Free Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job by Willo Davis Roberts Page A

though the people had secretly called the police.
    I wondered if the Hazens had watched the same TV show. Marysville only gets two stations, so there isn’t much choice of what to watch. I tried to think what I could do to escape. The victim on that TV show hadn’t escaped. He’d had to be rescued by the police and the FBI, but the kidnapper had left some clues.
    I didn’t know if these kidnappers had left any clues or not.
    Melissa leaned her head against my arm and whispered. “Are they going to shoot us, Darcy?”
    â€œNo, I don’t think so,” I said. “Don’t be afraid. We’re all together.”
    It was a stupid thing to say. We were all together, but there was nothing I could do to help any of us, and there seemed plenty of reason to be afraid. I didn’t want the kids to cry or make a big fuss, though, for fear it would make the Hazens angry enough to hurt us.
    My words seemed to make Melissa feel alittle better, though her dark eyes were still very large and she pressed herself tightly against me.
    I glanced at Jeremy, on the other side. He watched TV, too, and I thought he probably had a better idea of the danger we were in than his sisters did; but now that his mouth wasn’t taped, he didn’t seem quite so scared. He was staring at the men in the front seat as if memorizing their descriptions, and I hoped he wouldn’t blurt out the fact that he had done this, the way I had. Now that I’d had time to think, I was mortified that I’d been so stupid.
    I tried to pay attention to where we were going, without being too obvious about it. It was hard to think with Pa Hazen watching me that way, but I did notice when we turned off the main road and headed toward a stand of woods. I thought I could find my way back out to that white farmhouse where there would be a phone. All I had to do was escape.
    When I saw where we were going, my heart sank. Escaping wasn’t going to be easy.
    We had driven a short distance through the woods when we came to a stone wall with awrought iron gate in it. Pa Hazen got out and unlocked the gate and opened it so Henry could drive the car through. When we were through, Pa Hazen closed the gate behind us and got back in the car, but he didn’t relock the gate. So Dan could get in, I guessed, but my heart was beating faster.
    If I had a chance to run, should I go for help by myself? Or would I put the children in worse danger by leaving them behind? Shana was so little she couldn’t possibly run very far and heavy enough so she’d really slow me down if I tried to carry her. I wished my head didn’t still ache from bumping it; maybe then I could think better.
    Inside the walls the trees were farther apart, and there was overgrown grass between them. As we drove toward the house, I was impressed by its size and graceful lines, but when Dan stopped the car before the front door, I could see that the pale red bricks were crumbling and the paint was peeling on the windowframes. It didn’t look as if anyone lived there anymore.
    â€œAll right, get out,” Pa Hazen said, and wesort of stumbled out into the sunshine and were herded up the shallow steps and into the house.
    For a minute I felt blind in the shadowy hallway, and then things came into focus. There was a big entry hall with stairs rising from one side of it and huge sliding doors leading to rooms on each side. I didn’t see much in the way of furniture, except an old sofa in one room that looked as if the mice had been at it; the stuffing was falling out of it.
    â€œUpstairs,” Pa Hazen said, and I moved quickly so he wouldn’t touch me again. Henry carried Shana, who, though she stuck out her lower lip, didn’t argue with him, and I held onto Melissa and Jeremy; the stairs were plenty wide enough so we could walk three abreast.
    â€œIn there,” Henry said, and we went where he directed, into a large room with nothing in it