The Playground

***Warning: Use of firearms/gunpoint***

Earl Dennis Müller sat in his car in front of the park on Main St just down the street from his tiny office. He drank his coffee from his stainless steel thermos as he watched the children laugh and climb over the playground equipment. Along the park’s rubber mat edges, parents conversed in groups. 

Earl identified the various parents in each subgroup. The helicopter parents and the gossipers, mostly stay-at-home mothers, spend their days in the house, craving social interaction. The helicopter parents closely monitored their children, while the gossipers paid little attention to them, often overheard discussing the latest scuttlebutt. The next group, further back, were teenagers, likely babysitters or older siblings. They brought the young ones to the park, helping them burn energy and giving the babysitters a chance to socialize with friends and chat about the day.

After about half an hour, a woman dressed in all black arrived, accompanied by a little boy. She wore a black baseball cap with a stylish logo. Her shoulder-length blonde hair hung out from under it. The cap featured a black embossed logo, possibly the letters L and V. Earl wasn’t sure. She wore black leggings that hugged her thighs and calves and a black low-cut top with the same logo as the hat. A matching set, Earl thought to himself. The women’s sunglasses were the only thing with any color. They were also black, but the arms had gold splashes. Earl only noticed that last detail as she crossed right in front of his Toyota Carolla. 

As she crossed, Earl changed his attention to the child she had in tow, giving him a small smile and a wave as the women opened the gate and entered the park. The child, about 5 years old, seemed more upset than happy. Was it the forced hand-holding? Earl thought. It’s common knowledge that little boys dislike holding hands—they see it as girlish. Earl laughed to himself at that thought. 

After a few more minutes, Earl finished his cup of coffee, placed the cap he used as a cup back onto the still-steaming thermos, and dropped it in the cup holder. He opened the door and removed the keys from the ignition. Exiting the vehicle, he grabbed his long green trench coat, stood outside the car, stretched his back, and put on the jacket. He patted his pockets, feeling the bulge in the front right pocket. He pulled out a pack of peppermint Altoids, popped a few in his mouth, and returned the tin. It clinked as it hit the bottom.

Earl entered the park and scanned the grounds. He found the woman in black sitting on a bench to the left of the gate and made his way over. He sat down next to her, apparently too close for comfort, as she slid to the end of the bench. She then crossed her legs, placing her hands between them.

“Which little one is yours?” Earl asked as nicely as his deep, gruff voice would permit and turned to face her. His piercing blue eyes stared at the side of her face. His hair is longer than usual and slightly placed over his forehead and into his face. The brown strands were now straining his view. Using his hands, he moved the hair back into place, keeping his eyes on the woman.

Without turning or speaking, the lady lifted a hand from her lap, pointing to the little boy Earl had seen with her minutes before. The boy was sitting only a few yards away on the ground, using his hands to pick up dirt and letting it run through his fist to the ground below. The dirt looked like grains of sand falling from an hourglass.

“My little one is in the back over there somewhere. He is so active it’s hard to keep an eye on him. He’s my grandchild; I’m too old to have my own little ones anymore.” Earl chuckles, his piercing eyes squinting as he does, and his hair again flops into his eyes. “Cute little guy, ya got there. What’s his name?” Earl asks.

The woman finally turns toward him, giving him an annoyed look.

“Aaron.” She says with a bit of annoyance in her voice. 

“Good name, Aaron; my good buddy’s name was Aaron, but he passed away several months ago. I miss the guy; we used to play cards every Saturday night. You play cards, miss. Uh… miss. What’s your name?” Earl asked.

“You can call me Angela, and no, I don’t play silly games or gamble. Games are for children, and gambling is for deadbeats.” she quipped, not trying to hide the sound of her annoyance anymore.

“Names Earl. It is a pleasure to meet you, Angela. You and Aaron come to this park a lot?” Earl asks with a beaming smile.

“No, and this will probably be our last creep.” At that, she stands and signals to the boy.

“We’re leaving; let’s go,” she says to the child as she walks over to him.

Angela grabs his arm and hoists him up off the ground quickly. Before the kid knows it, she puts his small hand in hers, squeezes it tightly, and drags him.

“Ow!” Aaron exclaims, and Earl can see tears start to form in his eyes.

Angela, pulling Aaron along, walked as fast as she could, passing Earl to exit through the gate. As they pass, Earl stands and follows them out. Angela tries to close the gate before Earl can get through, but he catches it, exits, and latches it quickly. Angela picks up the pace. The little boy’s feet can move as fast, and she starts dragging Aaron. Earl catches up quickly; even though he is in his 40s, he is not as slow as he looks. He reaches back into his pocket containing the mints and retrieves a small .22 pistol. 

He positions it between himself and the woman, placing its cold muzzle against her side, and using his other arm, he wraps it around her waist and whispers in her ear.

“Keep calm and walk normally with me to the Carolla over there.” he points at it with his chin. 

Earl guides her and the boy to the passenger side.

“Aaron, get on in; we will go get ice cream. How does that sound?”

The little boy looks confused and answers, “Ok, Mr. Man,” and opens the door and hops in excitedly; the tears and pain from the squeezed hand seem to have been washed away. After Aaron gets in, Earl directs Angela into the front passenger seat.

“Buckle Up,” he says as he closes the door. 

As he walks around the car, he can see Angela trying to open the door from the inside. As she does, he watches the horror filling her face. He is sure she has just been made aware that all the handles inside the car, besides the driver’s side, have been removed. Earl smiles a coy smile and takes his place behind the wheel.

Angela remains quiet, but Aaron sits in the back, singing. It’s a song that Earl is unfamiliar with, but he is sure it is from some kid’s television show.

“Here in Duckberg, Race cars, lasers, airplanes,” the little boy sings.

Earl bobs his head to the tune. When Aaron notices, he makes a small childish laugh. In the rearview, Earl looks back at him, giving the boy a big smile.

“We just have to make one stop, kiddo, before the ice cream; that ok? I promise it will be quick.”

Earl sees Aaron tilt his head and lock eyes with him in the rearview mirror. The child stops singing and nods his head. The boy then goes back to singing his song starting from the beginning.

Earl glanced at Angela, tears falling down her cheeks. He can see her pristine makeup starting to run down her face. Earl can tell she is trying to hold back the tears as best as possible.

“Amanda, can I call you Amanda?” Earl asks.

Angela looks over at him, her face filling with even more fear. Stuttering through tears, she responds, “Wh. Why would you call me that?”

Earl gives a wry smile. “That’s your real name, isn’t it?” He pauses for a second, then continues.

“Amanda Strathum, 56 South Concourse Rd Beachcliff, NJ. Is all that correct?”

Angela or Amanda opens her mouth as if to speak but then snaps it shut. Earl thinks the tears are now moving from fear to aggression. Hatred? Maybe both. 

Aaron pops up from the back “That was my school we passed!” He exclaims.

“Really?” Earl says with a smile, “How do you like school, Alex?”

He hoots in excitement before continuing, “School is so much fun; I like Mrs. Hevner. She used to make me paper airplanes, and Robbie and I would fly them around the room during recess when it was too cold to go outside and play in the field.” the boy rambled.

“I am sure Mrs. Hevner and Robbie would be delighted to make you more paper airplanes soon,” Earl said.

“Why did you call me Aaron Mr. Man when you know my name is Alex?” Alex asked confusingly. His brow raised and hid under his dirty blondish hair.

Amanda finally broke her silence. “Shut up, Aaron, we talked about this. We do not talk to strangers.”

At this, the boy sat back hard and stopped talking. Earl still had the weapon in his hand, focusing on Amanda. He kept it in his left hand, resting on his leg out of view of the child.

“Well, that wasn’t very nice. App..” Earl started but was interrupted by the boy again.

“That’s Robbie’s house. Can we stop Mr. Man?” Alex asked.

Earl continued passing the little ranch-style house that Alex pointed out.

“No, not now, maybe in a bit; we have to make that stop first, kiddo,” Earl said jovially.

“Ok,” Alex said, his voice sounding a little disappointed. 

Earl kept driving while keeping the weapon aimed at the woman beside him. The car remained silent. Earl made another left, a few more rights, and a few more lefts, going a few blocks further.

“We are almost there, Alex? Does any of this look familiar to you?” Earl asked

Alex peered his head up and looked out the window to his right, then stretching his neck, he looked over to see out the window on the driver’s side.

“Are we going back to my old house?” again, the boy sounding confused.

“Yes, we are, and your friend Detective Snyder will be there too. You remember him, don’t you?”

Earl started slowing the car down. Angela shook, her hatred fading into fear. He could see her cheeks going inward and her mouth tightening harder the closer they got to the boy’s home.

“Yes, sir, he came into our class and taught us stranger danger. Uh… should I be talking to you?” Alex asked, his face showing a bit of fear.

Earl stopped the car in front of a two-story, two-toned house. It was made of brick and yellow paneling. Earl parked the Carolla behind a police cruiser. The police vehicle had its top lights flashing but no sound.

Earl answered, “Yes, you can talk to me. I am taking you back home to your mom and dad. While Aunty Angela here has a date with Detective Snyder.” The second part of that came out sarcastically.

Earl put the car in park, placed the weapon back in his pocket, and exited the automobile. Amanda’s face, smeared with makeup, showed unmistakable hatred. She pounded her hands against the window, tears streaming down as she spat and cursed. She sounded like a high-pitched, angry bird to Earl. He couldn’t make out what she was saying and thought maybe she was putting some evil curse on him.

He made his way over to Alex’s door and opened it. The kid jumped out and went to the lawn in front of his house. As he did, a woman, a man, and a police officer came out the front door. Alex ran to the man and woman, and they ran to him. The adult’s faces were red, presumably from crying. Earl didn’t know if they were tears of sadness, joy, or maybe both. They dropped to their knees and embraced Alex.

Earl placed his back against the passenger side door, feeling angels pounding hands against the window. Detective Snyder lets Alex and the adults have their moment and goes to Earl. “That was quick, Earl; how did you find the boy so fast?”

“Ant” is what he calls Detective Anthony Snyder; he is probably one of the only people who can get away with it, too. Earl knew Detective Snyder preferred his full first name or be called Detective Snyder, but never Ant or Tony.

“You think that was fast? It took me almost a week to find this kid. This woman knew what she was doing, and I am getting older and slower.” Even though he didn’t think that at all as he caught up with the woman and child trying to fly from him earlier.

“You sure you prefer the P.I. life? You don’t want to come back to the force? I’ll even try to get you to be my partner.” Detective Snyder said with a wink.”

“Nah, I like being retired and only taking the cases I want to take. I would much rather be fishing or taking in a sports game nowadays. Working when I want suits me a lot better.”

Earl chuckled, and when he finished, his face turned hard. The same way it used to when he was on the force. The joking was over.

“What are you going to do with Amanda here?” Earl asked and pounded his fist on the window, causing the woman to jump.

“We’ll take her down to the station and question her. We need to figure out how she got into that school unnoticed, abducted a child, and left without a trace. Hopefully, she was working alone. We believe she must have had help. This could get a lot uglier if she did.”

Earl turned around, opened the door, bowed, and waved his hand as if he were presenting the woman to the detective. Detective Snyder offered the woman his hand to help her out of the car. Earl thought she didn’t deserve that and would have loved to see her bang her pretty little head against the vehicle’s frame. He knew that Ant had to go by the book, though. He couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. 

Detective Snyder started in on the Miranda rights and walked around Amanda to where she had already placed her hands behind her back as if she was used to this procedure. Detective Snyder placed the cuffs around her wrists. Tightening them a little too much. Earl caught Amanda wince as the cuffs clamped around her bony wrists. Once he was done putting them on, the detective walked her over to the cruiser. Earl could hear the final words of the Miranda warning as Snyder was opening the door.

“Do you understand your rights as I have read them to you?” Earl could make out.

Amanda nodded, “Yes.” she said through gritted teeth. 

“Good,” the detective stated. “We will have my dear friend Detective Holly Mills take you into custody once we arrive at the station. Do you have anything on you that may be used as a weapon? Detective Mills will do a full body cavity search.” 

Amanda turned around. “No pockets, No purse,” she said.

Detective Snyder gave another nod and placed her gingerly into the car, placing his hand on her head so she wouldn’t bang it as she got in.

Again, Earl was watching, hoping her dome would bounce off the top of the police cruiser. He watched as Snyder made his way around the car and drove away.

“Another case in the books.” He said to himself. He looked back at the family as another police cruiser arrived. Earl didn’t stay to watch; he was sure Ant called in backup to take his place with the family, and Earl wanted to get home to watch the Yankees take the field for the first home game of the season.