Of the two sisters, Joanne was the pretty one. Jennifer was the brain of the family; the one with the good grades who did well at school, acing the debates and winning medals at the spelling bee. But this never seemed to come close to Joanne’s lighter complexion or her hazel eyes, which changed color with the weather or her mood.
None of this mattered once Joanne disappeared, shortly after leaving home to get married. Jennifer was as worried about her sister as her mother was. She knew something had to be done when she came home one afternoon to find the apartment quiet and dark, the curtains drawn and the television off. There was no sign of her noisy twin brothers who were usually jumping on the sofa watching cartoons this time of her day. And her mother wasn't cooking dinner, as usual, filling the house with delicious smells of home cooking. Instead, she found her mother, Angela, in her room, sitting on the bed, staring in front of her.
"What's wrong, mom?" Jennifer rushed to her mother's side. "Are you all right? Where are Ty and Damian?”
Angela inclined her head slightly. “Downstairs,” she whispered.
Jennifer nodded. The neighbors in the flat below them also had children, and the twins liked to play there sometimes.
“I had a call from Arthur. He drove over to the ranch. In Bonham.”
Jennifer felt her heart starting to beat faster. She knew her mother was going to ask a cousin of hers who lived in Texas to drive over to the farm where Joanne was heading to after she left. She had given them the name of the farm and the man she was going to marry. Sean Perry and Valley View. This was all they knew. She had left over a month ago and apart from one phone call shortly after her arrival in Bonham, they had not heard from her since. This had been her mother’s last resort, actually sending someone to go to the farm to check if anyone had any information about Joanne.
Tears streamed down Angela’s face. “They’ve never heard of Joanne! Arthur spoke to the maid and some of the farm hands there; no one has seen her. No one fitting her description even visited the farm!”
“What about Sean Perry?”
Angela shook her head. “He couldn’t find him. Seems not around. Folks said they rarely saw him. Arthur had to get back home, he couldn’t wait around all day.”
Something had clearly gone terribly wrong. What had happened to Joanne? Why hadn’t she called?
“Do you think we should call the police?” Angela asked.
Jennifer nodded curtly, although she had little trust in the authorities.
“I’m going down there, see for myself what is going on.”
Angela's eyes widened in fear, and she grabbed her daughter’s arm. “No, don’t go!”
“We have to know what is going on,” Jennifer said, trying to be gentle.
“How long will it take for the cops to get down there? They knock on the door once and what then? Go, ‘Oh, there is no sign of her, here?’ We need some answers.”
“But what if something happens to you?”
“Nothing is going to happen to me,” Jennifer said, with more certainty than she actually felt. “I will call you every day and give you a progress report.”
“What about the money?”
Jennifer bit her lip. She was saving up money for college, but she knew this was more important. Until they knew what had happened to her sister, there would be no peace in her family. She would take her savings and travel to Bonham in Texas, all the way across the country. She had never been that far from home before, but she knew this was something she had to do, not only for her mother but for her sister as well.
Jennifer called Mrs. Fries, whose children she was currently watching in the afternoons and explained the situation to her. She needed some time off as soon as possible. Then she booked her plane ticket to Dallas. She would leave first thing in the morning.
Then she went to get takeaways and fetched her brothers from the neighbors. Ty and Damian yelled and pushed each other on the stairs, running into their little apartment, immediately filling it with their boisterous energy. Jennifer felt cheered by them. She saw the way her mother looked at them as well, with a mixture of sadness and hope. They were only ten years old and knew so little of the world.
Jennifer explained to them that she would be going away for a while and that they needed to be good. They nodded, listening solemnly.
“Will you be okay while I’m away?” she asked her mother as the boys ran off for their bath.
Angela worked as a housekeeper downtown. Her hours were long, and she often came home late. Jennifer usually helped with the twins until she was home.
“I’ll ask Betty to com’ look after ‘em,” her mother said, wearily.
Jennifer knew her sister’s disappearance had taken its toll on her mother. Ever since her father had been jailed for manslaughter and the family had to move into this cramped apartment in a poor neighborhood, the twins switching schools and the money drying up; Angela had become increasingly pessimistic about the future. She had not approved of Joanne agreeing to marry a man she had met over the Internet, saying no good could come of it. But Joanne had assured them that Sean was fantastic, that he had a big farm and that once she was married, she would be able to help them out financially. She had convinced them all, even Jennifer, who was always the more sensible one.
“Joanne is okay, ma,” Jennifer said. “I can feel it.”
But she wasn’t so sure. She hugged her mother quickly to hide the fact that her eyes were filling with tears.