Kidnapped In Arizona

    John and Josephine had always longed for a vacation; he finally took the time off from work and went to Arizona. John loaded up the camper and Josephine buckled the twins into the van. Jessica and Jackie were two years old and very excited about their first trip.
    “Arizona, here we come,” John said as they drove off. They set up camp in a secluded spot at the campground. The long awaited trip was going well until one day their dream vacation turned into a nightmare.
    The children were outside playing. John and Josephine were inside the camper, and checked on the kids every few minutes. They were not worried because they were the only ones in that area. When John looked out the door for the tenth time that day, he expected to see the girls playing in the dirt. The children were gone. John called for his children, they did not answer. John and Josephine shouted out the girls’ names. Only the wind answered.
    John noticed an adult’s footprint in the dirt. It was a man’s shoe and it was not Johns. By then, Josephine became hysterical. She frantically searched around. Josephine started screaming for her children hoping they would answer, but they did not respond.
    John and Josephine began following the prints. John saw a man carrying two little girls in the distance. He knew they were his children. His voice was a whisper, “not my babies!”
    Josephine heard, she came up behind him and looked to where he was staring. She screamed. The man put Jessica and Jackie into the car and jumped in, he drove off.
    John ran after the car, but it was too fast. His children were gone. He walked slowly back to Josephine. She was on the ground, crying. John also fell to his knees; put his arms around his wife and together they cried.
    They went to the police, and told to wait. They went to the FBI, and again told to wait. The frantic couple did not want to wait; they wanted their children back.
    The man and the car’s description was a start, but it was not enough; he probably already changed vehicles they had told the worried parents. John and Josephine went to a motel, and tried to sleep but could not.
    After two months, the children were still missing; the search was slowing down. John and Josephine ended up moving to Arizona, so they could be closer to the investigation. They were still waiting, knowing deep down that their children will soon be found. The FBI and the police were not getting anywhere. John decided to get some other help; he hired a private detective.
    John and Josephine began to argue continuously about how the search was going. Their relationship soon became strained. The stress was beginning to take its toll on the once loving couple. John and Josephine divorced.
    After the divorce was final, they went their separate ways. Even though, deep down in both their hearts, they still loved and needed each other desperately.
    In two years, the police and FBI gave up. John and Josephine were traumatized by the loss. Their future looked hopeless and empty. Josephine lost her mind. She believed her children were still with her. Josephine could not deal with the reality. She ended up in a mental institution.
    John was upset to hear about Josephine’s dilemma, and went to see her. Josephine did not know who he was. She did not even look at him. Instead of becoming more depressed, he became more determined. He got in touch with Larry, the private investigator he hired two years ago. John pushed him even harder to find the girls quickly. Larry soon called John; there was a slim possibility that he found the girls. John was very excited and went to the hospital to get his wife.
    Josephine lived in a world of her own creation; no one could bring her out of it. John was willing to try, for the sake of the children. She was sitting on the floor singing, rocking side-to-side and holding pretend babies.
    “Josephine, it’s me, John.”
    Josephine said nothing and continued to rock.
    “Josephine, snap out of it. You are holding babies that are not there, we now have a chance to fill those arms again for real,” John said.
    Josephine stopped rocking, but she did not acknowledge that John was there.
    “Honey, Larry may have found the girls. He wants to meet with us.” John was hopeful.
    Josephine sat still for a moment, than began rocking again and singing to her invisible children.
    John became angry; he walked toward her, grabbed her by the shoulders and began to shake, “Are you listening to me, our babies might be found. You can stop with all the pretending bullshit and start being a real mother again. Are you listening to me?” He shook her a few more times and then let go; she fell to the floor. John walked toward the door. “Fine, stay here with your pretend babies. I’m going to get my real children.”
    “Are they found?” She asked but never looked up.
    “Larry is sure he found them.” Happiness filled his soul.
    “Where are they?”
    “I don’t know, we are supposed to meet with him tomorrow and he is going to fill us in on the details,” John told her.
    “Let’s go get my babies,” she said.
    “But first,” John helped Josephine to her feet, “I have to get you out of here.”
    “I’m not insane John, I knew all along that my children were gone; I also knew you came to see me.”
    “Why did you do this?” he asked.
    “I wanted to escape the pain, I wanted shelter from the storm, and this was my sanctuary.”                                                                                   
    “Well, hopefully you won’t need a shelter to hide in,” John said.
    It took much convincing on John and Josephine’s part for the doctors to let her go. They left the hospital together and went to John’s apartment. John and Josephine were together again and very determined to get their girls back. They stayed up all night talking about the past, present and future, hopefully with their children.
    The next day, the couple met with Larry. He told them, “I found the guy that took your children; at first he wouldn’t say anything so I loosened his tongue for him.” Larry lifted his hand, made it into a fist and smiled. “He began to sing like a bird; he told me that he sold the girls on the black market. After some searching, I found twins in an orphanage that looked like the picture you gave me. I went there; say, does one of your girls have a long scar on her right thigh?”
    “Jackie, she fell on a piece of glass and we took her to the hospital and she had stitches,” Josephine said excitedly.
    Larry smiled and said, “While I was there, I took a picture.” He put his hand in his jacket, pulled out a picture, and handed it to them.
    Josephine put her hand to her mouth and began to cry, John had tears in his eyes too. They stared at the picture.
    “Are they your girls?”
    “Yes!” John and Josephine said together.
    “Where are my children?” Josephine asked.
    “They are in an orphanage in Mexico,” Larry said.
    “Mexico!” John said.
    Larry nodded, “The black market is very popular in the southern part of Mexico; One more thing I should tell you before we go get them.”
    “What?” John asked.
    “You can’t claim them as your own,” Larry answered.
    “What do you mean?” Josephine asked.
    “Well, the Mexican black market is dangerous; when they are faced with the original owners of stolen goods they get a little angry. You have to understand they do not want to go to prison, so they will kill you and keep you quiet.” Larry told them.
    “So how are we going to get them back?” Josephine asked.
    “You always wanted to adopt twins, didn’t you,” Larry said.
    Josephine smiled.
    “What are we waiting for, let’s go!” John said as he stood up.
    “Hold up,” Larry grabbed his arm, “you do realize; you have to pay for their adoption?”
    “Yeah, I have the money,” John said.
    “Six thousand a child,” Larry said.
    “Twelve thousand!” Josephine said.
    “Yep, you can become quite rich from selling on the black market.” Larry told them.
    Soon they were on the plane headed to the most southern edges of Mexico. They reached their destination, and immediately went to the orphanage.
    John and Josephine saw their girls, quietly playing together. It was hard for them to control themselves; they wanted so much to hold the girls in their arms. John noticed a man standing in the corner, his arms folded in front of him, hands close to the guns in his belt. John casually pointed him out to Josephine; they buried their emotions deep inside them. They pretended to be interested in all the children, and calmly Josephine pointed out the girls. John and Josephine slowly walked up to the girls and sat with them. The children were four years old now and looked the same. Josephine had tears in her eyes as they talked to the girls.
    Larry talked to the head of the orphanage. After a few minutes, he turned toward John and Josephine. “Have you found the special children that you would like to spend the rest of your life with?”
    John looked at him and said, “Yes, we think these girls would be perfect.”
    Larry smiled and turned back to the head mistress and talked business. John and Josephine spent three hours playing with their girls. The time ended too soon for them, they had to leave.
    “What about the girls?” John asked.
    “We can come back tomorrow with the money and take the girls with us.” Larry said.
    “Tomorrow, we can bring them home tomorrow?” Josephine asked.
    Larry nodded.
    John and Josephine hugged each other, excitement growing deep inside.         
    That night neither John nor Josephine could sleep; the anticipation of the next day was increasing in magnitude. They became close again, intimately for the first time in two years.
    The next morning, the three of them drove back to the orphanage. They signed all the papers and paid the twelve thousand, which the man with the guns had collected himself. They reclaimed their children. John and Josephine were very happy as they drove to the airport. Soon they were on a plane headed home.
    John sat with Jackie, and Josephine sat with Jessica; Jessica turned and looked at her mother. She stared a long while, until Josephine asked her why she was staring. Jessica answered, “You is our mom, the real one. Why did it take long to get us?”
    Josephine smiled, “Well, because we couldn’t find you both, we searched all these years hoping to find you, and we finally did.” Josephine hugged her daughter and smiled again, the storm had passed, and she no longer needed a sanctuary.