Chapter Three

Help Isn’t Coming

Patrick woke up with a headache and pain in his stomach. He went downstairs to find George already awake and watching TV. He was hungry and they were already out of pickles. Maybe there was something else in the kitchen.

“Did you see Mom’s note?” George yelled from the dining room.

“What? What note?”

“On the fridge.”

Patrick ripped the note off the door and read it. He ran into the dining room. “She’s gone again? For a week?”

“I don’t know, I guess,” George said while watching cartoons.

“I’m hungry!”

“Me too, what are we going to eat?” George asked.

Patrick walked around the living room dazed. They needed food. The pain in his head and stomach were beginning to get worse. They needed to get food.

But where could they get money to buy it? After a few minutes of pacing, Patrick had an idea.

“Hey George, how would you like to play a game with me?”

“Sure!” an eager George said, “What are we playing?”

“It’s a scavenger hunt through the whole house!” Patrick said excitedly. “See if you can find any money, dimes, quarters, it doesn’t matter.”

George froze for a moment.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take the attic,” Patrick said. “We’ll meet back here at four o’clock sharp!”

George needed a little more detail so Patrick pointed to the clock.

“When the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the four,” Patrick patiently explained. He figured forty minutes should be enough time.

“Where should I start?” asked George.

“I don’t know, look everywhere. Start by looking under the couch cushions,” Patrick said. “I remember one time I found candy in the sofa.”

Before he could head up the stairs George asked another question. “I don’t get it, what kind of game is this?”

Patrick tried to not get upset. “It’s a treasure-finding game, whoever finds the most treasure gets a prize.”

“I’m gonna use the treasure to get candy!” George said.

Patrick headed to the attic to search the couch cushions first. Al must have money or change; he had a job.

After thirty minutes of digging through the cushions and looking around the furniture Patrick had found fifty-eight cents, he spent the next ten minutes pawing under the furniture and then scanned his bedroom as well as George’s. The boys met in Pop Pop’s old bedroom.

Patrick perked up when he saw the excitement on George’s face.

“Well, I got fifty-eight cents, how much treasure did you find?” Patrick asked.

“I found a bunch of coins in the tall table thingy!” George said, trying to describe the old hutch in the dining room.

George didn’t know exactly how much he had, only that he had seventeen coins, seven of them were pennies. Patrick counted up George‘s findings.

“Good job, you found a dollar and twenty-two cents worth of treasure, I only found fifty-eight cents, you win!” Patrick proclaimed.

“Yay! What did I win?” George asked.

Patrick hadn’t thought about that, he just wanted to get on with getting something to eat.

“Well, we can use this money to buy some food.”

“Like candy?”

“No, lunch or something,” Patrick said.

“AWWW, that’s boring! Give me my treasure back!” George said with disappointment. Patrick began to rub his head.

“Look George, there’s no food in the house, I’m hungry and I know you are too, you won so you pick what we can eat.” Patrick said.

“I want McDonalds!” George said, “Remember I won the game!”

“We don’t have enough for McDonalds, and even if we did we couldn’t get there.”

Patrick could tell George was beginning to dislike the way this game was ending.

“Fine, let‘s go across the street and get some candy then,” a dejected George said, looking for his coat.

“No! We need real food; I’m gonna go down to the Laneco supermarket and see what I can buy with this. Do you want to come with me?”

“No, that’s stupid, I don’t want to go to the store. It better not be hotdogs again!” George said.

It would be easier going without him anyway. At least he wouldn’t have to watch him.

“I’ll be back home before the sun goes down, don‘t answer the door to anyone” Patrick said, putting his coat on.

“No hotdogs.” George warned as Patrick left.

Patrick started down the block; he weaved between three drunks that staggered out of the bar at the end of the first block.

“Watch where you’re going kid!” One of the men said.

“Why aren’t you in school?” said another.

Patrick jogged to the next block, avoiding eye contact with the drug dealers across the street, jumping when a dog ran up to the edge of a fence to bark at him. He made sure to look both ways before crossing the streets.

Upon arriving at the supermarket Patrick tried to remember how it worked. He knew that some people paid with money and others, including his mom, would pay with different colored tickets that they ripped out from a coupon book. Not sure where to start he strolled through each aisle assessing what different items cost. After an hour Patrick found himself gazing at a pack of hotdogs for eighty-nine cents.

Gee, George is going to love this. At least it meant two more meals as long as they only had two hotdogs each per meal.

Patrick looked at the buns; he could not afford both. He chose a loaf of bread for sixty-six cents for a total of one dollar and fifty-five cents.

He was cutting it close. He headed towards the cashier. She looked at the two items, then at Patrick, and glanced around before staring back down at Patrick.

Patrick, was nervously counting the change in his hands when he realized the cashier was speaking to him.

“What?”

“Where’s your mom or dad at kid?”

Patrick froze for a moment, he wanted to run but needed to bring food home.

“My parents?” he asked, buying himself some time. “She’s out by the car, but forgot these two things so she sent me back in quick to get them while she is putting the groceries in the trunk.”

The cashier shrugged her shoulders and rang up the groceries.

Patrick started for home, feeling good about accomplishing his mission and overcoming an obstacle in the process. He had one quarter left, and as he walked back to his house he saw an arcade game through the window of a small hotdog shop. Patrick had always wanted to play and he had a quarter left. He went over to the arcade game, deposited the quarter and began playing the driving game with his bag of food close to him. He was surprised at how good he was and was still playing fifteen minutes later when the cook wandered over.

“Hey kid, where’s your mom or dad?” He said, a little more stern than the cashier.

“She’s on the payphone at the corner,” Patrick said, fixated on the game.

Patrick lasted about ten more minutes before the game was over, wishing he had more quarters to play. While leaving he passed a dumpster and noticed a cat on top eating a piece of bun that it had fished out of the trash.

“You’re hungry too, huh?” Patrick said to the stray feline. Feeling generous Patrick took out the crust from the loaf of bread he had purchased and placed it by the dumpster. Before he could step back the cat had already engulfed the bread. Patrick watched as the cat ate, choking on the dryness of the meal but never stopping until it was gone. He began walking home.

“Hotdogs!” George said when Patrick had got home. George stomped his foot then fell back on the couch. “Why did you get that? I’m not eating that with bread, where’s the buns?” George wailed as Patrick took the food out of the bag.

“This is all we can afford. I’m going to boil water, do you want them or not?”

“Fine, I want two hotdogs,” George said. “I don’t know why you just couldn’t get more money but I’m hungry”.

“Okay, two for you and two for me,” Patrick stated. He was relieved that George hadn’t asked for more.

“Hey, there’s a cat on our porch!” George yelled, running to the window by the front door.

“Oh, yeah I gave him a piece of bread down by Pete’s hotdogs, must have followed me home.”

“Can we keep him?” George asked, already fumbling around with the front door lock.

“No, there’s nothing to eat here; he’s no better off in here than outside.”

George stomped back toward the kitchen, making his best point on the subject, “At least it’s not freezing in here like outside.”

Patrick shook his head. He just wanted to eat the food.

Patrick and George ate the hotdogs on the bread with some ketchup, and then they each had another piece of bread for dessert. The sun was beginning to set when the phone rang. Both boys froze. The boys were instructed only to answer the phone if she was calling. With no answering machine or caller ID she told them that she would call, let the phone ring twice, then hang up and call again.

“How many times did it ring? I wasn’t paying attention!” a frantic George said.

“I don’t know. If it rings again I’ll answer it.”

The phone began ringing again about ten seconds...