“Five...ten...fifteen...twenty...” Ruth Ferguson mumbled to herself as she counted the nickels from her drawer. With a quick tap to the calculator, she scooped the change into its tube and continued with the pennies. If there were twenty-six, her drawer balanced for the forty-third day in a row. “Twenty-four...twenty-five...bang!”

“Again?” Arlene Jones was envious of her coworker’s streak, though she was seldom off in her own drawer. “How do you do that?”

“How does anyone explain perfection?” Ruth teased. She had always been meticulous when it came to her cash drawer, but she had been extra careful today. It was Friday—and her weekend to have custody of her daughter—so she wasn’t interested in hanging around the bank to reconcile her balance sheet.

“Congratulations! And the grand prize is you get to keep your job another week,” Sharon Petrie joked. She supervised the tellers at the Bank of Madison and loved the fact that Ruth kept the pressure on all of them.

“Lucky me,” the blond woman answered with playful cynicism, shouldering her purse as she readied to leave.

“You got Jessie this weekend?” Arlene asked.

“Yeah, I’m headed to pick her up right now.”

“Any big plans?”

“No, we’ll probably just hang out at the house and play. This rain’s supposed to be around all weekend.”

“Well, you two have fun.”

“Thanks. Good night.” Ruth stopped at the door and took one last look back. She liked working here. The work was fun because her customers were so nice and some of the people she worked with had shown themselves to be true friends throughout her ordeal of the past year. Arlene especially had come through for her, lending a shoulder or an ear and often including Ruth in her weekend plans when Jessie was with her father. “Arlene?”

“Yeah?” The teller looked up at her friend.

“I hope you have a good weekend too.”

Arlene smiled. “Thanks, hon.”

Ruth tightened the sash on her raincoat while the security guard unlocked the back door. “Goodnight, Roger.”

The November wind had torn the last of the leaves from the trees. Now it was serving final notice that the cold Maine winter was ahead. Ruth hurried across the parking lot in the drizzle, pulling up her collar to ward off the chill. The days were getting shorter now and it was dark already by five-thirty. A tap on the keyfob inside her pocket unlocked the door and caused the lights to flash on her black Saturn coupe. Shivering, she got into the car and started the engine. By the clock on the dashboard, she would be early.

As usual, Skip would be late.

“A kid’s meal, please. With an orange drink and a...chicken sandwich with a cup of coffee.” Ruth placed her order at the busy fast food restaurant, her regular dining establishment every other Friday when she met Skip Drummond to pick up their four-year-old daughter. Her ex-husband was better behaved in public places, so the restaurant was mandated in the court order to host the exchange.

Ruth hated it when her ex-husband came to her house and she had managed to get this one small concession by pressing the social worker who monitored her visits. Monitored her visits. That thought caused the young mother to shake her head in disbelief. It was beyond Ruth’s comprehension that things had fallen this way. But she had her daughter for two full weekends a month, and she wasn’t going to look that gift horse in the mouth.

The pickup truck pulled onto the lot at six-twenty. She knew it was Skip by the obnoxious fog lights positioned on top of the cab. Knowing him, he had driven by the place at five till six on the off chance of getting there before she did so he could raise hell about her being late. But Skip and his bullying demeanor wouldn’t matter to her in about two minutes once he delivered their precious little girl. Then he could go fuck himself.

“Mommy!”

“Jessie!” Ruth knelt down to catch the running child in a fierce welcome that made her eyes sting with tears. She steeled herself against the image of the tall booted man who followed carrying a colorful backpack. At six-foot-six, Skip Drummond cut a handsome figure in his faded jeans and white shirt. Though he was only twenty-nine, his sandy hair was thinning already, but it was nothing a Red Sox cap couldn’t hide.

“Well, she’s your headache for the next forty-eight hours,” he muttered low so no one around them would hear.

Ruth ignored him. “How are you, sweetie?”

“Fine.” Jessie was the spitting image of her mother: blond hair, slightly built and with expressive green eyes. Eyeing the kid’s meal already spread out for her, she climbed eagerly into the booth and began to munch on a fry.

“Jessie, what happened to your arm?” Ruth felt her blood run cold when she saw the bruise on her daughter’s forearm as she pulled off her coat. Angrily, she glared at her ex-husband in accusation.

“Tell her.”

“I fell.”

Ruth didn’t believe it for a minute. Skip knew it and didn’t care. “She’s got one on her butt, too. She’s pretty clumsy.” He dropped the backpack with a thump as he turned to walk out. “See you on Sunday. Don’t be late,” he taunted.

That son of a bitch! How could he hurt his own daughter like that?

Ruth took three or four breaths before sitting down with her child. It was important never to cloud their time together with the specter of Skip Drummond, and in ten seconds he would no longer exist in her mind.

“So, what did you bring in your backpack, honey?”

“Just a shirt...and pants...and socks.”

“Who packed it for you?”

“Grandma.”

That was good to hear. When Skip packed, he usually “forgot” things that he knew Ruth would have to go purchase on her meager salary. As it was, Jessie already had nightclothes, a toothbrush, underwear, and several changes of clothing at her mother’s small house. At least she was wearing her heaviest coat, Ruth noted with relief.

“Where’s Lisa?” Lisa was Jessie’s favorite doll, a lifelike infant in a diaper and terry sleeper.

“Grandma said I had to leave her there ’cause she’d get dirty at your house,” the child answered innocently.

Ruth took another calming breath as she processed this tidbit. Barbara Drummond, her former mother-in-law, was a sour woman—which sure explained what made Skip a genuine son of a bitch. From the day she and Skip were wed, Barbara had never missed an opportunity to put down her daughter-in-law. Why she had ever agreed to keep Jessie during the day was a mystery, since she resented the child’s very existence.

“Do you want ketchup?” Jessie had stopped eating her fries.

“Uh-huh,” the little girl nodded vigorously. “Can we go out to the slide when I get finished?”

“Not tonight. It’s raining a little and we really need to get home soon.”

“Why?”

“Somebody’s coming to see me. He’ll only be there for a minute, but I need to be sure we’re home when he comes.”

“Who is it?”

“His name’s Dennis. I don’t think you know him.”

“Why is he coming?”

Jessie was world class in the question-asking department. Ruth tried very hard to be patient with her because she knew that Skip probably never answered anything.

“He’s coming to pick up something.”

“What?”

“You’ll see. Eat some more of your cheeseburger.” Ruth forced herself to take another bite of the chicken sandwich. She had lost her appetite after the encounter with Skip but knew she needed to eat. It was going to be a long night.

Ruth pulled into the driveway of her small rented house, suddenly anxious about the impending visitor.  Guiding her child up the back steps, she fumbled with the key and pushed open the back door.

“It looks different,” Jessie announced, looking from one side of the room to the other. “I know. You took my pictures down!” She pointed to the refrigerator where Ruth had proudly displayed Jessie’s art work, not only as a reward to her daughter, but as a bright reminder of all that was good in Ruth’s life.

“I put them in a box, sweetie. I’ve put all of our important things in a box.”

That sent Jessie running to the closet in the hallway where she always kept her toys and games. They were gone. “Where’s the box?”

“I’ll show it to you later, honey. I need to change my clothes before Dennis gets here. You want to come into the bedroom?” On their weekends together, they barely spent a moment apart.

Jessie came in to bounce on the bed and chatter as she watched her mom change. Earlier, Ruth had laid out jeans, a pullover, socks and tennis shoes, so she dressed very quickly. When she was finished, she hung her dress on a hanger, draped it across the bed and rolled her shoes and stockings inside her slip.

A sharp knock on the front door interrupted Jessie’s story of what her Lisa doll had done that day.

“That’s probably Dennis, honey. I need to go outside with him for a few minutes. Can you stay in here? Please?”

The four-year-old didn’t want to do that and she shook her head no.

“Jessie, please? When I’m finished, we’re going to put our coats back on and go somewhere. Okay?”

“Where?”

“You’ll see.” Ruth had used that answer already and didn’t want to put her daughter off any more than she had to, but there wasn’t time now for explanations. “Just please stay in here.”

Flipping on the front porch light, she swung the door open wide to find a young man in pressed slacks and a fleece pullover. “Are you Ruth Ferguson?”

“Yes. Are you Dennis?”

“That’s me! I thought for a minute I had the wrong house.” He turned to wave to the driver who had dropped him off. In response, the driver turned off the car’s engine and headlights.

“I’m sorry. I just got home a few minutes ago. I should have turned the light on for you.”

Dennis held out an envelope. “Mr. Huggins said for me to give you this.” Dick Huggins owned a used car dealership in Farmington about twenty miles away. Ruth had stopped in on Wednesday night to see what they would give her in a cash deal for the four-year-old coupe.

“Thank you.” Ruth quickly opened it and counted out sixty-five one hundred dollar bills. “Yes, that’s right. It’s right out here.” She grabbed her keys from the table and clicked the fob to turn on the interior lights of the Saturn as they walked outside. “I have a screwdriver in the glove compartment. The title’s there too, if you want to fill out the mileage. I just need to sign it.”

“Why don’t you fill all that out while I take the tags off?” he offered, holding up his dealer tag. In just a few moments, Dennis was trading the plates for two sets of keys. “Thank you very much, ma’am. You buying a new car?”

“Yeah, I’ll go looking with a friend tomorrow.”

“Good luck finding what you need.”

“Thank you, and thanks for coming to pick it up.” Her plan was now irrevocably in motion.

“No problem.”

Ruth stood and watched the two cars back out, glancing across the street and to either side to see if the activity had drawn anyone’s attention. This continuing drizzle was a nice cover for her clandestine moves tonight. No lights had come on outside, and no one appeared to be coming or going at any of the houses, so she had every reason to believe that this part of her plan had gone off unnoticed.

“Jessie?” Ruth returned to the bedroom to find her daughter looking in the empty closet.

“Where’s your clothes, Mommy?”

“Jessie, listen. You know how I always try hard to answer your questions so you’ll understand things?”

The little girl nodded.

“Tonight, I need for you just to trust me. I won’t be able to answer a lot of your questions right now, but I will soon. I promise. Can you trust me tonight and try not to ask so many questions right now?”

Jessie agreed hurriedly. She didn’t want to see her mother get mad the way her father did when she asked too many questions.

“Okay, I need you to go put your coat back on. We’re going to take a short walk to where I parked our new car.” Ruth slid the license plates and screwdriver into her daughter’s backpack along with her rolled-up slip and shoes.

“We have a new car?” Jessie asked with excitement.

“Yes, we do.”

“What color is it?”

“Sweetie, remember what I asked you to do. No more questions right now, okay?”

“Okay.” But Jessie couldn’t help herself. “Are my toys in the car?”

“Yes, honey. It has all of our stuff in it already, as much as I could fit. I got all of your toys and games, and all of your clothes.” As she was talking, she helped Jessie zip the pink coat that she had bought just a little large a few weeks ago. “Can you carry this?” She handed her daughter the booster seat from the Saturn.

Jessie nodded and hugged the lightweight cushion to her chest.

“Now when we go out, I need you to be very quiet, okay?”

“Okay.” The four-year-old made a motion of buttoning her lip.

“That’s right. Until we get in our new car, I don’t want you to say anything, starting right...now!” Ruth picked up the dress from the bed, the child’s backpack, and her own purse and raincoat. Leaving the light on in the kitchen, they walked out onto the back porch where Ruth turned to lock the door.

Juggling her load, she dropped one hand to grasp the hand of her daughter and they walked soundlessly across their own back yard, and then through that of the neighbor behind them. Stopping by the thick shrubbery next to the house, Ruth scouted the street for traffic or for people out walking in the persistent drizzle. Seeing neither, she led Jessie into the front yard and onto the sidewalk, where they turned and walked half a block toward a line of parked cars. Reaching the third, a dark red Taurus station wagon, she unlocked the door and positioned the booster cushion on the passenger side of the front seat. She helped the small child into the car, leaning across to fasten the safety belt as she shoved the things she was carrying into the cargo area behind Jessie. Quietly, she closed the door and hurried to the street side, where she slipped in and slid the key into the ignition.

“You okay, honey?”

“Is this our new car?”

“Yes, it is.”

“I like red.”

In minutes, Ruth was headed toward the outskirts of town, where she pulled into a strip mall and parked next to the large blue box for outgoing mail.

“What are we going here for?”

“We’re not, honey. I just need to stop for a minute. I have to do a couple of things, but I’ll leave the heater on so you won’t be cold,” she explained.

Ruth got out with her screwdriver and fastened the plates to the front and back mounts, wadding up the “Lost Tag” sign she had made for the Taurus. Next, she grabbed a small bundle of envelopes from her purse, including one that wasn’t yet sealed. She dropped her house key into that one, inside a folded thank-you note she had written last night. In her apology for the late notice, she gave her landlord permission to keep the two hundred dollar security deposit for the furnished house and wished him luck finding a new renter.

The other letters were mostly bills, each containing just a little extra to cover any additional charges since her last statement and a note with instructions to close her account. Only one note was personal, the one to the bank where she had worked for most of the last seven years.

The mail from the drop box wouldn’t be picked up until Saturday afternoon, meaning the local letters wouldn’t be delivered until sometime on Monday. By then, most people would already know that she was gone. This would confirm that she had planned it that way, and that she had not met with any sort of foul play. She hoped her friends wouldn’t worry and she couldn’t care less how Skip took the news.

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