THE LITTLE LOST BIRD by Anthony Durrant Anthony Durrant 1st N.A. Serial Rights 572 Westminster Avenue © Anthony Durrant, 2001 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada July 7, 2001 K2A 2V3 All Rights Reserved. THE LITTLE LOST BIRD by Anthony Durrant "It's good to be going home," thought Barry Burton, "after a long day's work." He was walking home from a hard day's work at the police station; after eight hours of sitting down at the computer, it would be good to go home to mama and have a nice dinner. As he walked to his home on the outskirts of the village, he saw a light on at one of the houses. Curious, he walked up to the window through which the light was shining and saw a bizarre scene. Two tall healthy children were sitting at a table; a handsome dark-haired man sat at the head of the table and a dark-haired woman sat at the other end. Standing in front of the stove was a thin ash-blonde girl who was stirring the stew in a large silver cauldron about two feet wide. A few seconds later the timer went off. "Hi! Alice!" the man called. "Bring us some stew!" Picking up the heavy cauldron, Alice walked over to the table with the stew. "Pour us each a bowl of the stew, you stupid strumpet!" the man snapped. "Pour some yourself!" Alice cried. Enraged, the man slapped her backhanded across the face, sending her flying into the counter. "Pour the stew, wench!" he cried. Barry could stand no more - he smashed through the window and knocked the man down with an uppercut, then whipped out his cuffs and slapped them on the man's wrists. "You have the right to remain silent!" he cried. "You have the right to an attorney. You don't have to make a statement but anything you do say will be taken down and could be used as evidence at your trial. I am placing you under arrest for assault and battery." Barry whipped out his cell phone and dialled the emergency number. "This is Constable Burton!" he said. "I'm going to need an ambulance for a victim here at 128 Main Street and a paddy wagon for two suspects, a man and woman in their forties." A few minutes later, the ambulance came and took Alice away; the man and woman were taken away to the paddy wagon, where the woman was also cautioned and placed under arrest. Their children were loaded into the paddy wagon too, then taken away. At the hospital, Alice lay in a bed under Nurse Carter's watchful eye. She was asleep and was dreaming. There was an IV tube extending down to a needle in her right wrist. "Please, Daddy!" she was crying. "Don't hit me! I'll serve the stew." "I can't bear it!" cried Barry, closing the door and bursting into tears. "We did x-rays," the doctor said, "and she shows all the classic signs of abuse." "But we can't charge that man with child abuse," Barry said, "because the girl is too old. She's nineteen at the least - too old to make the charge stick. I've already charged him with assault." "Good for you!" the nurse said. "At least he'll be brought before the court." "Who is she?" Nurse Carter asked. "I don't know," Barry said, "but she's clearly not their daughter." "Barry," mama said as she came into the hall, "I heard about your capturing that monster. The girl - is she still here? Can I see her?" "You'll have to wait till she's awake, Mama," Barry said, "and then you can see her." Lifting Barry up in her powerful arms, mama kissed him and set him down on the floor again. "Oh, Barry, you're wonderful!" she cried. "That girl is a little lost bird without a home now, eh Doctor? Would you like me to take Alice under my wing until we find out who she is?" "Certainly!" the doctor said. "Barry's friends are making a search of the home where he found Alice, in order to find information which will lead them to the girl's real parents." Once she was brought to Barry and Mrs. Burton's house, Alice began to grow stronger and to gain weight under the Burtons' loving care. Mrs. Burton filled the doorways both physically and with her laughter, and Alice came to love her very much, as if she were her own mother. A week after her rescue, her real parents still had not been located and Jackie Bradshaw came to their home for a visit. "I suppose you're going to be defending that monster in court?" Barry asked. "No," she told him, "I won't be defending him - he's a partner in my law firm. But the man he defended last week - Gary Bostwick - who was convicted of robbery, has been released from jail." "He should be!" Barry said. "Because his lawyer apparently kidnapped Alice and because her presence in his household was a continuing offense, Mr. Bostwick is entitled to a new trial." "Will I have to testify?" Alice asked. "No, you won't, Alice!" Barry said. "The DNA evidence will speak for you, I promise." "Don't worry, Alice!" Jackie said. "We'll find your real parents." "Will she be taken away from us, Alejandro?" mama asked. "How many times must I tell you, Mama?" Barry snapped. "It's Barry - I changed my name." "How did you change your name?" Jackie asked. "At www.changeyourname.com, of course!" Barry said. "I changed Mama's name, too." He thought a moment, then opened his homemade laptop. "That reminds me," he said, "I forgot to check at www.childfind.org and see if Alice has been reported as a missing person. Childfind has a list of missing children from the 1970s up to now." He turned on the browser and typed in the URL for the website. When the website came up he began looking through the hundreds of pictures of children. "No," he said, "not that one. Not that one, either. Damn! None of these children have the same colour hair as Alice. It's as if no one has reported her at all." "Some children even slip through Childfind's cracks," Jackie admitted, "but eventually most are found and returned to their parents - eventually. Well, I've got to be going. Nice seeing you." "And it was nice seeing you, Mrs. Bradshaw!" Barry said, opening the door for her. "Thank you!" she said as she walked out of the house. "You're welcome," said Barry. "Have a nice day!" "I will!" she shouted as she walked up over the hill to the Bradshaw house. "Barry?" Alice asked. "Look at this!" mama cried. Barry came over and looked at the screen; he felt a measure of pride at having put the screen together with his own hands. A picture of a baby girl filled the screen. "Who's that?" Barry asked. "Theodosia Burr Canton," mama said, "aged eight weeks. She was kidnapped in 1979." Barry used the cell phone to call his office. "Burton here!" he said. "We've located Alice's family - she's really Theodosia Canton, born on April 23, 1979 and kidnapped from a daycare centre eight weeks later. Contact the Cantons and ask them to come over to my house. They've got quite a surprise coming to them!" "Roger!" Control squawked. Closing his cell phone, Barry turned to his mama. "Where did I go wrong?" he asked. "You went to the section on three and four year olds when in fact she was just a baby." Barry slapped his forehead with his right hand as the others laughed. It proved very difficult to locate the Cantons; they had moved from their original address and dropped from sight. Nobody had any idea where they were. "And just when we've found their daughter!" Barry told Sergeant Clapton. "Daughter?" Clapton asked. "We found the Cantons' daughter living in the home of a lawyer," Barry explained, "and I was the officer who arrested him and booked him for assault. Now he'll be charged with kidnapping." "What's the girl's name?" the Sergeant asked. "Theodosia Burr Canton," Barry replied, "born on April 23, 1979." To his amazement, the sergeant's face lit up with joy and he rushed to his office. "Darling," he cried, "they've found our baby!" Now Barry understood. It was Sergeant Clapton all the time - Sergeant Clapton, who had lost his only child and had changed his name from John Canton to Eric Clapton to get away from the pain of the past. Sergeant Clapton was Alice's father! "So you're John Edward Canton," he said, "born on June 24th, 1945!" "Yes, I am John Edward Canton," the sergeant admitted, "born on June 24th, 1945!" "Would you like to meet your daughter?" Taking him by the hand, Barry led Sergeant Clapton into the kitchen of his home, where Alice and his mother were having lunch; mama was having her usual eight sandwiches. "Alice," he said, "these are your parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eric Clapton." "I thought it was Mr. and Mrs. John Canton!" she said. "They changed their names," Barry said, "and moved here." Mrs. Clapton came into the room and took Alice's hand; she was ash blonde like her daughter and the family resemblance was quite evident. "Do you realize who I am?" she asked. "You're my mother," Alice said, "and I'm your daughter, Theodosia Canton." "Clapton!" the sergeant snapped. "I had it changed legally." "At www.changeyourname.com?" Barry asked. "Mind your own bee's wax, young man!" the sergeant snapped back. "Do I have any brothers or sisters?" Alice asked. "No, why?" the sergeant asked. "The second worst thing I ever heard in my life was the doctor who delivered you saying, 'You will never have another child.' The worst thing I ever heard was the statement by the daycare worker that you had gone missing. You have always been very precious to us." "What's that?" Alice asked, pointing to a book under her mother's arm. "It's a Bible, dear." "What's a Bible?" "You don't know, honey?" "I never learned to read," Alice admitted, "because all that man wanted me to do was cook and clean house. For as long as I can remember, I've been a virtual prisoner in his house." "Then, my love," Barry said, "he's guilty of truancy as well." He opened his cell phone and called his office. "Burton here!" he said. "Do you remember that man I brought in? I want you to charge him with truancy along with the assault and battery and kidnapping charges he'll be facing." "Okay, Barry!" Control said. "Over and out." Barry closed his cell phone. "What's truancy?" Alice asked. "He's guilty of not sending you to school." "Oh, dear!" Mrs. Clapton said. "It sounds like he'll be doing time in prison." "Hefty time!" Barry said. "He and his wife will get a life sentence on the kidnapping charge." He watched as the couple embraced their long-lost child and his mama bit into a sandwich. As a courtesy, he left the Claptons alone with Alice in the kitchen and walked up into the attic. There the young man found the chest in which mama had found the costume she'd worn at the costume party, at which she had captured three robbers intent on stealing her masquerade costume. Opening the chest, Barry found the costume and looked at it with amazement, then rushed pell-mell back down to the kitchen, where he showed mama the costume, his eyes shining with wonder and delight. "That's the costume I wore at the costume party, Alejandro," she told him, "the one which those monsters tried to steal when I captured them." "It's much more than a mere costume, Mama!" Barry cried. "This is the costume the hero wore in the 15-part serial The White Buccaneer. It's worth at least five thousand pounds!" Mama's mouth went into the shape of an O as she realized why the robbers had come for her. "If they had managed to steal the costume," she said, "they'd have made hundreds of pounds on the black market by selling it to the highest bidder - but they didn't manage. I caught them!" "May they rot in jail!" Barry cried. "And it's 'Barry' now, remember?" "Wait a minute," mama said, "the chest is full of costumes. If they're from serials, too -" "We could be sitting on a gold mine!" Barry cried. Both Barry and mama laughed. "What about me?" Alice asked. "I want you to stay here until after the trial," Barry said, "and then you can move in with Sarge." "We have DNA evidence that you are my daughter," Clapton said, "or rather, we will have that evidence once the test results come back from the laboratory. All your worries are over, child." The next morning, Barry read in the paper that the man had pleaded guilty at the Azzizes and had been bound over for trial at the next session of the Court. He had not wanted his victim to appear in the witness box against him, perhaps as a courtesy to the officer who had captured him. He certainly realized that the blood test done at the hospital had proven the girl was not his daughter. "Well, that's that," Barry said proudly, "and now we all can get on with our lives." Alice was scribbling on a piece of paper that was lying on the place mat in front of her. "What are you trying to do?" Barry asked. "Write you a thank-you note," Alice said, "but I don't know how to write either." "You can use the carding feature on my laptop!" Barry said. "Roll the cursor to the image of the birthday card and press RETURN." Puzzled, she did as Barry said. An image of a program appeared on the screen; there was a menu of options beside the main program title. Alice clicked on the option THANK-YOU CARD. She selected the picture elements she wanted for the card; unable to read, she chose by looking at each of the picture elements in turn. "Once you're done," Barry said, "click on the SAVE button to save the card." "All right, Barry!" Alice said. She moved the cursor to the button and hit RETURN, saving the card. Using the text for her message, she typed a short message of thanks using the keyboard, placed it on the card, and saved her message. She showed the message to Barry; it read: "Thenk yew Berry and Mama fer Everthing." Barry was touched - utterly and deeply touched. "You're very welcome, Alice," he said, "very welcome and very thoughtful." Alice looked at Barry. "Barry," she asked, "would you?" "With all my heart!" Barry cried. Barry married Alice in the little church on the edge of the village; he wore a tuxedo and the bride wore a beautiful wedding gown, the same one worn by mama at her own wedding. She herself, standing head and shoulders over the other villagers, was in the church for the wedding ceremony; she wore a dark blouse and a black dress that reached her feet. A wide hat completed the ensemble, and mama wore it proudly on her head. As they left the church, Alice sang: "I'm just a poor Cinderella!" "Everyone loves you, it seems!" Barry sang. "I'm just a poor Cinderella, Finding my romance in dreams." "That's when I meet my Prince Charming -" "I find I just can't stay away!" Barry sang. "I'm just a poor cinderella," everyone sang, "But I'll be a princess someday!" DAD, THE LIVIN' END!