It's every parent's worst nightmare come to life. It starts innocuously enough. Whitney drops her daughter, Amelia, off for a sleepover at a friend's house. She has misgivings. She's never met Lauren's parents. She'd like to introduce herself. But her relationship with Amelia has felt fragile recently. So, like many other mothers of teens, she's decided to pick her battles.
The next morning--you guessed right--Amelia doesn't come home. When Whitney returns to the house to pick her up she's greeted by a very perplexed older couple. Only she's sure she's gone to the right house. It's the only one in the neighborhood with a distinctive rose garden.
At home Whitney tries to reassure herself. The girls have lost track of time. They're trying to extend their stay together. The police officers she eventually calls in are confident that it's a routine teen runaway case. They reassure her that the kids usually return.
But ominous possibilities have started to emerge. Amelia had just dropped her long time friend group to hang out with the mysterious Lauren. It was about the time she developed an attitude. And she's become very secretive.
But Amelia is not the only one with secrets. In a parallel story line readers learn of Whitney's obsessive high school friendship with a girl who introduced her to smoking, drinking, and drugs, a girl she was powerless to extricate from an abusive relationship. There are things she hasn't shared with anyone.
Perhaps the not completely buried secrets of Whitney's past are coming back to steal from her the being whose wellbeing her life is centered around.
So if you're a parent in need of a twisty, suspenseful Halloween chiller Where I left Her is a most excellent choice.
On a purrrsonal note, I feel like the University of Maine has dropped the ball when it comes to COVID boosters. They aren't going to offer a clinic for the new one which would be an investment in institutional health. Build up the old herd immunity. The health center is only offering it to those for whom they're the primary health care provider. I guess the rest of us are supposed to get it in the real world. Why are they making it so damn hard? I guess that will be my question for the chancellor when he visits campus on Halloween. Yes, even though I'll be in costume I'm not going to pass up this opportunity. Daniel Molloy will get a visit from the cat in the hat. (Jules)
People want to get shots??? (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to all who are vaccinating and/or masking. Hang in there. We need to get this trickster pathogen under control.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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