“L EVI, WAKE UP — something’s wrong.”
He awakened to the visage of Jenny standing over
him in the blinding morning sun. He sat up in a
mental fog, startled at how frantic she looked.
“Violet is gone,” she said.
Levi immediately jumped up and rushed into the
girl’s bedroom. Her personal items were missing, even
her clothes. Only Jenny’s laptop remained on the bed.
Levi turned back to Jenny and saw that she was
holding a crumpled note. “What’s that?” he asked.
“From Violet,” she said. “She left this.”
Jenny handed the letter to him. His eyes examined
the page: Wish you all the best. Don’t be sorry for me. I
love you both — Violet, XOXO.
Jenny’s voice trembled, “Do you think she’s going to
harm herself?”
236
He didn’t want to lie or give false hope. He just
wanted to be honest. “I don’t know. I really don’t.”
“Last night — did she say something to you? Did she
mention this?”
“No,” he replied. “But something about her seemed
off. Like she wasn’t acting like herself.”
“Oh god, Levi, I don’t know what to do.”
“Calm down, calm down. Okay, what do we know?
We know she has no living family.”
“Or friends,” Jenny interrupted.
“Right. She has nowhere to stay but she’s street
smart. She knows how to hustle and stay alive. Where
would she go?”
Jenny thought for a moment, came up empty.
Shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never been in her shoes.
But what if…?”
“Stop it,” he demanded. “Don’t even think it. She’s
out there. Somewhere. We just have to figure this one
out.”
“You’re right,” she agreed. “Violet’s a smart girl. She
wouldn’t do anything to herself.”
Levi nodded his head to encourage her, but even he
thought there was a chance Violet had crossed over
that line and done something irreversible. “I’ll talk to
Russell,” he said. “Go ahead and go to work like usual.
237
Don’t think about all this drama, just go to work and
I’ll let you know if I have any news.”
“No,” she said. “I want to go with you.”
“Listen, it’s better that I go look for her alone. I might
be going into some places where I’d rather you not be.”
“I’m tough, you know. Don’t underestimate me.”
“I’m not,” he said. “But I’ll be stronger, and more
useful, if I know you’re safe. Okay? Promise me? Just
go to work like it’s any other day. Don’t even give this a
second thought. I’ll find the girl.”
“Bring her home, Levi,” Jenny pleaded. “Before it’s
too late.”
“I will.”
He moved urgently for the door and then felt her
hand on his arm. Jenny reached for the lamp bag and
stood in silence for a brief moment before handing it to
him. “Yeah,” he said, wondering who would need it
more — Jenny or Violet. He feared it would be the
latter. “Keep yourself safe, okay?”
Levi started his search across the street from the
apartment building. He asked several shop owners if
they’d seen a teenage girl carrying a backpack. Without
a picture, Levi was forced to describe the missing girl
as petite with dark hair sometimes decorated with clips
or feathers, big eyes and a mousy voice. No one had
238
seen her. He realized that most of the shops had not
yet opened for the day, or were perhaps not planning to
open. Levi felt the eeriness of the once-busy
intersection and wondered if all the rumors, though
delayed, were nearing fulfillment. “Not today,” he told
himself. Just not today.
He took to the streets anyway, talking to pawn shop
owners and checking a crisis center and a homeless
mission. Still no one had seen the girl. Around
midtown, Levi began to notice more and more people
outside, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe things
in the city were getting back to normal.
“Where could she be, where could she be?” he
repeated to himself as he circled the block in which
he’d first encountered her. A brief visit to the local
police station proved useless as they told him he had
to wait twenty-four hours to file a missing person
report. The fact that Violet was not a minor made
things even more complicated. He was running out of
ideas and losing hope quickly.
• • •
Jenny was trying to type a memo at the office and
having great trouble focusing on the task. Fretting over
Violet’s safety had now morphed into worrying for
239
Levi’s safety as well. He had, after all, mentioned
needing to go into some bad places in order to look for
her. She also remembered that Levi had given his
phone back to Russell, which meant he no longer had
one.
“Beautiful morning out, huh?”
Jenny turned to the co-worker who had arrived at
her desk and smiled politely. “Sure is.”
“It’s Friday night. Tell me you have plans.”
“I have plans,” she admitted.
The man at her desk gave her a double thumbs-up
and said, “Tonight is going to be crazy. Parties are
breaking out everywhere. Big ones too, like it was New
Year’s or something.”
“Yeah?” she asked. “What’s the occasion?”
“You’re joking with me, right?”
Jenny thought for an embarrassed moment before
shaking her head “no.”
“No. Really? You don’t? How could you not even…”
“JUST TELL ME, BILL!” she urged, nearly shouting.
Bill made a twisted face while Jenny flashed a grin to
cover her verbal blowup. “Congress,” he said. “More
than half of them resigned over the break. Almost two-
thirds. The story broke late last night. People are
celebrating. There are parties everywhere tonight.”
240
Jenny had a sinking feeling in the pit of her
stomach. “They resigned? You mean, they just gave
in?”
“Yeah, it was awesome. Nobody saw that coming.”
“So this is real?” she asked. “The government isn’t
sending in troops to declare martial law or anything?”
“Nope. Everything was resolved peacefully.”
Something about the news made Jenny skeptical.
Why would they suddenly give in after so many months
of doing battle, without the slightest hint of concession
in all that time? And two-thirds of Congress?
Something didn’t sound right to her. “Well, that’s great
news,” she fibbed, hoping Bill would now leave. And he
did. Happy for the brief distraction, Jenny’s thoughts
returned to Violet and Levi. And then she needed
another hit of distraction.
“Hey, Bill,” she shouted, gaining his attention.
“Sorry. Can you tell me more about all these parties?”
• • •
Nightfall was already approaching as an exhausted
Levi made his way back to his apartment after picking
up his car. He went inside, hoping to find a clue to
Violet’s whereabouts from K.S., but he only found a
cold, dim apartment. Not wishing to stick around the
241
one place he knew she wouldn’t be, Levi turned back
and hopped into the car feeling dejected. He drove the
streets at dusk, finally giving in to the fading light and
clicking on the headlights. Levi knew that finding a
missing girl after sunset would be nearly impossible.
He drove through the park and saw small groups
congregating, now holding beers instead of signs, as
speakers blared music from a bygone era. There were
sounds of peace, love and revolution. He rolled down
the driver’s side window and the park music swept into
the car. He drunk it up as he rolled through, glad to
see that things were back to normal and life had once
more come to his city. Levi drove down Broadway, his
eyes scouring the sidewalks for any sign of her. His
thoughts turned to the previous night and how
unusual Violet’s behavior had been. It troubled him to
think that the precious street kid he once knew was
now outside of his purview. He could no longer protect
the girl.
242