Two Much Alike

She glanced at her watch. It was almost six. The bus should have arrived in Grand Marais by now. She wondered where Alex was and what he was doing.

Frannie’s heart rate increased. What if she couldn’t find him? What if Dennis Harper was in the small resort town? What if Alex had found him and he—She pushed such thoughts from her mind. She needed to keep a clear head if she was going to find Alex. She couldn’t allow what-if’s to distract her.

Finally she saw the green road sign: Grand Marais. Frannie’s adrenaline kicked into a higher gear. As she drove into the business district, she kept one eye on the road, the other on the sidewalks in search of her son.

It only took a few minutes to locate the bus stop. When she saw no sign of Alex, she parked her car, then grabbed Luke by the hand and ordered Emma to stick close by.

“I’m looking for my son. He’s ten, dark hair, a couple of inches shorter than I am, wearing a pair of jeans and a blue shirt,” she would say to each of the shopkeepers she met. Each gave her the same answer. No one had seen him.

“When are we going to eat? I’m hungry,” Emma asked as they approached a diner. The aroma of beef grilling wafted on the air, and Luke echoed his sister. “I want to eat, Mommy.”

Frannie pulled open the door to the diner and motioned for Emma to step inside. Her daughter hadn’t taken but a couple of steps when she said, “He’s in here!”

Relief washed over Frannie at the sight of her son sitting on a stool at the lunch counter. In front of him was a half-eaten hamburger and a plate of French fries, and he held a fountain glass in his hand. Seeing his mother, his eyes widened. He slammed the glass down on the counter.

“Mom!”

Hours of pent-up emotion came spilling out. Instead of throwing her arms around him and telling him how relieved she was that he was safe, she scolded him. “Alexander Harper, what do you think you’re doing? Do you know how worried I’ve been about you?” It was only as she noticed the heads turned in her direction that she realized how loud her voice was.

“You’re in big trouble,” Emma said, taking the stool next to his and grabbing a French fry from his plate. “You’re gonna get grounded.”

Seeing the food in front of Alex, Luke squirmed and wriggled, trying to be free of Frannie’s arms. “I’m hungry!” he cried, fingers clawing the air in hopes of reaching Alex’s fries.

“Can I have a hamburger?” Emma asked.

Frannie knew she needed to feed her children. She looked around the small diner for a place for them all to sit.

The waitress behind the counter, a teenage girl wearing a red chef’s apron over her jeans and T-shirt, said, “Why don’t you take that table next to the window?” She gestured to a booth directly behind Frannie. Alex didn’t look as if he wanted to leave his spot at the counter, but the young girl picked up his plate, saying, “Come on, big fella. You’ll have more room over here.”

She led Alex over to the booth, stopping at the end of the counter to pick up a booster seat for Luke. Frannie noticed that on the upper-left corner of her apron was a small white patch with the name Rosie embroidered in black letters.

As soon as they were all seated, she set four paper place mats on the table, each one a map of the area showing local tourist attractions. Then she added silverware and four glasses of water, finishing with menus.

“The kids’ menu is on the back,” she announced, then asked, “Can I start you off with something to drink?”

“I’ll have a Coke,” Emma answered.

“She’ll have milk,” Frannie amended.

Emma made a sound of indignation. “Alex has pop.”

As if suddenly realizing that indeed his brother did have a soda, Luke climbed out of his booster seat and reached across the table for the straw in Alex’s glass. “Pop!”

Frannie pulled Luke off the table and returned him to the booster chair. “Bring two more Cokes, and I’ll have an iced tea,” she said to the waitress, then looked at Luke and said, “You have to sit down like a good boy if you want the nice lady to bring you pop.”

To Frannie’s relief, the waitress returned with not only their drinks, but a small square block of wood holding half-a-dozen crayons and an activity sheet for Luke. While Emma helped her brother connect the dots on a puzzle, Frannie spoke to Alex.

“Do you realize how worried I’ve been?”

Alex didn’t answer, but stared down at the French fries on his plate.

“You shouldn’t have come up here, Alex. Not only is it dangerous for someone your age to ride the bus alone, you have no real proof that your father is even here.”

“I’m gonna find him,” he said stubbornly, still not lifting his gaze.

“You’re going to come home with me,” Frannie said, her voice stern.

“It’s not fair. What if he is here?” He looked up at her then, his eyes full of something Frannie didn’t want to see. Hope.

“He’s not here, Alex,” she said quietly but firmly.

“You don’t know that for sure.”

They were interrupted by the waitress. “Are you ready to order?”

Without even looking at the menu, Frannie ordered hamburgers and fries for the three of them, although she didn’t have much of an appetite. It seemed that Alex didn’t, either. His food hadn’t been touched since they’d arrived.

“Don’t you want to know if he’s here?” Alex asked a few minutes later, his face full of youthful innocence and curiosity.

“I told you. He’s not here,” Frannie replied.

“How do you know?”

“Because he hates Minnesota.”

“But that lady who called said she saw him.”

“Alex, the picture on that poster is eleven years old.”

“It could be him,” he argued, refusing to be persuaded.

There was a short silence, then Emma said, “I don’t know why you want to find him anyway. He doesn’t want to be with us.”

It was said so matter-of-factly, with so little emotion, that Frannie felt her heart break. “I think it would be a good idea if we didn’t discuss your father.”

Alex didn’t say a word, but leaned back against the padded cushion of the booth, his arms folded across his chest.

“Aren’t you going to finish eating?” Emma asked.

“I’m not hungry,” he mumbled between pinched lips.

“Can I have your fries?” his twin asked.

He shoved the plate in her direction. Emma reached for the bottle of ketchup and poured a generous serving on the plate. “Was it fun riding on the bus?”

Alex simply shrugged, not that Emma seemed to mind. She carried on with her chatter. “Wasn’t that big rock tunnel cool? And the lake is so huge! We saw a really long ship in the harbor in Duluth. Can we please stop at that park on the way home?” Emma asked her mother as she happily devoured Alex’s fries.

“We have a long way to go before we get home, Emma,” Frannie answered.