Have you seen this child?
…I don't think there's a more frightening sentence in all the world.
And I can't imagine it happening to me,
Even though I know that it could,
Which scares the hell out of me, because I don't want to think about it,
And yet I do, because that's just part of who I am, nowadays.
I've seen too much not to think about it.
But on a class trip….
What is that supposed to tell people?
That the cops spend so much time trying to keep the city safe, but
As it turns out, we can't do it?
There are only about forty thousand of us,
Compared to eight million in the city including us.
What does that tell you now?
That we don't care, or that it's not priority?
Kids are always the priority, no matter how old they are,
And some of them are victims, and some of them are doers, and all it does
Is make me question the world as it is, because
If there are kids out there doing what I investigate,
What kind of society does that make us, and
Why aren't we doing anything about it yet?
Not my weekend, and besides that, it's the middle of the week, anyway,
But I call Maureen's cell phone despite this, 'cause
I want to talk to her, and I can tell she's got it on speakerphone
When I hear all three of her siblings, and they sound
Almost surprised to be hearing from me, but we talk,
And it feels good to hear their voices, because it means
That they're where they're supposed to be, but I worry, anyway.
Night comes a lot more quickly than I thought it would, and I
Watch the shadows as they move across the ceiling, but
The case is closed and we've got the ones we were aiming for,
But there's still a family missing a child, and it hurts to know this,
Because I know where my four are, even if I can't see them,
And I still can't imagine knowing what it's like
To know that it's ten o'clock somewhere, and you have no idea where your baby is.