Sara Lost and Found by Virginia Castleman Page B

“Daddy!”
    I never see the car coming from the other direction.
    â€œNo!” Anna’s scream pierces the air like an animal in pain. I stop, as if someone jerked a collar around my neck and pulled back. The car swerves and misses me.
    The next thing I know, Ben is pulling me off the street to the side of the road. Cars are screeching to a stop.
    â€œFind me, Anna. Sara. You’re Olsons. Never forget that. You’re Olsons!” His words disappear with his truck around a corner.
    The police siren grows closer. Through the blur, I see the officer stop and run over to us.
    â€œHe never even stopped to make sure they were okay,” Ben shouts.
    I get up, but the policeman makes me rest on the curb until he’s sure we’re both okay. Anna sits beside me, rubbing her elbow, staring blankly in the direction Daddy had driven. She fell running after me.
    While Ben talks with the policeman, I talk to Anna. “You okay?” I look up into her face. The fear-twin thing passes between us and I put my arm around her. Daddy’s words still ring in my ears, but they feel more like a warning than a comfort.
    â€œBeing an Olson isn’t easy,” I finally whisper.
    â€œNot easy,” Anna agrees.
    Minutes later, Ben reaches down and we both grab his hands, pulling ourselves up to our feet.

CHAPTER 16
    ANNA AND I ARE LOST in thought on the way back to the Silvermans’.
    No broken bones. Just a lot of bruises. I swallow hot tears. Ben walks between us and puts his arm over each of our shoulders. He rocks side to side, murmuring soothing words in Russian. It doesn’t matter that we can’t understand the words. Their meaning is clear.
    When we get to the Silvermans’, I wince while stepping up and into the house. I feel like Daddy’s truck did run me over.
    That night Mrs. Silverman makes our favorite meal, chicken with mashed potatoes and peas.
    â€œNothing like a good chicken leg to round out a meal,” Ben says, trying, I think, to keep things light.
    â€œRound out your belly, you mean,” Rachel answers, flitting around the table like a mother bird.
    â€œThat, too!” Ben agrees. I grin as he rubs his stomach.
    Everyone is trying not to talk about it, but Daddy is out there somewhere, running from the law.
    Finally, Rachel leans over and looks into my face. “You miss your papa. I know this. But it was not right the way he called to you. You could have by that car gotten killed! The courts told him to stay away.”
    â€œThen I hate the courts,” I say. “He’s our daddy!”
    â€œHe needs to work out some things.” She says the word “work” as if it starts with a v . “Like, for instance, his drinking. He is the papa. He is supposed to take care of you. Not the other way around. So the courts, they find you a new home with a mama and papa who will look after you.”
    I cry so hard there aren’t any more tears to fall. “Mama said when she looks at me she sees Daddy,” I cry out. “That’s why she ran away.”
    Rachel puts down the plates she’s carrying and sits beside me. “Is this what you are thinking all the time? That it is your fault your mama and papa are having these troubles?”
    I don’t answer, but I don’t need to. Rachel knows.
    â€œAh, kia. Poor baby. You are not just like your papa. You are you, Sara. And Anna is Anna. Loving girls. Caring sisters. Maybe your mama, she just meant you look like your papa. You sing like him. I think this must be what she was meaning. She was talking about the good things. Maybe she thinks things would be better if she went away and tried to find work. She loves you girls. I just know it. Your papa loves you too. It’s just that sometimes in life, we can’t always be with the ones we love for one reason or another. It has nothing to do with you. You were in the middle caught. Can you understand this?”
    I