Evening news

Leslie turned on the evening news only to see one of the biggest fears of her life playing out before her eyes.

She snatched up her phone from the arm of the couch and frantically dialed Tony’s number.

“Are you watching the news?”

“Yeah, Greg got arrested.”

“Bank robbery!”

“I know.”

“So—” She hesitated. She hadn’t told Tony about her trip to the police station yesterday and considered keeping that a secret, knowing that his reaction would only upset her. But if Gregory was in jail, there was no reason for her to keep the case open, right?

“Should I call Detective Maye?”

“Who?”

“The missing persons officer.”

“Missing per— Ma.” On the other end, he took a deep breath in, held it, but she couldn’t hear if he let it out. Finally, he said, “You filed a missing person’s report on this dude? We know where he is!”

“I don’t!” And what else was she supposed to do when she hadn’t heard from her youngest son in over two months?

She didn’t have to see Tony to know that he was rubbing his right temple just above his eyebrow with his middle finger as he always did whenever he was annoyed at her being the overwrought and worked up mother she couldn’t help but to be. It was something that always offended her. She didn’t like the idea of her son, whether discreetly or unintentionally, giving her the finger.

“Well, you do now. And you better not bail his dumb ass out.” He hung up before she could respond, and it was all she could do not to sling the phone across the room.

Why did she call him anyway? She needed someone to comfort her, not criticize her. Someone who would tell her what she needed to hear and layer it with Godly wisdom. She needed to be assured that she didn’t fail as a mom in raising her sons on her own after the death of their dad. She needed her mother.

She dialed Stella’s number and put the phone to her ear.

Stella answered after the first ring. “I saw, baby. How you doing?”

As if on command, the floodgates holding back her tears burst open.

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Written for Fandango’s Story Starter. This starter inspired me to revisit a work in progress I’ve been ignoring for far too long. I switched out some words—I hope that’s okay.