Wild Nights, Hot And Crazy Days

Part 3.4: Well, He Did Say His Exit Would Be Memorable...

When I woke up the next morning I rolled over and looked at the clock. My mind wasn't fully awake yet, so it took a moment to register: 9:25. Holy shit! I was late for school! I jumped up out of bed, threw my clothes on, and ran up the stairs. Mom was in the kitchen. So was dad, which was strange: Usually he went to work at 5:00 AM.

"My alarm didn't go off! I slept in!" I said.

"It didn't go off because I went down this morning and turned it off", Dad said.

"What? Why?"

"The police said you shouldn't go to school today. They haven't caught Colin yet, and thought he might try to contact you at school, so you're staying home."

"Why, what do they think, that Colin would try to hurt me?" I said. I was sort of angry at the thought.

"No, they didn't say that. They just didn't want him lurking around the school, and they didn't want you to be there if they have to arrest him there."

"Well, why are you home?" I asked.

"I'm waiting for his case worker to come. I have to sign some papers and she has to collect his things."

"Oh."

"Listen. You are not to leave this house today. You are not to go looking for him. I want you here. At least until the police give us word."

"Ok". I didn't feel like going anywhere anyway. I walked out of the kitchen and looked out of the living room window. As I gazed at the neighbourhood I thought, 'Is he hiding out there somewhere? Can he see me in this window?'

As I was looking around, I noticed something in the yard. There was a pair of foot prints in the deep snow leading up to the window beneath the living room. My bedroom window. I strained to look straight down and could see that somebody had made a little nest in the snow in front of the window. I looked up again, as if I was afraid that my parents would see what I was looking at. Just as I looked up I saw an RCMP car drive slowly down the street, the cop in the passenger seat staring at me as it went by. I backed away from the window and went downstairs. When I went into my room I noticed that the snow had been cleared away from my window.

Ever since that big snow storm before Christmas my room had been dark because the snow had drifted over the window. I hadn't bothered clearing it because I kind of liked the darkness. Somebody had definitely cleared that snow away though. I walked up to the window and looked. The snow that had been taken away from the window was piled up to make a sort of snow wall that would hide anyone who might be hiding behind it from the road. Whoever had been hiding there did not leave a trace behind, not so much as a cigarette butt. I thought about it. That window was definitely still covered in snow when I got home from the lake. Had Colin come through the night? If he had, at what time? Was he outside the whole time I was reading that note? For some reason I felt for certain that he was.

I sat down on my bed, turned on the radio, and picked up a car magazine. I had barely gotten half way through it when the door bell rang. I jumped up and ran for the door. When I opened it Dad was already at the top of the stairs. It was a cop. He looked past me at my father.

"We got him."

My heart sank. Even now I was kind of rooting for Colin, hoping that he'd get away even though I knew that wasn't what he wanted. I knew that whenever they caught him, it would be where he wanted and when he wanted.

"Where was he?" My father asked.

"You'd never believe it. We were at the mall looking for him and he walked right up to a cop car, knocked on the window and said 'I'm cold. Can I get in'?'"

I chuckled, and even Dad smirked. The bold little bastard.

The cop gave me dirty look, then addressed Dad again. "Anyway, he's in custody. You won't have to worry about him anymore."