The Black Cadillac (2 page)

“I’m going, I’m going, Mom. I’ll be downstairs in a minute,” said Cody.

“Okay, just making sure. It’s cold outside today, so dress warm,” his mother told him.

As Cody was putting on his sweater, he looked out the window and saw medium-sized snowflakes hitting the ground. He quickly ripped off his sweater and put on a long-sleeved shirt before placing the sweater back on. The boy grabbed some jeans from his dresser and put them on. He then put on a pair of tube socks and went into the bathroom next to his room to wash his face.

Finally ready, Cody hurried down the stairs and went straight to the heater vent on the floor of the living room.

It was 6:58 in the morning, and his mother set a hot cup of tea on the coffee table just a few feet away from where Cody was lying. He loved his tea in the morning because his mama had always told him that she made it with a special ingredient and three teaspoons of sugar. Plus, it kept him warm.

“How do you always make my tea so perfect, Mom?” he softly asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Because I put extra love in it,” she replied without hesitation.

The boy smiled and gently took a sip, being careful not to burn his tongue. He loved his mama and continued to smile at her even though he was still tired.

Her name was Georgiana Roberts, and she was a petite lady at just under five feet tall. She was a single mom supporting two kids and did an exceptional job raising them. Most of the time, she was exhausted from always working.

Still lying down next to the warm heater, Cody looked at the cuckoo clock on the living room wall, and though he didn’t want to, he gathered himself off the floor and walked into the kitchen. His book bag was on the kitchen table, with last night’s homework lying on top so he wouldn’t forget it. He placed his difficult math assignment in a folder and into his black book bag on top of his Trapper Keeper. He then went to the fridge, grabbed his brown-bag lunch, and dropped it in his book bag. His mother made him lunch every day for school. After drinking half of his tea, Cody rushed back upstairs to the bathroom to brush his teeth and put deodorant on.

The time was now 7:08, and Cody wanted to get to school a little early to meet up with his best friend, Zach.

His mom once again warned him about the weather, “It is very cold out there, so please bundle up.”

His mom proceeded to hand him a winter hat, insulated gloves, and a scarf knitted by his grandmother out of the downstairs closet. With his birthday only a few months away, the soon-to-be thirteen-year-old boy had already thrown on his heavy blue winter jacket and shoes. He looked like a little kid all bundled up in winter apparel.

His sister, Olive, was lying down on the couch, watching cartoons.

“Bye, Ol, have a good day at school. Love you,” shouted Cody.

“Bye, Code, love you too,” Olive replied with a big yawn, and it was obvious she was still sleepy. People close to the boy always called him Code and everyone called his little sister Ol for short.

His sister didn’t have to go to school till later, and the babysitter always took her to the bus stop.

As he headed out the door, his mom told him she loved him and that she would be home a little late tonight because it was month end at her work. Cody’s mom worked for a law firm in town, and the end of the month was always a busy time. Even though it was only March 19, Cody’s mother still had a lot of work to do in the last couple weeks of the month.

“Okay, Mom, see you later. Love you,” he replied.

“I love you too, sweetie!” she exclaimed again.

Walking out the front door heavily saturated in warm clothes, Cody hurried down the driveway and started walking east toward the school. His middle school was roughly six blocks away once he reached the end of his street. It took Cody usually fifteen minutes to walk to school.

While walking down his street, the wind had started to pick up and was making it a little tough for Cody to walk as fast as he wanted to. It was chilly like his mother had warned, and the cold air froze his face, turning it red.

Trying to stay occupied, Cody started humming in his head the song “Kokomo” by the Beach Boys as he strutted along. The song had been stuck in his head ever since it came out a couple of years ago. Cody imagined he was in the warm climate that the song was about. The winter wind started whistling. Cody always found himself humming when he was alone. It was a comforting thing for the twelve-year-old.

Because he left so early, there were no other kids walking on his street, so it was a very quiet walk. His street was long and full of uneven, broken-up sidewalk.

There was an open field on the other side of his street. The City of Tippwood tried to make it a park, but the funds never came through in the last levy. It was just an open field that people walked their dogs in. However, no one was walking their dogs today.

Many of the houses were all completely different with distances of about eight feet apart. Cody had always liked his street because of how unique it was. For the most part, his neighborhood was pretty friendly. The neighbors to the left of his house were elderly and always needed yard work done. Cody always volunteered to help them. The elderly couple always insisted Cody take some money for his efforts.

With the end of his street just a few more minutes away, Cody began to mutter to himself, “Man, is it cold out here.”

He took his fingers out of the top of his gloves and cupped them together inside the gloves. His grandfather, who was an old war veteran, taught him that trick to keep his hands warm. While adjusting his bag with his hands still cupped, Cody slipped on the slick concrete and fell to the ground.

Just then, a small rumbling seemed to come from behind him down his street. It sounded like a big car or truck. Cody picked himself up off the ground and continued walking, hoping that no one had seen him fall. The rumbling was getting louder, so he turned to look. He noticed a pitch-black vehicle with blackened-out windows pull up to the side of his street right next to him.

The car moved ever so slowly as Cody watched from the corner of his eye. Slightly frightened, Cody stopped walking and froze then looked at the car. It was shiny and black, with windows as dark as night. The vehicle had chrome scattered on the front and the back of it. Cody had no clue what the car was doing.

“Is this person lost and needs directions?” he thought to himself.

The passenger window of the vehicle lowered to a little over halfway down, and a friendly but unfamiliar voice asked, “Hey, kid, do you want a ride to school? It’s pretty cold out there.”

Cody looked into the dark vehicle and into the person’s eyes that were locked on him. It was an older man that had a smile on his face.

“No thanks!” Cody yelled with a puzzled look on his face.

His legs started working, and he walked fast toward the end of the street. The driver didn’t say anything more. The dark window rolled up easily, and the sinister-looking vehicle slowly drove off into the distance.

As Cody turned the corner onto Franklin Street, where his school was only a few blocks away, he thought to himself, “I can’t believe that just happened.”

With butterflies in his stomach, he had flashbacks of things he had learned a while ago about strangers. He remembered safety classes he took only a few years back that local police officers gave at his school. The first thing he was taught when he was younger was to just say no and run as fast as he could if a stranger offered something.

Then his mind replayed what had just happened to him just moments ago. Crazy questions and thoughts filtered through his head like,
What
would
have
happened
to
me
if
I
decided
to
get
in
that
sharp-looking
car?
Would
I
ever
get
to
see
my
mom
or
sister
again?
Aren’t
I
a
little
too
old
for
a
person
to
try
and
kidnap
me?
What
if
the
man
was
just
trying
to
be
nice?
An unexpected tear slowly dripped down his cheek and fell to the now snow-covered sidewalk. An uneasy feeling took over the boy’s body.

Passing Watergate Avenue, the final street before his school, Cody ran the rest of the way to school. He needed to tell someone right away what had happened.

CHAPTE
R
III
School

N
ot really knowing what to do, Cody hurried straight to the main office and asked for the assistant principal. Seeing how excited and distraught Cody was, the secretary said, “My goodness, kid, what’s wrong?”

Trying to catch his breath, Cody explained everything that had happened and that a stranger had tried to pick him up on his way to school. Cody could tell that the secretary didn’t really believe his story and wasn’t really paying attention to him.

The secretary replied, “The assistant principal is not in yet. At least, you’re okay and nothing happened. This really isn’t too big of a deal, but we will tell the assistant principal your story anyways.”

Not wanting to hear that, Cody stormed out of the office. He was utterly annoyed with the lady and went to the side of his school where his friend Zach was eagerly waiting.

His friend was wearing a gray-and-red winter jacket, a ski hat, and gloves. Zach was Cody’s best friend for many years. The two were only a month apart in age.

“Where were you, dude? I have been waiting for you,” Zach blurted out.

Still with a butterfly feeling in his stomach, Cody replied, “Someone tried to pick me up on the way to school!”

Zach looked at Cody with a lost expression on his face.

Not really knowing how to respond to that, Zach said, chuckling, “What? What do you mean someone tried to pick you up? Like kidnap you? You’re in seventh grade, dude. You’re almost a teenager.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Cody angrily replied even though he thought the same thing when he was walking to school.

Zach straightened up and appeared more serious. Trying to read the confusion on his friend’s face, Cody proceeded to tell him the details, including what the assistant principal’s stupid secretary said. He tried to describe the car to Zach the way he remembered.

“The car was black and had chrome on it. I don’t know what kind of car it was, though,” explained Cody.

Afterward, Zach said, “We should go to the police and tell them everything.”

“No, not right now. School is about to start. Let me think over the day, and then I’ll decide what to do,” said Cody.

It made Cody relieved that his best friend actually believed him and wanted to do something about it. The first bell rang, and both of them walked to class anxiously.

As they walked, Cody asked Zach one very important thing, “As my best friend, can you please keep this quiet and not tell anyone? I don’t need everyone making fun of me about this. Please promise?” Hearing how serious his tone was, Zach replied, “I promise, dude.”

They both entered the classroom and went in different directions. When Cody sat down, he realized that he had forgotten to take off his layers of clothes and saw his classmates all staring at him with a few giggles filling the room. His face started turning red, and he slowly removed his layers of warm items as the teacher just stared at him impatiently.

Cody glanced at Zach across the room and saw his friend just put his head down. The teacher began calling out attendance.

First period was just homeroom for the students, and it was only a half-hour long. Zach and Cody had been separated and assigned different seating because they would always disrupt class by talking to each other during attendance. It didn’t help that Zach was also the class clown either.