“Mom. Calm down. What’s wrong?” “She’s gone! Oh, Todd! I was right there and she’s gone!” Hailey?! He took a staggering step, then another, then fell, hard, to his knees. “What do you mean, gone?” His mother sobbed her answers in staggering bursts. “We were doing lawn work. There in the front yard. I was raking up grass clippings. The mail came and she wanted to fetch it from the mailbox. She scampered off to it. I had my back to the road and when I turned to see what mail had come, she was gone. Just gone.” Mindy stood at the edge of the kitchen, watching him while terror and confusion struggled to control her face. She clutched a dishtowel and raised it to her mouth, when Todd barked, “Hailey can’t be GONE!!” “I was right there! I swear!” his mother wailed. “Not ten feet away! I thought it was all right to let her fetch the mail. Oh, God, what have I done?”
