Margo took out a piece of sticky barley candy from her pocket and dropped it into the pond, onto a small pale hand that was half buried in the bottom.
The backdoor creaked open. “What are you doing, honey?” her mom Judith called.
Margo stood up and ran to her side. “I was giving Carl his favorite candy.”
Judith brushed aside a stray lock on Margo’s face. “You saw Carl?”
“Yes, he is inside the water.”
Her mom turned to Hudson her boyfriend, who was sitting on the breakfast table inside, and hugged Margo at the same time. Hudson said, “Margo’s right. It’s not safe to have that pond in the backyard. We should fill it up.”
Judith smiled and looked down at the little girl. “See, honey. Everything will be alright. I don’t want you to go near that place until Hudson has filled it up, okay?”
“Okay.”
That afternoon, Morten the hardware store owner drove up to their house with a small truck filled with bags of soil. As he unloaded them to the side he asked, “Doing another project, Hudson?”
“No. Judith’s girl likes to play near the pond out back. Yesterday she fell in. Scared the hell out of us. So I’m filling the pond up.”
“Pity. Those water lilies look real pretty.”
“Not much we can do about it. Judith bought those to put them in,” he said and pointed to a row of five wide mouthed glazed jars. “As least she can still have her water lilies.”
“You can never be too careful with kids.”
“Judith has been jumpy since those others started going missing.”
“Terrible business.” The conversation naturally turned to the search activities then to their families. It was only an hour later that Hudson started pouring the first bag into the pond. The cases of missing children had created a special kind of paranoia in the neighborhood whereby everyone watches out for everyone else, so that when the neighbors saw him at work one came over with a water pump to divert the pond water into the storm drain and another brought an extra wheelbarrow to help move the bags.
“This isn’t going to be a pretty sight,” Barry from 94 said as he pressed a foot down into the soft soggy surface. “The soil will start sinking in a week.”
“At least Margo will be safe,” Hudson said. “'fraid this is all I can afford for now.”
“I can sell you some slabs at cost,” Tom from 98 said. “But it won’t do any good to put them down now.”
“Thanks for the offer,” Hudson said and shook his hand. “It will have to wait for another month or two. In the meantime, I will be adding sand and stuff.”
The neighbors nodded their approval. After all, it was the best idea on a limited budget and they didn’t want to press the issue as they did not want to embarrass Hudson about his financial condition.
Judith came out with a tray of tall glasses filled with iced tea. Margo was right behind her, clinging behind one side of her mother's skirt.
They made small talk, making sure not to mention any of the missing children in front of Margo. Once the last of the iced tea was drunk, the men left. On entering the house, Margo said, “But Hudson, I haven’t given Daniel a candy yet.”
Judith said, “That is alright, baby. Daniel has more than candy now. He has us,” and she looked up and smiled at Hudson.
Margo shrugged and skipped off to her bedroom where she had lined five brightly colored teddy-bears in a semi-circle in front of a small blackboard. Taking her place in front of them, she turned to a green bear and said, “I’m sorry I can’t give you a candy, Daniel, but if all of you are good, we will have a tea party.”
She listened for a while then turned to an orange bear. “Stop crying, Joseph. You are upsetting us.” She turned her face to the empty open doorway for a moment then leaned towards a blue bear and whispered,” I can’t do that, Carl. Other people are going to take all of you away from me. If we don’t have each other, we have nobody.” She paused to listen. “I promise. I’ll take you with me everywhere.”
That night, Judith and Hudson fell asleep in the living room in front of the TV. A portion of the gas pipe in the kitchen burst and began to leak. Throughout, Margo kept her bedroom door closed and her window open just like Carl said she should. When she came down the next morning, they were both dead. She went back to her room.
Tom, who came by after breakfast with slab samples and cheap ideas, smelled the gas and called 911. When the police arrived, they found Margo in her room having a tea party with five teddy bears.
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