It was a warm day.
Sandy did not need her jacket like she had the previous Monday when she had met with Connie. Being sent suddenly away from home, she did not have time to alert Selina. Not that she needed to anyway - it was only a brief outing shortly before dinner. Surely, nothing dangerous would happen.
The park was a good walk away from home. Thus, Sandy had plenty of time to experience the gentle wind, the warm sunshine... and Ditz's persistent questions.
"So what's this park like?"
"Do you go there often?"
"Are there many people there?"
"Do you play with the other kids there?"
Eventually, they reached the park and mercifully, the questions stopped. There were many more people then compared to the last time Sandy was there, though not too many for it to be considered crowded. Most of the grownups were walking along the paths. Most of the children were all over the various play facilities on one side of the park.
Ditz was still small enough for the playhouse so that was where Sandy took her. When they reached there, the middle schooler excitedly joined the children playing. She was just within the upper limit of the age group and her cheerfulness easily got her accepted by the children there.
Sandy had thought of following after Ditz but, oh disappointment, the playhouse was too small for her to fit in. She was totally hoping to use the middle-schooler as an entry pass to try out the playhouse that early childhood had denied her.
Sigh. Sandy had to be content with sitting on a swing.
Ditz seemed to be enjoying herself immensely, to Sandy's jealousy. The younger girl was making friends. She was exploring and trying out the various facilities. She was squealing with glee. High-pitched squealing. The kind that was irritating on the ears of those denied direct participation in the fun that the children were having.
Eventually, Sandy was bored with her swing. She tried pulling herself up on the chin-up bars but her arms grew tired quickly. There were hardly anyone around her age to interact with. They were probably at home on various electronic entertainment or out shopping in malls.
Such was the life of rich kids.
Her watch told her there was still some time but Sandy's boredom had reached her limit. So she called Ditz.
"Ditz, want to go back already?" Sandy asked.
"Okay," Ditz agreed.
Sandy waited for the middle-schooler to wave goodbye to her new friends then walked with her to the edge of the park. Cheerful Ditz was waving goodbye to everyone they passed.
Ditz waved goodbye to the elderly couple on a walk.
Ditz waved goodbye to the man walking his dog. Ditz waved goodbye to the dog too.
Ditz waved goodbye to the two seedy-looking men: the one with an unshaven chin and the other with ill-kept hair.
"How about some ice cream, girls?" the seedy-looking young man with the unshaven chin asked Sandy and Ditz. He had short brown hair and his clothes were untidy, with his shirt partly tucked in.
Sandy liked ice cream. But... "We'll be late home if we do," she said, "It's a long walk."
"Oh, we'll give you a ride in our car," offered the other man, the one with the ill-kept darker brown hair. His clothes were as untidy as the other man's.
"Okay!" Sandy and Ditz agreed, totally forgetting about Momma Lois's words about spoiling dinner.
They went to get an ice cream cone each from the takeout store next to the park.
As promised, the men gave the girls a ride in their car, an old vehicle with peeling paint and rusty dents. It shook badly as they rode. Sandy thought the car was in worse shape than Momma Lois's cheap compact.
"Hey, uh, you want to make a right turn here," Sandy said. She was in the back seat with Ditz.
"Sorry, we're not going that way," the unshaven man in the driver's seat said.
The other man, in the passenger seat, turned around to tell the girls. "You've just been kidnapped!"
(And that was, and still is, why good little children and bad ones too should not accept treats or rides from strangers.)
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