Hole in None by Shannon VanBergen

Author:Shannon VanBergen [VanBergen, Shannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fairfield Publishing
Published: 2024-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

14

Emily lived in the cutest house I had ever seen in a subdivision called Sunset Isle. Tropical flowers lined the terracotta-colored sidewalk that led up to her house. Palm trees dotted her perfectly manicured lawn. The house itself was peach stucco with white accents. It looked like something straight out of a magazine. Grandma rang the doorbell, and a good-looking man with a yellow polo shirt and rainbow plaid shorts opened the door. He greeted us as two small children ran up to him from behind and grabbed a hold of his legs.

“We’re here to see Emily,” Grandma said. “Is she here?”

“Come on in,” he said, ushering strangers into his house. “Emily is in the bathroom. She’ll be right out.”

The front door led right into the well-lit living room. I noticed there wasn’t a single lamp on, but the room was flooded with natural light. He motioned for us to sit down. The little girl, who was probably three, came up to us and spun around, her pale pink dress flaring as she twirled. When she stopped, she went up to Greta. “I have pockets! Want to see?”

She put her hands in her pockets and pulled out a little doll with tattered hair. She handed it to Greta, and while they chatted, the boy came up to us.

“I’m five,” he said without being asked. “Look at my train.” He pulled a train from his pocket, and the grannies oohed and ahhed over it. I noticed that the boy looked just like his dad; they even had on the exact same outfit. Either this family was on their way to get some family photos taken, or they were robots somehow fitting into the regular world, undetected.

“Okay, I’m ready,” came a voice from the other room. Emily stepped into the living room, took one look at us, and froze. “What are you doing here?”

Her husband seemed alarmed, and he quickly stared at us. I could tell he was trying to figure out how badly he screwed up.

“We just want to chat for a minute,” Grandma said cheerfully.

Emily’s husband looked at us and then to Emily and then back to us and finally back to Emily, his head going back and forth like he was watching a tennis match.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, worried.

Emily forced a smile. “Everything is fine. Jack, why don’t you take the kids to the car? I’ll be right there.”

He hesitated but then followed orders. The kids said goodbye to us, and out the door they went with their dad.

Emily stood in front of the couch and folded her arms, looking down at us. “I’m in a bit of a hurry. We have a professional photo shoot in a few minutes, and we’re already running behind.”

Darn. Not robots then.

“We will only take a moment of your time,” Grandma reassured her. “We just want to know why you left that note in my purse.”

Emily’s tanned face went white. “Why do you think it was me?”

“We matched your handwriting to your yearbook autograph,” Virginia answered.

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