The Sadian Chronicles: Book 3: Deeds of the Unforgiven

The Eyes of a Stranger: Part 2

She met Hillary down in the parking garage. They were taking her car to the park and planned on having a picnic lunch, and boys could also spend some time playing at the playground. The slide was Reese's favorite and not the little toddler sized slide. He liked the big kid slide. He had tried it once when Marianna wasn't looking, and she almost had a heart attack when her little boy came down that big slide. He came down so fast that he flew right off of it and landed in the dirt. She thought he may have been hurt, but he just picked himself up off the ground without a care thinking he was the greatest slider of all times.

Reese had a way of keeping her on her toes. Sometimes she wondered if she would survive it. Hillary had a kid's sing-a-long tape playing in the car, and the boys were singing along to it in the back seat. She didn't much care for it, but if it made her little boy happy she would endure it.

Hillary parked the car in the closest spot she could find that was nearest to the playground which wasn't that close because they still had a ten minute walk ahead of them. Marianna carried the picnic basket while Hillary kept an eye on the boys. With it being a Saturday there was a lot of traffic with families coming and going all day.

The two young mothers searched for a spot that was secluded but still visible enough so they could keep an eye on the boys. They finally found one that was near a patch of trees. Hillary laid out her pink and blue floral table cloth.

"Oh, no," Hillary said. "We forgot the soda cooler in the trunk.

"Then one of us will have to go get it," Marianna said and looked over towards the playground where the boys took off to. "Make sure he doesn't get into any trouble."

"Sure," Hillary said. "Here is the key to the trunk," she said and reached into her purse. She pulled out the key and handed it to Marianna. Hillary continued to lay out the food while the boys remained playing. She knew soon enough they would be hungry and would devour the feast in no time.

Unbeknownst to her there was a man watching nearby. He had on dark sunglasses, which wasn't unusual since it was a warm sunny day, but he was wearing a black leather coat and dark jeans and his hair was tied back in a ponytail.

He was watching one boy in particular. Reese Faigon was practicing the dribbling moves that Denny had been teaching him. He had become almost as good as his friend and the other kids on the playground were impressed, even some of the girls came to watch the dribbling duo as they bounced the ball in between their legs and down their arms until the spinning balls rested on their upturned fingers. They were having a contest to see which one could spin the ball the longest. Denny won by three seconds, but Reese's ball bounced away towards the woods where his watcher stood. The ball stopped right at his boot.

Reese chased after the ball and found it in the possession of a strange man. His mother always told him not to talk to strangers, but he didn't sense any danger.