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money. I think he was on his way back and had a breakdown. And now he’s on foot making his way back up here. And I think that he’s got his radio off to conserve the batteries so they’re still fresh when he’s within range. And then he’s gonna call in and tell us he’s all right.”
         “Well, how long do you think that’ll be?”
         “Your guess is as good as mine. If he broke down fifteen miles from here, he should be within radio range tonight. But if he broke down seventy miles away, it might be several days. Figure ten to twelve miles a night. I wouldn’t expect any more than that, because of the upgrade. It’s not that noticeable when you’re in a vehicle. But I’ll bet it is when you’re on foot.
         “Didn’t y’all have him drop some provisions along the way?”
         “Yes. Trash bags placed ten miles apart, with water and granola bars in them. Just in case.”
         “Well, I’d say your ‘just in case’ was a smart move. He won’t have to veer off course to look for water or something to eat, and he’ll be able to keep up his strength and keep his wits about him.
         “He’ll probably show up tonight sometime. And if he doesn’t, that leaves us with two options.”
         “And what are those, Tom?”
         “Either we wait him out and give him a chance to get here on his own. Or if he doesn’t show tonight, I can take another Gator and look for him the next night.”
         Linda looked suddenly panicked.
         “No. I don’t even want to consider that option. I mean, if God forbid, something happened to Scott, we don’t want the same thing to happen to you too.”
         “Well then, little darlin’. Let’s just hope he makes it back home tonight so we don’t have to worry about that.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    -6 -
     
         The sun set at 7:04 p.m. that night. At 7:10 Jordan made his first radio call.
         “Dad, this is Jordan. Come in.”
         Silence.
         “Dad, this is Jordan. Please come in.”
         Still nothing.
         He would repeat the process every ten minutes until he went off shift at eight. Then Hannah would relieve him and do the same until midnight, until she swapped out with Joyce.
         And each time they made a call, the entire house gave their undivided attention. Even in the den, Zachary hit the pause button to stop whatever movie they were watching every time he heard someone calling out for his father.
         And secretly, each one of them was silently praying for Scott’s safe return.
         Just after midnight, Misty crashed on the floor of the den, hugging her teddy bear.
         Rachel and Zachary made it until a little after three a.m., then fell asleep on the couch, side by side, her head on his shoulder. His head rested on hers.
         Linda couldn’t help herself. It was too cute a moment to pass up. She turned on the floor lamps on each side of the couch, turned off the flash on her digital camera, and snapped their photo.
         She said, “Someday, if these two just happen to fall in love and get married, this will be their very first ‘together’ pic.”
         Hannah whispered to her, “That’s a possibility, you know. Rachel has fallen in love with him. She told me so the other day.”
         “He has a crush on her too. I can see it in the way he looks at her. Isn’t puppy love wonderful?”
         Tom was skeptical.
         “Puppy love. What foolishness. Don’t you women have something worthwhile to talk about?”
         “Like what, Tom?”
         “Oh, I don’t know. Fishing, or baseball, or sports in general. Anything that doesn’t involve kissing, romance or feelings.”
         “Tom, you’re just an old grouch. Love is what makes the world go around. If our mothers and fath ers didn’t love each other, then none of us would be here. Including you.”