The Disappearance of a Pied Piper

Hunting for the Lost

Fairly nondescript, Bud thought. This almost seems to be a day like any other day with the exception of 22 missing citizens.

A knock on the office door brought Fred, the Freshly's nephew to his attention.

"Come in, Fred," Bud said. "What can I do for you?"

"My aunt, Ma Freshly, wanted me to pay you a visit this morning because we've been seeing your signs about another Town Meeting 'at the diner,' but no one has contacted us to make reservations for a large group. Would you like to do that, now, Chief?"

"I would, indeed, and would you please extend my humblest apologies to your aunt," Bud said. "Life has been coming at me rather quickly over the past 24 hours. It wasn't an intentional slight. It was a forgotten step."

"We figured as much," Fred smiled. "How many people do you plan on having for the meeting?"

"That's a little up-in-the-air, right now, Fred, since we've been advertising the meeting with no firm responses, yet. Do you have room for about half the town? I'm guessing 35 - 40 people since there seems to be a good amount of interest in finding the missing children and one preacher."

"That sounds good to me," Fred said, "I'll tell Ma, who is actually my aunt, but you already know that. See you at noon, right?"

"Right," Bud smiled. "Thank her in advance. She is such a big help to me."

"Will do. thanks for clearing things up, Chief."

"You're welcome."

"I know you are all here in response to the words, 'If you would like to help the Police Department increase the strength of its investigation of the missing children and the preacher,' but I'm sure you don't really know what I am asking of you," Police Chief Bud Best said. "So, here's the deal. My police force has five deputized officers, including myself. By ourselves we can go only so far, and so fast. We completed one investigation, yesterday, and we have nine more to do. However, if this group of 22 missing citizens is trying to 'run away' for some reason, then they already have a full one-day head start on us. If we don't widen our search immediately, who knows if we'll ever be able to find them. We need some of you, if not most of you to help us comb through the woods, and search the circumference of the island canvassing the locals in those parts as to whether or not they have seen 21 children and one adult moving as a group near them."

"What kind of authority will we have, Chief," Grady asked.

"Good question, Grady," Bud said. "You will have the authority to search, and report your findings to one of the trained members of the police force, but you will not have the authority to arrest anyone, nor detain them for questioning. How many of you would like to be part of this elite search team?"

Thirty hands went up.

"The rest of you are free to go," Bud said, "or stay and finish your meals, but you are no longer considered part of this Town Meeting because I'm sure you have plenty on your plates, already. Now, for the rest of you, please listen carefully to what I'm about to say. The job you will be deputized to do is limited in scope for the purpose of being additional eyes and ears for the police force. You will in no way be considered a police officer yourself. Any attempts to pass one of yourselves off as a police officer is a criminal offense with mandatory time behind bars. Have I made myself clear?"

All nod with a few people saying, "Yes, Sir," or "Very clear, Bud," or "I've got it, Chief."

Then raise your right hand, repeat the oath after me, and then you'll be ready to hear your assignments. He quoted the oath line by line and waited for them to repeat the lines back to him in unison. "You are now an authorized search force, under my supervision. You may now break yourselves up into groups of three, and come to the board with designated search areas around the island. If you see an area you would like to search, then you may put your names in that square, or if you like, I will assign one to your group."

For about fifteen minutes or so, groups formed, and places were assigned.

"Feel free to head out to your search areas, and report your findings to me at the police station before 5:00 PM."

Ten groups started combing through separate sections of the woods. Evening Shift was searching the Barnes' home and property. Night Shift searched the Incarnation home. Chief Bud Best worked his regular day shift while keeping his eyes and ears open for activities of the atmospheric and insect sort.

Bud stayed perplexed by the reports as they came in around the end of his shift. Ten groups searched ten sections of the woods with nothing out of place, except a few pieces of trash and a few trees down, due to old age or lightning strikes. The police shift work had no better results as they completed their searches of these family's premises.

What am I going to tell these dear friends and citizens about the lack of results from our searches? Bud thought. What am I missing? Where else should I be searching? Is there another method I should use to find the clues, that I know are out there somewhere?

Bud was becoming overtaxed by the desperate need to find 22 missing citizens.

Get a grip, Bud Ol' Boy, he thought, pondered, and poured over everything he knew. What's eating at you? Is this more than the fact, that you can't find the answers you think you're entitled to? Are there things, that can't be easily answered by the scientific method? You believed in God once, before that awful day in Ireland when you were a teen. Should you explore that part of your past? If I can't find something through a typical science-based search, should I be exploring a perspective, that may be offered by religion? Is there anything in the Bible, that squares with the events of the past two days?

"Boys, this is the Chief, "Bud spoke into his radio. "It's almost time for my shift to end anyway. Listen out for any of the needs of the townspeople. I'm headed back out to the church. I've got a hunch."

"Sure, Chief," said Jerome. "You run that hunch. We got it covered."

"Thanks. I knew I could count on you."

The drive out to the church gave Bud extra time to formulate a plan. My kids loved the preacher. They hung on his every word. According to them, he talked about Jesus all the time, and every piece of advice he gave them had a Bible verse attached to it. Maybe there's a clue in the Bible somewhere, but where do I start to look?

The clearing in the woods showed a rise in the land, that supported the church building and the parsonage. The few hundred-foot incline seemed to be made of granite or some other igneous rock. I've never seen that before. The land the church is built on is a plateau, and the highest point on the island, which could be an important piece of trivia if the rest of our citizens ever need to flee to high ground for some reason.

Pulling into the same parking space as last time, Bud cut the engine and got out to look around, again. This was a leisurely stroll around the church building, but not so long as to waste daylight. Let's go inside the church. Find the light switch before everything goes pitch black out here since there are no streetlights to help me.

Walking into the auditorium once again, Bud found the light switch and turned it on for safety purposes. Incandescent light flooded the room and he started to see nuances of light he had never seen before in such a place as a church. The spotlight connected with the lighting arrangement shone brilliantly on The Holy Bible on the offering table in front of the pulpit. Apparently, that's where I need to start. The light is guiding the way.

Bud strode over to the offering table, carefully picking up the Bible as though it were a forbidden object, full of thorns.

The Bible is easily compared to a rose bush. It's full of beauty, but to reach the beauty one must traverse the thorns of the Divine conviction of sin.

Hmmm, let's look at the Table of Contents, he thought.

"Genesis," he read out loud, "Here we go. Allegedly, God is the Creator of the Universe, including Earth.

"Exodus. The Children of Israel were led out of Egypt by the same Almighty God. He used plagues to spring 'em free." I wonder if He had anything to do with that amazing meteor shower as well as the scorpions.

"Leviticus. God's Law Book as I recall." I wonder, if these laws have any comparison to the laws, I'm sworn to enforce.

"Numbers. The Genealogies of Israel." That's certainly like reading a phonebook. "Read the Bible," they said. No wonder I puttered to a stop in one of these two books.

"Deuteronomy. I remember, now. This is the second time the Ten Commandments appear in the Bible."

"Joshua. That's the guy, who took over the leadership of Israel after Moses died. Let's start here. I think this one reads more like a storybook or a biography. 'Duh, duh, duh, the Lord spoke to Joshua, duh, duh, duh, Moses my servant is dead.' WOW! That's pretty direct. It's also pretty obvious, wouldn't you say? 'Every place you're walking on is yours like I told Moses.' Weren't there already residents in the land? That's pretty arbitrary, and intrusive, isn't it? 'Duh, duh, duh' Verse 9 looks good, 'Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid, nor dismayed because The Lord your God is with you wherever you go.' Those are really encouraging words. I'll bet they would 'speak to me,' if I believed in God.

"Back to the Table of Contents, Judges. Really? I wonder if they had the kind of caseloads, that modern judges have. I wonder if they operated the same way as modern judges.

"Ruth. Just four chapters. Interesting." Let me take a breather, and get some fresh air, and then I can come back in to read the entire book. I sure hope something there sheds a little insight on the past two days, that I've just walked through.

Fifteen minutes later, Bud Best was sitting on the front pew in the auditorium, reading the book of Ruth.

WOW! This first chapter is pretty interesting. A family in Israel left their own country, going to Moab because of a famine, Bud thought. We aren't having a famine, yet, but bad stuff is happening to us fast. Look at that. A happy family was alive and well, a man, a wife, and two boys, searching for food. It doesn't tell their ages, and it doesn't say how long they were there before disaster struck, but the husband died, the two boys got married, and then the two boys died. Now, the family is the mother and two daughters-in-law.

Bud put the Bible down on the bench, open at the same place, and he took a slow circuit around the auditorium to consider what he had just read.

In that family, two boys were lost by death, but at least folks knew where they were laid. The boys hadn't disappeared. The father was also gone, but same scenario. He hadn't disappeared, he thought. In our town children are gone, and one adult. What am I to make of all of this? The mother releases her two daughters-in-law. One takes her up on the offer. The other asks, that she not be sent away. 'I'd rather stay with you,' she said. That's a nice touch. That's commitment, based on love, not blood ties. The mother-in-law seemed to be saying, 'Alright. If you must. I'm done. I don't have much left in my heart to give you, but if you're willing to stay with a broken-down, old woman, then come along. We've got quite a trip ahead of us.' She needs a counselor. That's depression if I ever saw it.

Another circuit around the auditorium, and Bud Best came to a conclusion. When disaster strikes, go home to get a new perspective and a new start. "What will be the next chapter of our lives?" he processed out loud. Time to go home, and do just that. I'll plan to come back tomorrow and pick up where I left off. What can I use for a bookmark? Oh, yes. This envelope will work. Still not sure about God, but there may be some useful information in this old Book.