucked his thumb.

He could never give them what they wanted.