THE KIDNAPPING

A five-year-old Gisella disappeared in the afternoon from the courtyard of the hotel where she was staying with her parents. The last adult who saw her in the courtyard, together with the other children, is another hotel guest.

“ But we saw that man dressed in black who took Gisella away” Greta is saying. “ We have to say it”

“ Now don’t exaggerate, we just saw the little girl following that man,” Peter replies.

“ That man grabbed the child by the arm” Greta insists.

“ No, he took her by the hand”

“ But first grabbed her by the arm”

Greta and Peter are two hotel guests who are looking at the courtyard from the window of their room.

At the same time in another room of the same hotel Gisella’s mother and father are anguished by the disappearance of their child. “ Someone must have seen Gisella taken away,” Says Petra, the mother. “It’s impossible that our child left alone”

“ Mrs. Julia said she saw our child playing in the yard with the other children at five o’clock. But when we came back, at a quarter past five, Gisella had disappeared” says Aldo, Gisella’s father. “ I asked the children who were playing with her and they told me that Gisella had returned to the hotel”

“ Ah, the kids! Kids say what their parents want!” Petra is discomforted.

“ After all, the surveillance cameras didn’t film her as she left the hotel. If someone took her away he must have put her in a bag “Aldo says.

“ Why the surveillance cameras didn’t catch the little girl taken away by that man?” Peter asks.

“ But it’s clear because he with the child went out through the back door where there are no surveillance cameras,” Greta replies” Or maybe he put the little girl in a bag” “Oh, but be that as it may, we have to say what we saw, Peter”

“ Ah, I don’t agree. We would get into ….a big trouble. Let them deal with it” Peter says, with nonchalance.

“ You are heartless, Peter! I’m not like you!” Greta shouts, angry.

“ No dear! You’re like me instead! Why didn’t you say to the policemen you saw the little girl with that man?”

“ We, Peter, we both saw that poor child grabbed by that man!”

“It is impossible that no one saw or at least heard something. The parents of the other children must have been keeping an eye on their children in the yard” Petra is speaking with anguished breath” And then there are the old ones that are always at the window”

“They don’t speak out so they don’t get into trouble. They are afraid “ Aldo shakes his head.

“ Why should they be afraid to say what, indeed whom they saw?” Petra asks

“ Dear…it depends on whom they saw. It could be another hotel guest or even someone from the hotel staff. Imagine if it were the manager”

“ You are joking, aren’t you? Why should the hotel manager have kidnapped Gisella? To ask for the ransom? But we’re not rich, we’re poor indeed”

“ Kidnapping, above all for children, doesn’t only happen for the purpose of extortion,” Aldo spokes with a thoughtful expression.

“ Look, I know WHY you don’t want to speak…” Greta is saying, throwing an angry look at Peter.

“ Oh, come on, I don’t want any trouble, that’s all”

“ You don’t want to speak because you know the man who took the little girl away. I understood it from the look of surprise with which you looked at him…as if you were wondering if it was really him. Tell me who is that man?” Greta asks, exasperated.

“ Darling, you’re crazy! I don’t know at all the man you say took that little girl away. And as far as I’m concerned, I only saw that he took the little girl by the hand.”  Peter is perfectly calm.

“ After he yanked her! He took her away! Tell me, please, who is that man? Is he a friend of yours? My God, Peter, you can’t be so insensitive! “ Greta is shouting.

“ What will happen to our child? They kept looking for her….and I have a feeling that they will find her dead” Petra says, crying.

“Don’t despair, dear. We will find our Gisella alive. Now we just have to wait and hope….We could also pray” says Aldo, trying to comfort Petra.

“ Let’s pray to find our child safe and sound, and also because whoever has seen decides to speak,” Petra agrees.

While Greta and Peter are arguing in disagreement about what to do in relation to what they have seen and Petra and Aldo are heartbroken by the disappearance of their child, she, Gisella is sleeping in a white bed in a sumptuous room. The door opens. An elegantly dressed woman and an elegantly dressed man look out the door. “ She is sleeping like an angel, “ says the gentleman. “ Oh darling, I still can’t it’s true! This little girl is ours now. She is going to be our daughter for all intents and purposes” the elegant lady claims.

“Where our little girl will be now? Ah, I have a bad feeling…I see her close in a dark room, bound and gagged. Poor little one! I feel she is suffering” Petra is saying through tears.

“ Don’t torment yourself so, dear. WE HAVE TO HOPE, wait and pray. Everything will end well. They’ll find her” Aldo says, slapping Petra on the shoulder.

“ But I can’t wait. It has already been a day since she disappeared and I no longer live.  Give her back to me! Give me back my Gisella!”

In the white bed of the sumptuous room, Gisella wakes up. “ MOM! Mom! Where is my mom? I want my mom!” she screams crying. The elegant lady at the door comes into the room and approaches Gisella. She bends over the child, caresses her, kisses her, and takes the child in her arms.“ I’m your mother, darling” The elegant lady murmurs, cradling Gisella. The little girl falls asleep again. The woman keeps cradling the little one, chanting: “ My little girl, my little girl…you are mine, darling…No one will take you away from me”