Blackberry Winter

Chapter 5




VERA

“There, now,” said someone hovering overhead. “Take a drink. It will do you good.”

Where am I? Whose voice is that? I opened my eyes and the hazy scene slowly came into focus. Caroline. Tawny flames flickered in the fireplace. A scratchy wool blanket clung to my lap.

“Auntie Vera, are you awake?” Little Eva, Caroline’s daughter, pressed her cheek against my chest. Not much older than Daniel, she possessed a level of maturity beyond her years.

My eyes burned and my head ached. I clutched my feet in agony. They stung and throbbed like no other pain I’d felt.

“Frostbite,” Caroline said softly. “You’re lucky we found you when we did. I’ve been bringing them back to room temperature for the last hour. I think we saved your toe.”

She inspected my right foot, then placed a glass of water in my hands. “Drink.”

I buried my face in the pillow on the sofa, but Caroline gently tilted my chin forward, pressing the glass to my lips. I let the fluid seep into my mouth, choking a little as the cool water washed down my parched throat.

“We found you out on the street an hour ago,” she continued. “You were delirious, honey, before you fainted. Mr. Ivanoff was kind enough to help carry you up.”

Mr. Ivanoff, a mason who hailed from Russia, had always been good to us. Last month he saw Daniel in the lobby of the apartment building and smiled benevolently. “Boy has no father?” he asked, his accent thick.

“No, he doesn’t,” I said quietly, as Daniel marveled at Mr. Ivanoff’s tools.

The man nodded. “Then I let him help me with my work today. You don’t mind, do you?”

I smiled at the kind gesture.

“Please, Mama?” Daniel chirped.

“Of course, dear,” I said.

I had pulled out my knitting needles and settled into a chair in the corner as Daniel and his new friend set out to repair the mortar on the saloon’s fireplace.

I sat up suddenly, looking around Caroline’s apartment frantically. Daniel. The fog had lifted to reveal the terror I had felt earlier. My son. Gone.

I stood up, setting the glass down with an unsteady hand. It fell to the floor and shattered, water splattering onto the shabby blue rug. “I have to find him!” I cried. “We have to do something. Somebody took him. Somebody took Daniel!”

Caroline rushed to my side. “Now, now,” she said. “You’ve been out in the snow all morning. Your feet must be frozen solid. You can’t go back out there. I won’t let you.”

I pushed her arms away and took a step toward the door, but my legs gave out under me. As Caroline lifted my head onto her lap, my heart beat so loudly, it was all I could hear. How much time has passed? Darkness lingered outside Caroline’s window. “He must be hungry and cold,” I whimpered, trying unsuccessfully to stand again before giving in to Caroline’s pleas.

She helped me to the sofa and stroked my hair until my sobbing subsided. “We’ll find him,” she said quietly.

Little Eva, Daniel’s best friend, sat next to her mother with a frightened look on her face. “Aunt Vera?” she whispered, peeking her head over my shoulder.

“Don’t bother Aunt Vera right now, dear,” Caroline said. “She needs to rest.”

“But Mama,” Eva replied, “I’m afraid. Did the bird lady take Daniel?”

I opened my eyes. “The bird lady? Eva, what do you mean?”

“The bad lady who kills birds,” she continued.

“Eva!” Caroline barked. “Hush. You run upstairs and find your doll.”

The child nodded obediently and left the room.

“Don’t listen to her,” Caroline said. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

I buried my face in my trembling hands. “But, I—” My voice cracked as I began to weep, this time without tears. I had none left. “Oh, Caroline,” I cried. “We have to find him. Please help me find him. Please God, please let him come home to me.”

“I will help, honey,” she said softly. “Just as soon as I take care of you.”



An hour later, Caroline went to the corner market for firewood, and I sat up and clutched my head. It pounded violently, but I stood up anyway. My knees wobbled and I quickly steadied myself on the arm of the sofa. I have to get out of here. I have to find him. I must get back to the apartment.

“You stay here, dear,” I whispered to Eva. “Your mama will be back soon. Tell her I had to go find Daniel. Tell her I’m sorry. She’ll understand.”

Eva nodded as I walked out the door. I couldn’t waste another second. My feet throbbed beneath me. I clutched the railing, hobbling down each step, until I reached the street, where a chilling wind blew into my face so forcibly, it took my breath away. But I pressed on, limping along the sidewalk, willing the pain away. I had to stay strong. But my feet ached so terribly, and the snow beneath them felt like acid on a wound. Keep walking. He might be waiting. The scene ahead came in and out of focus. My strength was failing me, I knew. Stay strong. Keep walking. A figure approached. Large, shadowy, pounding one fist into his palm. I fixed my eyes on his face; it sent a shiver through my body. Oh God, Mr. Garrison.

“Look who we have here,” he said, the corners of his mouth forming a sick smile. “Ran out before you paid your rent, did you?” He placed a bold hand on my forearm, yanking me toward him.

“Please!” I screamed. “My son has gone missing. I have to find him!”

“Too late,” he said without emotion. I could see the dried crust of frothy ale on his mustache. “No rent, no home.”

“But, I…” Before I could finish the sentence, I started to sway; then my vision went black.

I don’t know how much time passed, but when I opened my eyes I felt an icy wind at my neck. Blood trickled from my lip.

Mr. Garrison hovered over me, his hot, sour breath in my face. “You’re coming with me,” he said, lifting me in his arms.

“Stop!” Caroline screamed. “Let her go!”

An older man came running from across the street. “Is there a problem here?”

“This man,” Caroline cried, pointing at Mr. Garrison, “he’s done something to my friend.”

The older man puffed his chest. “Where is your sense of decency?” he shouted. Mr. Garrison released his hold on me and I slid back to the ground, into the wet snow. “Leave the poor woman alone!”

Mr. Garrison sneered at the man, then slunk back into the pub, muttering under his breath.

“Can I help you get her home, miss?” the man said to Caroline.

She lifted my arm over her shoulder and helped me to my feet. “No,” she said, “but thank you. I live just a few blocks away. I can manage.”

“I won’t stop looking for him,” I said in a weak voice.

“I know, dear,” she said. “But I won’t let you die trying. When we get back, I’ll get you settled; then I’ll go to the police.”

“You will?”

“Of course I will,” she said, squeezing my shoulder tighter. “We’ll file a report. They’ll start looking for him.” The certainty in her voice soothed me.

Back at her apartment, she tucked a blanket around me, then put on her sweater and went out to the street to flag down a police officer. Eva lay her head on my chest as I waited, listening to the old cuckoo clock tick on the wall above, aware of every second passing. I sat up when I heard footsteps in the hallway outside the apartment. The door opened and Caroline walked through the doorway with a police officer. He held a black baton and eyed the percolator on the stove, then looked at Caroline.

“I don’t suppose you have a cup of coffee for an officer who’s been in the cold all day, miss?”

She obliged, dashing to the kitchen to light the stove before emptying the last dusting of grounds from the coffee can into the percolator.

“It’ll just take a minute, officer,” she said. “Vera’s over here. As I said downstairs, her son is missing.”

The officer looked disinterested. “Miss Ray?”

“Yes,” I said. “Thank you ever so much for—”

“I don’t have much time,” he barked. “Be brief.”

“Of course,” I said, adjusting the blanket over my legs. “This morning, when I came home from work, my son, Daniel, had vanished.”

The officer raised his eyelids and took a sip of coffee from the mug Caroline had just tucked into his hands. “So you’re saying he was home by himself? How old is the boy?”

“Three,” I said. The officer’s eyes bore into me.

“She works at the Olympic Hotel,” Caroline said, jumping in to fill the silence. “She works hard to support him. I watch him as often as I can, but last night I was working too, and he—”

“He had to stay home by himself,” I said. There was no way around the truth. “I took him to work last week and my supervisor said she’d can me if I brought him again. Officer, with so many people out of work these days, I can’t bear to lose—”

“I don’t need a lesson on employment conditions in this city, miss,” he said, eyeing me with suspicion. “Where’s the boy’s father?”

“Daniel doesn’t have a father,” I said. “At least not one who’s a part of his life.”

The officer smirked. “I see.”

I showed him Daniel’s little bear. “I found this in the snow. It belongs to my son.”

The man pulled out a notebook and scribbled a few words onto the tablet, nodding to himself. “A runaway,” he finally said. “He’ll probably come home. They always do.”

My stomach churned. “No, no,” I said. “You have it all wrong. Daniel would never run away. He had to be taken. I’m sure of it.”

The officer continued to smirk. “Were there any signs of breaking and entering? Was a window broken? A door? Valuables stolen?”

I stared at him blankly. “No, not that I could tell.”

He set the empty coffee cup down, then closed his notebook with a hasty flick of his wrist. “Exactly as I suspected. The boy’ll be back.” He paused to let out a raspy chuckle. “When he’s hungry enough.”

The door closed with a thud, and I buried my face in my hands. “I have to go back to the apartment,” I sobbed. “I have to go back. In case he comes home.”

Caroline shook her head. “Not with that tyrant of a landlord lurking. You’re staying here. We can ask Mr. Ivanoff to escort us over there in the morning. For now, you need to rest.”

Eva reappeared at the foot of the stairs, where Caroline was standing. “Mama!” she cried. “Did Daniel remember to button his coat? He always forgets to, and I tell him—” Caroline rushed her hand to Eva’s mouth to silence her.

Outside, the snow swirled in the air, frigid and unrelenting, and I didn’t even know if my little boy had his coat on.