Chapter 22

Again they wake up with Christopher lovingly and protectively holding Sarah. He struggles out of the covers to turn the alarm off and gets Sarah moving for school. She puts on the very first dress outfit he bought her, the cleaned white and pink dress with the pink leggings and long sleeve shirt, and then she eats and heads off to school. Christopher watches her go around the hedges and he goes back in to do more work on the screenplay. So far he is pleasantly surprised.

By the time it is time for Sarah to get out of school he is surrounded by notes and making good headway. So far, very little has been off the mark of the true story line. He is rereading another line that he didn't grasp the first time through when the phone rings.

"Christopher!"

"What's wrong, Sarah?"

"On the way to school today someone tried to kidnap a child and I'm scared to walk home."

"Where are you?"

"In the school office."

"Stay there and let me talk to someone."

"Hello."

"Hey, I will be right down to pick Sarah up."

"Okay, come to the office."

Christopher leaves his notes and the screenplay as they lay and he goes flying out the door, into his truck, and heading to the school in a matter of a minute. When he gets to the school it is a state of utter chaos. Besides many parents picking up their kids there are four cop cars there. As Christopher parks his truck and goes walking to the office they recognize his existence. Christopher thinks to nod at them, but changes his direction and goes right up to two of them.

"Hey."

"How are you doing today, sir?"

"I was doing a lot better before I got a call from my girl saying she was too scared to walk home. What has happened here?"

"We are not entirely sure. There was a report of a car moving slowly that pulled up to a group of kids, and then when a parent came out they drove off. It was a single white male in a plum looking newer model midsize car."

"Alright, thanks. Hey, I live two blocks down that street right there." he says, pointing to his right at the second street that dead-ends into the street that the school is on. "Starting tomorrow I will be walking her to school and walking to pick her up. I'm ex-Special Forces and my name is Christopher Turner."

"Where did you serve?"

"Army Rangers, 75^th Regiment, quick reactionary out of Baghdad. Three tours. You?"

"Green Berets. Two tours Afghanistan. My name is Mitchum."

"It is a honor, sir."

"Yeah, you too."

"Well, I'm going to get in there before Sarah worries about me. Take care and beware." He shakes both of the officers' hands.

"Christopher." she says, running to him.

He kneels down and hugs her. "How are you doing?"

"I know you said I have courage, but I was too scared to walk home alone."

"This has nothing to do with that kind of courage. There are places Special Forces don't go into without the proper support, so don't look at it like that, babygirl. You did the right thing. Starting tomorrow I'm going to be walking you back and forth to school."

"What about finishing your screenplay?"

"I think you are a little more important than my screenplay, but it also won't throw me off by more than an hour or so a day, and I think you are more than worth it. Got it!" he says, patting her bottom. He stands up and looks at the teachers and office staff members who are watching this whole thing with smiles on their faces. "We live on Montgomery Street on the block just before the freeway, and I will be walking Sarah to and from school, so if any of the other parents want to walk along they may do so. Feel free to tell them I am ex-military."

"Yes, Special Forces. We got your background check back surprisingly fast. You were right, there were some blank spaces. I don't suppose you could tell us about them."

"No, and in fact if you ask me about them again I will have to report you. I was also on loan to an outside agency and they don't take kindly to idle talk." Their eyes go big. "You ladies have a wonderful day now. You ready, darling girl?"

"Yep." As they are walking to his truck he waves to the same two cops. They nod and smile. "How is your work going?"

Christopher looks at her with wonder and says, "Pretty good, actually. The screenplay writer has caught most of the true underlining intent and meaning. He, she or they, whoever is working on it, has even managed to improve on a couple of lines. I'm very impressed. We might as well just go to the hospital to visit Nan straight from here."

"Don't tell her about this. I don't want her to worry." Christopher nods his head, as they both are trying to protect each other from the cold truths of a ruthless world.

"Sweetheart, you are her little girl. She has a right to know."

"I'm your little girl, too."

"Yes, you are my little girl, too."

"Hi, Nana."

"Hi, sweetheart." Nan is looking better today.

They visit for a while, but soon return home so she can do her homework and he can continue to work on the screenplay. Without needing to be prompted, Sarah goes and takes her bath while Christopher makes dinner. Sarah puts on another one of her pajamas with the long sleeve shirt combo. This one is purple with fairies on them.

After they eat dinner at the living room table they start with Sarah's homework and he brushes her hair. Christopher takes this time to give her hair an extra long brushing. He had a little scare today, and it is making him feel better having her right there with him.

Christopher doesn't worry about getting back to the screenplay until all of the day's homework is completed and they have talked it over for an additional half an hour. Only once he is sure she has got it down do they each go and do their own thing. He works on his screenplay and she works on their novel.

For this night there was never a question on whether or not she would sleep with him. He held her so tight through the night he was sure she couldn't breath, but she just snuggled further into his embrace.

"Good morning."

"Good morning."

Finally, after breakfast they are ready. "Got everything?"

"Yep."

They go out the door heading up the street. As they go along, more and more mothers and their children join the ever-growing group. As they are walking along Christopher looks back over his shoulder and notices Casey and her two sons following the group a little ways behind them. Christopher waves them forward and everybody waits for them to catch up.

You can tell the mother is grateful and wants to say more, but Christopher beats her to it. "Whatever issues we have pale in comparison to something like this. Here now we are Americans watching out for each other." She smiles with maybe a little regret in her eyes.

After they drop the kids off at the well-protected school, Christopher and the mothers begin their walk back. "So, you are a writer, huh?"

"Please, I'm just Christopher." Just before the first mom turns off to go into her house Christopher says, "I will also be walking to pick Sarah up. I'll leave I guess a little after two o'clock."

They chatter on their way home, and as Casey is returning home she says, "Thank you."

"No problem."

As soon as he gets home he starts in on the screenplay. As soon as he and Sarah are home again they leave to go visit Nan. As soon as they are home again from visiting Nan they bathe, eat, do homework and brush. Christopher has worked it so he does almost all of his work during the day or after Sarah goes to sleep, usually with her little feet resting on him. That is unless she rests her pretty head on him.