Margie's gone!

“Mrs. Ardmore? I’m officer Tom Langdon.”

“Oh, thank you for coming so quickly, officer. Come in, please.”

“You called about someone being taken? Do you mean kidnapped?”

“Well, not exactly. Come over here to the kitchen. Don’t get too close to the counter. Yes, right about there should be safe.”

“What do you mean ‘safe’, ma’am. What’s going on here and who was kidnapped?”

“Let’s just sit at the table and I’ll explain it to you. You’re probably not going to believe this. I’m not sure I believe it myself. You see, Margie and I... Margie Farber is my neighbor... well, we were sitting right here talking since about 6:30 this evening. Well, at about 9:30, Margie said she had to go because she drives the school bus in the morning. We both stood up and Margie said to me, ‘Did you see that?’ and I said ‘No, what?’ and she said, ‘My purse was sitting right there on the counter, and then it vanished.’”

“Ma’am, did you call 911 because your neighbor misplaced her purse? You know, filing a false police report is very serious.”

“Oh no, officer Langdon. You see, I said to Margie, ‘Maybe you put it someplace else’, and she walked over to the counter and put her hand down and said, ‘No, I put it right here, and...’”

“And what?”

“Well, then she vanished.”

“Ma’am, is this some kind of prank? The police department does not take too kindly to pranks, you know.”

“No, sir. That’s just what happened.”

“You know that’s just plain impossible, don’t you? Look, I’m just going to walk right over here and show you. You see, I’m standing right here and absolutely nothing is happening.”

“Officer, no. Please come away from there.”

“Ma’am, just tell me what really...”

w/c 298