The Heist

Ch. 7

Ch. 7

I used to love D.C. when I was a little girl. The monuments, the street vendors, the excitement. I remember taking a few family vacations down here. Only, now I know they were heists, not vacations. As my feet crunched over gravel, I passed a stand where my mother had bought me a double scoop ice cream cone. Turns out later the vendor was the very man who we were stealing from. The memories still made me happy. A gust of wind blew, giving my hundreds of little goose bumps, as I scurried into my father's favorite breakfast place here.

I had told Nathan that it may take me a couple days to find my father. That was a lie. Yes, Tommy Bendlin changed his address and his phone number almost once a week, but as his daughter, I knew exactly where he would be.

After buying a croissant for him and a bagel for me along with two coffees, I went to the large reflecting pool in front of the Washington Monument. And there my father was. He stood by the water as if carefully placed.  His cashmere jacket was zipped around him to shake off the cold as he paced around the perimeter of the pool. My father walked with the crowds of people there, not too slow, not too fast. Anyone else here would assume he was like any other tourist, taking in the scents and smells of the nation's capital. I knew better... he definitely was not. Suddenly, a little girl cried out, her eyes wide. I stared at her, curious what happened to make her upset.

“Mommy?” She screamed, making it clear that she had lost her family in the chaos of the crowds. I sighed and knelt down beside her- my mistake.

“Hey, sweetie, did you lose your mommy?” I asked, already knowing the answer. She nodded her head yes.

“Can I lift you up?” The little girl nodded again, some of her fear left her eyes.

On the count of three I held her up and instructed her to look for her mom. Lucky for us, her mother spotted me holding her.

“Ariana!” The mother screeched. I jumped, but the child looked so relieved.

“That’s my name too.” I whispered to her. Little Ariana’s eyes widened and she hugged me.

“Thank you so much.” Little Ariana’s mother said to me, taking my mini me out of my hands.

I shrugged, “No problem.” With a small wave to the little girl, I disappeared back into the clumps of people.

My eyes searched the pockets of crowds for him, but it was too late. I had made the mistake of taking my eyes off the prize for two minutes only for him to run off.

I'm not sure what I was expecting. I hoped that my father would see me and be shocked, happy even. Instead, he didn't even notice me- not even when I was holding a little girl in the air, drawing attention to myself. That would serve as a good compliment to thieves everywhere, but no daughter wanted to be invisible.

Patiently I waited, taking my own turn looking into the reflecting pool. With an annoyed sigh I started to walk away, but for some unexplainable reason, I spun back around and found him again.

My eyes instantly locked on his jet black hair, almost identical in coloring to mine, only a few meters from where I was. He stood towards the edge of a tour group, probably only half way listening. My father didn't see me weaving through thickets of people. He didn't notice when I slipped and almost fell. He didn't notice my furious shivering. He just watched the group.

But, when I slipped into the group beside him, I noticed his lips twitch up slightly. A smile was a rare blessing from my dad.

"Hope that's for me." He murmured, nodding at the pastry in my hands. In my head I found my thoughts between being impressed and annoyed by his casual tone. He remained in character, if you will, but deep down I wanted a big hug and a decent hello. Hesitantly, I handed him the coffee and snack as still as I could manage because of the cold gusts.