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	see. Well, your great aunt has been looking for you since this morning. There have been announcements on the radio and there was a special bulletin on the local television news about an hour ago. You’ve been missing for more than twelve hours. That’s a long time for a ten year old girl. Did you get lost?”       “No.”       “What happened?” Jeanie looked at the man and the woman, kind and sincere, waiting for her explanation. “I was out there.”       “We know that, dear, but were you lost? How did you get all the way over here? It’s a long way from your great aunt’s house.”       She looked at the two grown-ups helplessly for a long moment. She frowned in concentration, trying to find an answer. Finally, she looked away and said in a low voice, “Part of me was lost, and a new part of me was found. It was the best day of my whole life.”       The man was annoyed. “If you were having fun all day, I hope you realize how much distress you’ve caused your great aunt. And it is absolutely not safe for a ten year old girl to be wandering around in the woods. Especially without any clothes on. You didn’t leave home like that did you?”       “No, I was swimming. I forgot where I put them.”       The man looked at his wife and rolled his eyes. “Well, we’ll let Lily deal with you. I think you have a lot of questions to answer.” He left the room. The mother asked Jeanie if she needed anything else, then went and hovered by the open front door, listening for the sound of an approaching car. The house was set back almost a mile from the state road, so the only sounds were the night frogs and owls.       They saw the car’s headlights before they heard its motor The pair of white eyes flickered in and out of sight, over the darkness outside the glow of the front porch light. Jeanie heard the sound and huddled in her chair until Lily appeared in the door. She peaked once at her great aunt’s face and then stared at her feet, ashamed.       When he had telephoned Lily, the man had told her that Jeanie was all right, so the panic that had possessed her all day was gone, replaced by anger. She gave Jeanie a quick hug and a peck on the cheek, but did not look her in the eye. Her face was stiff with fatigue and embarrassment. The police officer who had driven her over stood on the porch looking bored and distracted.       Lily spoke at length with the man and his wife. The watermelon that she had eaten had been intended as an entry in the local county fair. She offered to pay the man for it, but he refused. The wife described to Lily the state that Jeanie had been in when they found her. Lily flushed with shame, glancing angrily at Jeanie. She promised to wash and return the borrowed clothes the next day.       Jeanie felt her anger. She started to cry. She couldn’t stop. The muscles in her throat cramped and she could not get her breath except as long wailing cries, though she tried to muffle them. Now, everybody was staring at her. The boys reappeared in the hall. The policeman put his head in the front door, looking at her.       At first Lily tried to comfort her, but when Jeanie continued to gasp and moan, she took her by the arm and pulled her to the door. Lily thanked the man and woman all the while tugging Jeanie towards the patrol car. She had lost all patience.       Though she did try, Jeanie could not stop sobbing. She was overwhelmed with sorrow, by a feeling of irreplaceable loss, and sense of a permanent leaving. She was never again going to get to lie on the body of the black water and watch a hawk born out of the living white clouds, dive to earth and kill a black snake as big as her arm.       There would be no more eating of hot watermelon with her bare hands under the moonlight, she, naked with the pink juice running over her bare skin. At least not in the open and not without shame.

	Lily, whose indignation and frustration was growing by the minute, put Jeanie in the back of the police car. Instead of sitting in back with Jeanie, she got in the front and ignored her.       There was a sound-proof grill between the front and back seats, and there was wire over the windows. The police man rolled Jeanie’s down a little to let in some fresh air. She was still crying, a convulsive, gasping, painful sound that she could not stop. He felt sorry for the girl, but he was used to this kind of thing. He got in and turned the car around, waving out the window at the man, woman and boys who were all still standing in the front door.       The people went back inside and turned off the front porch light. The red taillights of the patrol car trailed the glow of the headlights down the driveway. In the woods, the owls and other night animals were still for a minute, listening and watching. The girl’s wailing faded as the car moved away.       When Jeanie’s cries could no longer be heard and it was dark again, there was stillness for a moment, and then the frogs began to sing. Owls called back and forth in the woods. Out there. Now. Back to arraich.com
	Copyright © 2002 by Jay Arraich. All rights reserved. All photographs copyright © 2002 by Jay Arraich jay@arraich.com	Animal Rights arraich.com Links