Holly, with her two small children in tow, ambled down the dusty street past the clinic on the left and the saloon on the right. There were very few people out this time of midafternoon. It was too hot and the strangling stuffy breeze blew dust in a swirling dance ahead and behind.

  Holly wouldn’t be out herself with her two youngest sons except for the need to retrieve her older son from the schoolhouse. Most days at this time, she would arrive at the tiny, one room building used as the hall of education here in Utopia and end up shepherding another half dozen children to their homes in the apartment quad on the other side of town.

  Her own home, a free standing single family structure, was near the quad but owing to her husband’s position as a superintendent, they were able to afford a home with a little more affluence.

  The other four or five children that tagged along with Holly and her brood were the sons and daughters of other miners, a couple of them employees of her husband. As such, Holly felt a small measure of responsibility for them.

  The school was surrounded by a low fence that enclosed both the building and a playground that had a small number of structures designed for child play. They were in as bad a shape as the building. The school, once a cheery green color, was now sun-faded, random pockmarks marred the walls. The roof was a solid piece but one corner was bent upward at an extreme angle. Truth be told, dust from sands often made its way inside through that corner when the wind blew hard enough. When it rained, on those rare occasions, that inside corner got a soaking.

  Holly’s two younger children raced to the playground and started spinning the rusty, squeaking merry-go-round. They were just experienced enough to know not to jump right on the hot metal toy, they’d felt that burn before. It wobbled slightly as it spun around. the young boys giggled and their mother smiled under her wide-brimmed hat. Life could be hard here in Utopia but moments like this made it seem not so bad to Holly.

  All at once the relative calm was shattered as the schoolhouse door was through open and the ten students inside piled out seemingly all at once. The cacophonous group burst out, a couple heading to the playground to join the two little ones, the rest making for the gate to make their escape. One of them, the eldest student and the daughter of the sheriff, ran straight to Holly as soon as she’d seen her.

  “Ghess!” exclaimed Holly. “How are you, young lady?”

  Ghess beamed. Holly thought she was as radiant as she was intelligent. The young Gamorean loved talking to Holly who she looked up to as a role model.

  “Doin’ good, Ms Holly! How are you?” Ghess responded.

  “I’m well. How was class?”

  Ghess beamed more brightly. “I got top grades on my science exam!”

  Holly hugged the young lady tight. She loved her boys dearly but had always wanted a daughter of her own. “Congratulations! Well done!”

  “It was easy.”

  Molly smiled at the girl. “Keep it up. . .” Then Holly suddenly realized there was something amiss. “Have you seen Charles?” Holly’s oldest usually was among the first to exit the school.

  The young Gamorrean frowned and shook her head. “Charles hasn’t been here all day. We thought he’d stayed home again.”

  Charles had been home with a mild cough the day before but he’d awakened this morning with his usual energy and actually wanted to go to school. Holly had fed him breakfast and sent him out the door to walk to school with the other neighborhood children.

  Holly’s face fell. She felt an icy fear grip her heart and it was suddenly dry hard to swallow. Where was Charles? He was too young to have taken off on his own.

  “No,” Holly said, unable to keep her voice from shaking. “He left for school this morning just like normal.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Ghess’s eyes widened as she sensed Holly’s fears. She turned to the other children and called out, “Wait! Come back!”

  The children all respected Ghess as the de facto leader of the school since she was the eldest so they immediately turned and ran back to her. The ones at the playground also interrupted their game to heed the call and come to the fence.

  “Hey! Anyone know where Charles is?” Ghess demanded, her grave tone silenced the younger children and they looked around at each other not really knowing what to say. They did, one by one, shake their heads no.

  Holly frowned. “He didn’t walk with any of you this morning?”

  Nancy, one of the younger girls, spoke, “Charles came with us just to the store.”

  Mae was next. “Oh yeah! Said he forgot something and ran back home!”

  Hope swelled in Holly’s heart for a moment. Was he at home? How could she have missed him all day?

  Holly needed to talk to the school’s droid. She motioned to her younger sons, “Boys come with me.” She turned to the others, “If any of you see Charles, tell him to come right home.”

  The school droid was no help. It had also made the assumption that Charles had stayed home sick for a second day. As with the students, she instructed the droid to send Charles home immediately if he saw the boy.

  Holly, along with her other boys, headed back to her home without delay.

  *****

  Once at the house she made a quick but thorough search. No Charles. The icy feeling in her heart returned with a vengeance. Her thoughts scattered. Where was her son? What if he was hurt?

  There was a knock at the door. Holly ran from the boys’ room to the front of the house. The door, still open from Holly’s haphazard entry, framed the huge form of Ghor, the Gamorrean sheriff, Ghess’s mother.

  Holly burst into tears and the big Gamorrean caught her in her arms before she fell to the ground. “Holly? Ghess says Charles is missing?”

  Molly nodded affirmation, sobbing uncontrollably, unable to articulate any words.

  The sheriff patted the young woman’s back, “It’s gonna be ok.”

  She led Holly to a couch and sat her down. The two younger boys came to their mother’s knee, her unexpected burst of emotion had them shocked.

  Holly produced a handkerchief from a pocket and used it to wipe her eyes but her sobbing continued.

  Ghor patted Holly on the shoulder and removed her communicator from her hip pocket. “Kiro, respond.”

  After a moment Kiro’s voice came back over the tiny speaker, “Yes, Ma’am?”

  “Come down to Holly and Will’s place now.”

  Kiro must have heard the urgency in the sheriff’s voice. “On my way, Ma’am.”

  Ghor turned back to Holly. “Holly, where’s Will?”

  “He’s a. . . at. . . the mine. At. . . a. . . meeting.” Holly barely managed to get the words out between sobs.

  Ghor nodded and spoke into the communicator once more. “Forget coming here. Go to the mine and get Will.”

  Kiro’s voice filtered back, “Ok. What’s going on, Ma’am?”

  The sheriff exhaled. “Holly and Will’s boy, Charles, is missing. He might be at the mine with his pa.”

  “Understood. On my way, ma’am,” Kiro acknowledged.

  Holly hugged Ghor again. “You think he’s really at the mine?”

  ******

  Kiro sped into the mine complex atop a speeder bike and leapt off as the bike came to a halt.

  He ran up to the office door banging on it loudly.

  The door slid open with a whoosh. Kiro ran inside.

  Sitting around a small table at the center of the dark room were the Colonel, his aide Glade, and the missing boy’s father, Will.

  Kiro took a deep breath. “Sir! Sorry to interrupt. Will, your boy, Charles, is missing.”

  Will jumped to his feet, “What? What happened?”

  Kiro took another deep breath. “I’m not sure, sir. The sheriff sent me to get you.”

  The Colonel calmly turned to Will. “I’m guessing the boy isn’t here somewhere waiting for you?”

  Will shook his head but he was clearly shell shocked by the news. “Colonel, sir?”

  The Colonel stood up and took charge of the chaos. “Will, go with Deputy Kiro. He’ll take you home to your wife.” He turned to his aide, “Go to the mine and get us twenty volunteers to help look for the boy. Preferably people who know the area well. I’ll join you shortly.”

  He stepped over to Will and took his hand. “Go. We’ll be right behind you.”

  Kiro stepped over and put a hand on Will’s shoulder, “Let’s go, sir.”

  Glade left the tiny office just ahead of Kiro and Will who went to Kiro’s speeder bike and straightaway mounted and sped off toward Utopia.

  ******

  The Colonel watched the bike leave and then glanced at Glade heading into the mine to gather his volunteers. He closed the door and locked it. He needed a few minutes of privacy.

  The Colonel sat at the table, his palms flat on the surface. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing in an attempt to clear his mind. He felt his breathing slow and then focused on his heart rate, his will slowing that as well.

  He became aware of the connections around him through the Force. It felt good. Powerful. He allowed himself a moment to bask in the feeling, like standing in the warm summer sun.

  Then the Colonel altered his focus and concentrated on the boy, Charles, Will and Holly’s older son. He could sense the miners and the residents of the town but he couldn’t separate them and sense them individually.

  Odd. There was something disturbing his ability. Yes. There was definitely a disturbance of some kind