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Trouble At The Ice Cream Shop | Shook Chapter 17 Part 2
Mr. and Mrs. Blue are desperate to find Dyan's foster parent. They're almost out of hope when they hear a knock on the door...
Mr. Blue was scrolling through a website naming the most popular foster homes of North Carolina. Hopefully, he could call some of the people and ask if they were missing a Dyan, or at least knew of her. He glanced at Bear, who was laying in his dog bed near the fireplace that had just been turned off. His front paws were at the sides of his nose, his bright yellow eyes looking up at Mr. Blue.
Light footsteps plapped down the stairs, and Mr. Blue looked up to see Mrs. Blue smiling at him.
“I know we still have to find Dyan’s caregiver, but she feels so part of the family now. It’s going to be awfully hard for me to let her go.” Mrs. Blue said, sitting beside Mr. Blue.
“Yeah, I was thinking about that. The kids love her too,” said Mr. Blue. He stared at the floor, then his eyes lit up and he waggled a finger. “Say, if we don’t find Dyan’s guardian soon, what do you say to adopting her?”
Mrs. Blue's face brightened. “I think that’s a great idea! We’d have to ask her, but I think she’d like that too. Her and Maya are always pretending to be sisters.”
Three sharp knocks silenced them both. Mr. Blue looked down the hall towards the front door, and Bear rose his head.
“Who could that be at this time of night?” Mr. Blue asked Mrs. Blue, who only shrugged.
Mr. Blue walked to the door with Mrs. Blue close behind. He opened the door and immediately looked down to see an old woman with a roundish back. Her hair was made up of three shades of gray and round big curls. Tons of wrinkle lines lined the etch of her baby blue eyes. And her skin was pale white with lots of brown liver spots on her skin.
She smiled, revealing even more wrinkle lines by the sides of her mouth. “Hi, is this the Blue residence?”
“Yes. Who are you?” Mr. Blue questioned.
“I’m Georgia Moleti, Dyan’s caregiver.”
Mr. Blue's forehead wrinkled. “We’ve called you before and Dyan said you weren’t the right lady.”
“I can assure you I am. I have the legal documents right here.” Miss Moleti opened a peach-colored folder and took out a packet with Dyan’s full name, age, and other information about it. It even had a picture of Dyan in black and white.
Mr. Blue’s eyes widened. He turned to Mrs. Blue who had a surprised expression as well.
He opened the door wider. “Well, then, come on in.”
Miss Moleti walked in and slowly strolled down the hall to the living room, where she examined everything, from the TV to the right, the couches on the left, even the huge chandelier near the fireplace. She looked down at Bear, jumped and immediately backed up.
She had a seat on the couch, folded her hands and looked up at the parents.
“According to the news, Dyan published a book at her young age. I suspect since she wrote her last name as Blue and the news center displayed your house, she’s residing here, is she not?”
“Yes, she is.” Answered Mr. Blue, glancing at the steps.
“Well, before she ran away, she was in my care, at my house.”
“I don’t believe it.” said Mrs. Blue. “I mean, we asked Dyan where you were and she said she didn’t know.”
“Well, she lied. The police were at my house and everything.” Miss Moleti threw her hands up.
Mrs. Blue looked at Mr. Blue, but he was looking at Miss Moleti. “Dyan made it seem like the fire was out of control and she just ran away.” Mr. Blue spoke slowly.
“Oh, not at all. My neighbor got me on the phone to speak to Dyan. She was just fine when I called her. I thought she’d stay put and wait for me to retrieve her, but when I got home the police said she’d run away, dodging them when they’d tried to catch her.”
Mr. Blue’s eyes widened as he heard this. Dyan had never so much as mentioned any of this to him.
Mrs. Blue was thinking about other things. “Wait, so you weren’t there with Dyan when the fire broke loose in your house? Isn’t your job as a foster parent to keep her safe?”
“I was about to come home!” Miss Moleti yelled angrily. “My work hours are slightly longer than her school hours, and so she got home a little earlier than me. But I was just about to get that fixed! I think you should stop worrying about me and let’s focus on the real subject: Dyan.”
Miss Moleti got up and began walking towards the fireplace. When she saw Bear’s head lift up again she began walking in a different direction, circling the living room.
“I thank you for taking care of Dyan for the few weeks or so while I tried to find her, and now that I have, we can finally take her off your hands and get her to her next foster home.”
“So, you’ve found a new place to stay already?” Mr. Blue asked absent-mindedly.
“Oh, no. She won’t be staying with me anymore. A foster home in Maine will take her.” answered Miss Moleti.
“All the way in Maine? Has she even ever been to Maine!?” asked Mrs. Blue, her forehead wrinkling.
“How should I know? Anywho, you wouldn’t need to worry about her. She’s going to a nice little foster home near the city of Augusta. Or should I say a nice BIG place, since the home is a mansion in a neighborhood in a forest clearing just outside the city. You take a wonderful wooden bridge across a lake to get there! So Dyan won’t have far to run if she tries to escape. You should alert her of the move and make her pack her bags-if she has any.” said Miss Moleti.
“You’re going to take her away now!? In the middle of the night!?” asked Mrs. Blue.
“Oh no, it’ll take a few days to order her plane tickets and the foster home stuff to get arranged, but someone’ll be back here to take her soon.”
Mr. Blue was speechless. He barley managed to ask “Why didn't Dyan tell us any of this!?”
Mrs. Blue put a hand to her neck. “All’a this is still so hard to believe. We asked Dyan about you a week ago on our trip in Arizona. She said she didn’t know you. And she said nothing about you the WHOLE time she was here. I just can’t believe she would lie to us. She's so kind and well-behaved.”
“Oh, that’s what she may appear to be, but you’ve only known her a few weeks. She could be an awful girl putting on a facade to trick you into taking her in and keeping her under the radar so the police and I don’t find her again. Why else would she run away if she’s such a sweet girl?”
To this, Bear growled, his eyebrows lowered at Miss Moleti.
“Quiet, dog!” yelled Mr. Blue.
Miss Moleti made a wispy “Teh” noise with her tongue. “The girl lied, ran from me, ran from the authorities, and now we’ve caught her. Don’t worry, this shall all be settled soon.”
Mrs. Blue shook her head, but Mr. Blue was still lost in thought. Way too deep in the dark and cloudiest parts of his mind.
Was Dyan really that smart, kind girl he’d met at the truck stop?
Find out what happens next in the next part!
Hey there! I’m Shila! I’ve loved books since I could read, and decided I would write books I wanted to see written for others! Check my children’s book Imagination on Amazon!
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(Image is AI generated.)
