The Summer of Our Discontent, Jacquel May [e book reading free .TXT] 📗

the promotion, but the girls talked him out of doing those things. To them, dancing around and waving a flag (especially a flag that wasn’t American) was disrespectful. That act would offend many people, especially those who had relatives fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

"You keep waving that flag and it's going to come back to bite you on the butt," said Mara. "Karma has a way of getting back at those who displease her."

 

"Jail," said Pearl in a strange tone. Since they could remember, Pearl was the youngest member of their class when she was six years old. She had skipped over the first, second, third, and fourth grades to join their fifth grade class. The other kids thought she was weird and shunned her, but Tanya persuaded Irene, Mara, and Stuart to befriend the odd girl.

 

"OK, I don't want to go to jail," said Stuart. "You’ve made your point, Pearl."

 

"Then don't do it," said Irene. "When your name is called, go to the podium, take your award, shake hands with the principal, and return to your seat. That's all."

 

"I'm sure he’ll remember," said Tanya. "I'll watch him. He won't do anything crazy on my watch."

 

"There’s something I still don't understand," said Mara. The others stared at her. "How come I saw another Tanya during our trip in D.C.?"

 

The others groaned. "Oh, we're back to that again?" Stuart frowned. "Stop, OK? Please stop. Stop it now. This is getting old."

 

“You’re the one who needs to quit acting like you’re 25 years old,” said Irene. “So stop being old.”

 

“Act your age, not how old you want to be,” said Pearl.

 

"Mara’s right," said Tanya, interrupting the fight between Stuart and Irene. "There’s more than one Tanya out there. I bet there's several girls named Tanya Shinnok living in the United States. We were fortunate to meet another person named Tanya."

 

"And this Tanya was nothing like you," said Irene as Tanya glared at her. "She was fun to be with and you're no fun at all."

 

"Indeed," said Tanya as she shook her head. Another Tanya? That was absurd. It seemed that her friends wanted to discuss the "fun Tanya" rather than "same old boring no-fun Tanya". She stood up, saying, "I’m going to step out for a second and wait until you're done obsessing over "fun Tanya". It’s annoying."

 

"Well, don't stay out too long," said Mara. "It’s not safe to be outside at night. Kidnappers could be prowling the area, searching for people to steal. You don’t want to end up on the six o'clock news for that."

 

"Oh, mind yourselves," Tanya scoffed at them as she stepped outside the door.

 

As Stuart, Irene, Mara, and Pearl talked about the other Tanya and other kids they didn't like, Tanya wandered around the backyard. She held the club meeting at the camper since the sixth grade. To be honest, though, the clubhouse was losing its appeal. Irene had fought with her to change the group's meeting place from the camper to her family's pool house. The pool house was on the right side of her mansion and safer than the dark and ugly neighborhood they currently met in.

 

Tanya had no idea that someone was watching her and her friends. The person wore bright yellow clothes, a long black overcoat, a pair of dark sunglasses, and a fedora. When he saw Tanya, he approached her, saying, "Are you Tanya Shinnok?"

 

"Yeah," Tanya said. "What’s it to you?"

 

"I've noticed you’ve caused trouble for this city," said the person, "and I think it's time for you to go."

 

"Where am I going?" Tanya said as she panicked. She knew most people living in Harrison Creek hated her; some of them weren’t above cruel stares and cruel remarks. Tanya should have known there were some people who planned to remove her from the Teen Rebels. Those people also planned to force the kids to find new friends instead of hanging out with each other.

 

The person pulled a rope from a pocket of his jacket and grabbed Tanya, tying her up. When the girl was tied up, he whispered into a tape recorder, "Tanya is captured. Soon, she'll be gone and the city will forget about her."

 

Tanya attempted to scream, but the gag prevented that from happening. The person dropped something on the ground, then took his prisoner and walked away. The note said, "I've taken your friend and ringleader. If you Teen Rebels know what's good for you, you'll be smart and forget that she existed."

 

Yet, the note would never reach its intended recipients, as a strong wind blew the paper away. Despite many people being in front of their houses at night, no one saw the kidnapping. By the time the city learned about the kidnapping, it was too late to help Tanya...

Episode 1: Where's That Girl?

In the neighborhood of Holly Point, a group of concerned neighbors gathered at a house on 245 Newham Road. A girl was reported missing several hours ago. The missing girl in question was last seen with her friends before her disappearance.

 

"I don't like where this story is going," a woman said to another woman standing next to her. "It appears that they finally got her."

 

"We don't know that," said the second woman. "How do we know they have her?"

 

"We don't," said the first woman. "But I'm sure we’re going to know about it soon."

 

"I can't imagine this," said a man who stood next to the women. "Who would want to take Tanya? Why would they want to take her? What did she do that she deserved to be kidnapped?”

 

"Other than being mentally disabled, I don't know," said the second woman. "Who would want to steal a girl like her, anyway?"

 

"I can think of several people who would want to do that," said the first woman.

 

"Like who?" said the second woman.

 

"The parents of the students suspended for bullying her," said the first woman. "The parents of those boys who she had expelled after they beat her up for defending that gay student. Or maybe it's that Susanna Brezetta."

 

"I never liked her," said the man. "She's nothing but trouble."

 

"She almost destroyed this city," said the first woman. "She and that son of hers."

 

"Michael is not her child, he's a disgrace to the Brezetta family," said the second woman. "Between them, our city has a bad reputation as the graveyard for mentally disabled people, especially girls."

 

"And with Tanya's disappearance, this is the straw that'll break the camel's back," said the man. "Just who do they think they are? What gives them the right to ruin this town with their stupidity? I wonder why Archibald won't divorce Susanna and send Michael to a mental hospital instead of prison."

 

As that gossip continued, Raven Shinnok and his sons Spencer, Arthur, and Jamie were surrounded by news reporters. The reporters asked them questions such as, "Did you know where your daughter went the night she disappeared? Is it true that she had over 20 people suspended from Harrison Creek Middle School? How long has she been hanging out at Jan's Clubhouse?"

 

As Raven struggled to answer the questions without panicking, he stared at his sons. They all tried to keep calm, but they too were panicking. None of them knew that something was wrong with Tanya, nor were they aware of any problems she had, save for her being bullied by the other kids. To them, her disappearance was a sign that something was wrong in the Shinnok household.

 

Raven said, "I'm not sure if it was the bullies she got suspended and their parents are retaliating by kidnapping her or those boys who killed Carson Snider and beat her up when she tried to stand up for him. All I know is that someone living in this town kidnapped my daughter. I will find out who they are, and I will make sure they are punished for their crime against Tanya. There's no reason why a mentally disabled girl shouldn't be allowed to live in this town, especially since we're known as the "Dead Girls Zone"..."

 

The first woman said, "Did you hear that? He said our town was known as the "Dead Girls Zone"."

 

"It's true," said the second woman. "Remember several years ago when Tansy Dorkins and Lavinia Nadler disappeared from their foster home? They were found dead two weeks later. Then there's the 90s, when at least 22 girls between the ages of 12-16 who had some form of mental retardation, were killed. And let's not forget Janice Fraser, who was stolen from her home in the middle of the night in 1984 and hasn't been seen since. Now it's Tanya Shinnok. How many more mentally disabled girls have to die before we do something?"

 

"Maybe we should do something about it now," said the man. "Archibald runs the magazine as well as the newspaper in this town, so maybe we should get him on board before his wife does."

 

"We should," said the first woman. "If only to prevent another incident like what happened five years ago, when Susanna forced the jury to declare Jeff Colton not guilty in the deaths of Tansy and Lavinia. Remember the riot that took place after the trial?"

 

"The mob killed him and his mother," said the man.

 

"Indeed," said the second woman. "I hope the same thing doesn't happen in this case."

 

"If there is a case," said the man. "Remember, we can't declare people dead unless we see a body."

 

"But there were times when we found the body of a person and it's a fake," said the second woman.

 

"When did that happen?" said the first woman.

 

"When Raven Shinnok's wife Lila and their daughter Katrina disappeared when the family was on vacation seven years ago," said the second woman. "The news reported the women were found living in a tunnel in Las Vegas, but that ended up being a hoax. Their bodies were found in a wooded area outside Reno."

 

"That's what we're worried about," said the man. "Someone could have forced Tanya into a situation no girl should be in; to make matters worse, they might claim she is dead. We must stop this now before things get out of hand."

 

Things were out of control, if the news reports about Tanya's disappearance were any sign. Rumors swirled around the city, claiming that Tanya was stolen by a vigilante group bent on destroying the city. Others claimed that Susanna Brezetta had something to do with Tanya's disappearance. But no matter what the rumors were, many people agreed that they needed to put aside whatever feelings they had about Tanya Shinnok and find her.

 

Now, I'm not saying that the city of Harrison Creek, Oregon was right to hate Tanya, as she exposed many bullies and cruel adults to the city. Those people were given lengthy jail sentences for their crimes against children. (The boys who killed Carson Snider were sentenced to life in prison without parole, thanks to Tanya's testimony about them killing him.)

 

Yet, some people didn't like Tanya's efforts to rid the city of the bullies living there. They sent her harassing emails threatening to destroy her unless she stopped going after bullies. But they too were humiliated when she published the threats and the names of those who threatened her in the city's newspaper.

 

Now she was gone, with many people wondering if her enemies