Chapter 4

Sue said: They say they got a call from Nancy at the library. Apparently when we closed up after the meeting, we left something behind. Remember that boy who wandered into the meeting? He was dressed rather poorly, but he seemed quite interested in Wayne's presentation. I could tell he was following along, although I thought it strange that he was sitting so close to the radiator. I remember thinking that he might burn himself. I talked to Katie about how much the kid ate during our social time. He was just shoveling in the food and I've never seen anyone eat so much popcorn. Katie said he was just a little hungry. Hungry? – He would have eaten the whole table if Jack hadn't pushed him out of the way. Anyway, while we were closing up, I asked Ben where the little fellow had gone and Ben said he had no idea.

Well guess what? The police said that Nancy found him this morning hidden behind the trashcan near the kitchen. He must have stayed there all night. Nancy told the police she was scared out of her mind when she saw him. Anway, he's all right. Nancy took him into the employee's break room, gave him some hot tea and the rest of her Skylark bagel-egg-cheese-sausage sandwich that she always picks up each morning for her breakfast. The police have him now and they are trying to track down his folks. What a strange story. Ben, make sure you tell everyone what happened at next Tuesday's board meeting.

The snowplows finished their work and there were little crystals of light glistening all about – it was really cold. The sun was nearly up, but the weatherman's forecast was for temps in the 10's all day. Ben went back to work preparing for the board meeting. There wasn't much to, given that the December Annual Holiday Party didn't require any demonstrations or presentations. Ben had to remember to send out a message to the membership reminding them to bring a dish to pass and a $5.00 gift for each person in their party. The January meeting was the main thing to discuss because who knew what Steve Jobs would wow the world with at Macworld. That should make for a really interesting January meeting. Ben mused whether they would ever see the "kid" again?