by Kate Rosenberger

Created on: July 21, 2008

Chase tugged at his seatbelt as he stared out the car window. Houses flashed by one after the other. A lot of people were outside today. Two girls in identical white dresses and pink Crocs played hopscotch while their daddy mowed the lawn. A bunch of long haired boys zipped down a side street on their skateboards. Chase's mom began flipping radio stations again and his attention returned to the inside of the car.

"Mommy, I'm thirsty," said Chase.

"We'll get something to drink at the mall. We're almost there," said Mommy.

"Can we get a toy from the toy store?"

"If you're good. But first we have to get Father's Day cards for Daddy and Pop."

A few minutes later they pulled into the mall parking lot. Chase was mesmerized by the diggers and bulldozers at the far end. Mommy said they were building a new restaurant. Chase hopped it was a restaurant that sold chicken nuggets.

They parked in the usual area between two department store entrances. Chase held tight to Mommy's hand as he skipped and hopped across the parking lot. As soon as they made it to the curb Chase wrenched his hand out of Mommy's and ran toward the entrance. He wanted to open the door himself for once.

He pulled and pulled but the door barely budged. He turned around and felt panic rush over him. Mommy was gone. Tears began to well up in his eyes. He turned back to the door only to discover Mommy standing beside him. She wiped his tears and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Don't run away from me like that again do you understand? Someone might take you."

"Ok Mommy."

They each got lemonade from the food court and sat down to drink them in front of a big fountain that had money in it. A baby on the next bench over was crying and crying. Chase watched as her daddy kept waved plastic keys in her face and jostled her around on his knee. He stared for a minute and then looked away.

Chase noticed a man over by a store staring at him. He was wearing a green shirt with white letters. He thought it was Daddy at first. The man was big and tall and had hair on his face like Daddy but it wasn't him. The man continued to stare so Chase waved. The man didn't wave back. Chase realized that the man was looking at Mommy and not him. He looked up at Mommy who was sipping her lemonade and staring blankly into the fountain.

"Who's that Mommy?" Chase asked, pointing in the direction of the man in the green shirt.

"Don't point Chase. Come on; let's go to the card store." They picked out a blue card with pictures of tools for Pop and

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