https://Voice.club - There was a ruckus going on when Ben got to the river and he knew there’d be no fish for supper after all.
“Bennie,” the sheriff called, “have you seen Gloria today?”
“No sir,” Ben replied, polite as always to those who deserved it. “Last I saw Miss Gloria’s at the ice cream parlour last evening.”
Farmer Higgins rushed over. “Who was she with?” he demanded, face red and fiery.
“Can’t rightly say,” Ben looked away, “there was a lot of them all together.”
“Useless,” the farmer muttered, turning away.
“Sheriff, sir, what’s going on?”
The lawman turned back, pushing a hand through his sparse hair. “Gloria’s missing.”
“Missing? How?”
“Well, looks like she fell into the river… probably halfway to the ocean by now.”
“No!” Ben put all the shock he could muster into his voice. “That’s terrible – we all know Miss Gloria don’t like the water, that’s how come she never learned to swim.”
“Yes, well,” the man glanced over to the bank where a couple of deputies were pointing at something. “There’s a slip mark in the mud, and hair and blood on a rock where she likely hit her head.” He seemed to remember Ben and ruffled the boy’s hair as he added, “Get on back to the farm Bennie. No fishing today.”
Ben turned and was a way back down the path before he let the smile break out. He wanted to whoop and holler, but that would’ve been a bad idea.
“Well done you, Miss Gloria,” Ben thought, remembering afternoons down by the river, in the water, teaching her to swim. “You did exactly like we said. Now you’re free.”
As he walked home, Ben wondered if Farmer would notice a chicken missing. Boy had to eat after all.