Without a Trace - Nana

It was the first time this Christmas season that they all went shopping. Really it wasn’t quite like any Christmas that they had ever had before. For one thing, they were all older, but the big thing this year was that Nana, or Dan’s Mom, was living with the family. Dan, Jennie, and Keisha welcomed their Mom, who moved up from Texas, back in October.

“I need to go back home to get my wallet,” Dan said. “Otherwise I can’t drive.” They had been using Carl and Sheila’s car to get around, since Sheila was at home on bedrest. After Keisha got buckled in, Dan strapped himself in, and they headed back home.

Dan pulled into the driveway, stopped the car and pulled the emergency brake. “I’ll be right back,” he said as he got out. Inside the house, Jake, their nine-month old puppy greeted Dan. He found the jacket that had his wallet and put Jake in his cage.

“You know,” he said, climbing back into the car, “the way this car is on the driveway reminds me of a roller coaster heading to the top of a hill.” The rest of the family agreed. Dan put the car in gear and headed for the Meijer in Englewood.

“Let’s park right there,” Jennie said pointing to the open space next to the cart corral. They got out and started briskly walking toward the store entrance. Keisha, Jennie, and Nana all went to the ladie’s room first.

“Anyone want something to drink?” Dan asked as they all walked inside the store. He knew that Keisha probably did, and he felt he needed some caffeine to help him stay awake. “I’m okay,” Jennie said. “Me too,” said Nana.

So Dan and Keisha each got a pop, and they looked for a single-use camera. “That’s so that we can take pictures of each other while inside the store.”

After they bought their sodas and the single-use camera, Dan and Keisha stopped to open their soda bottles and the camera. “First, we’ll take a picture of us,” he said to Keisha. So they each took a drink of their soda as Dan aimed the camera and shot a photo of them.

“Good. Now let’s go find Mom and Nana. But let’s be real careful, so that we can sneak up on them.” They headed toward the back of the grocery area to the dairy department, looking down each aisle for Jennie and Nana. Then Dan spotted them in the dairy aisle and said, “Okay Keisha, let’s sneak up on them from behind.” Needless to say, Jennie and Nana weren’t that pleased to have gotten their pictures taken.

“Okay, I think that’s about everything,” Jennie said, as they headed away from the grocery section of the store. She spotted some hearing aid batteries at the pharmacy. “We need some of these.” Nana and Jennie each had their own carts. Dan noticed that all the pharmacist’s licenses were posted on the wall in front of the pharmacy. Keisha stuck by Mom, and Dan was left pushing Jennie’s cart.

A little while later, they headed down the back aisle toward the general merchandise area of the store. “I wanna read some books,” Keisha said, heading toward the children’s book section.

“We’ll be able to look at lots of books tomorrow when we go to the library,” Nana replied.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Dan said, helping Keisha put the Caillou book back. Jennie and Keisha headed out of the children’s book area, while Dan took the rear, pushing the grocery cart.

“Where’s Nana?” Dan asked later, as they headed toward Toy City. They decided that perhaps Nana had gone into Toy City to look at the toys. Keisha loved Toy City. Dan loved Toy City, too. They all loved Toy City.

“C’mon, Keisha,” Jennie said, “let’s go find Nana.” They all headed toward the front of the store. Dan wanted to got to the electronics area to price MP3 players, but he decided against it, especially since they needed to catch up with Nana.

“Do you see her?” Dan asked Jennie, who was also looking around the check out area. “Me neither. Okay, let’s do this. Keisha, you stay here with Mom and see if Nana turns up. I’ll retrace our steps back around to the grocery area.”

Dan took off back toward Toy City, looking down every aisle. This was a big store, but not big enough for someone to get lost that easily, he thought. As he trotted past the books and the pharmacy, he still didn’t see Nana. Hmmm. He thought. Well, maybe she was trying to find us and headed back through the grocery area. So he walked down every grocery aisle. Still, no Nana. He made his way toward the checkout area, feeling a bit apprehensive. Where could she have gone? It was as though she was right there with them, and then she wasn’t.

“Did you see her?” Dan called out to Jennie.

“No. Did you?” Jennie asked.

“No.” Now he was feeling rather anxious. “Let’s go back to the pharmacy area.”

Back at the pharmacy area, they asked the pharmacist on duty if they’d spotted Nana. “She’s about 4 feet 11 inches tall. She’s wearing a jean jacket.”

“We can page her for you, if you’d like” the pharmacist said.

“Okay, sure. That’s fine.” That should work Jennie thought, since they’d already heard a couple pages for other people. It was the Christmas season and the store was rather full of shoppers getting ready for the holiday.

“Attention Meijer guests, if there’s a Margie Wilcher in the store, please come to the pharmacy to meet your party.”

“No! It’s Welker. W-E-L-K-E-R. Welker.” Dan knew that they would probably get the name wrong. He was really starting to feel anxious now. He looked at the time. Nana had been missing since 8:30 PM, and it was already 9:15. He also knew that he really needed to take his medicine.

Then he saw someone who looked like store management. “Excuse me! Excuse me!” he called out to the manager. “Can you please help us?”

“Yeah, what can I do for you?”

“My mom and all of us got separated. We haven’t seen her in over 45 minutes, and we’re starting to get worried.”

“Did you try to have her paged?”

“Yes, but she hasn’t responded. Do you have any in-store security people that may be able to help out?”

“Yes, and we’ve also got in-store video. I can call Englewood police if you’d like, too. But why don’t you follow me to my office?” the manager said.

A half an hour later, they were still sitting in the manager’s office. They’d talked with Englewood police, too.

Where could she be, Dan thought. It was cold and windy, and she’s not really used to this weather up here. Could she have gone on her own volition, or was she kidnapped? He didn’t like that thought.