It was October 19th. The forecast said rain moving in by afternoon, heavy at times, temperatures dropping into the low forties overnight.
Around one o’clock, Birdie asked if she could play in the backyard before the rain started. She put on her purple rain boots and her yellow jacket. I clipped the pink butterfly into her hair, over her left ear, the way she liked it.
“Stay in the yard,” I told her. “Where I can see you.”
“I know, Mommy.”
I stood at the kitchen window and watched her for a while. She was sitting under the cottonwood tree, talking to her stuffed rabbit. Every once in a while, she’d look up at the sky. I knew who she was looking for.
At 1:20, my phone rang. It was a number I didn’t recognize. A Boise area code.
“Mrs. Whitaker? This is Janet from Summit Community Management. I’m returning your calls about the Willow Bend fines.”
Finally. I’d been waiting three weeks for that call.
I turned away from the window to grab a pen and a notepad off the counter. I sat down at the kitchen table. I told Janet everything. I read her the dates from my notepad. I asked her about the photographs, and who had taken them, and whether the Board had ever actually voted on the attorney’s fees.
Janet put me on hold twice. She said she’d have to “check with the Board President.” She said she’d “escalate the matter.”
The call lasted fourteen minutes. I know because I looked at the screen when I hung up. 1:34 p.m.
I got up and looked out the window.
The backyard was empty.
Her stuffed rabbit was lying under the cottonwood tree, face down in the grass.
And the back gate, the one that opens onto the walking path, was standing wide open, swinging a little in the wind.
Sophia Rivers is an experienced News Content Editor with a sharp eye for detail and a passion for delivering accurate and engaging news stories. At TheArchivists, she specializes in curating, editing, and presenting news content that informs and resonates with a global audience.
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