Chapter 29. Sold into Slavery
At the end of the six days, during the night, the Ys and Jessica/Daisy finally went back to a real world. They probably went via Kirk A's TSA, but they (and we) were asleep through that.
They (and we) all woke up in the suite in the hotel in Hibbard. There were two bedrooms, as it turned out, each with its own bath. Jessica/Daisy had one of them, and they put a baby gate in the doorframe from her room into the living room of the suite, so she couldn't get out. Yancy could just step over the gate when he took things to her or gave her a bath.
That afternoon, Mr. "Smith" came to visit. He brought Daisy a shopping bag full of clothes and a My Little Pony Hair and Spa Salon. Yancy, still in his white coat, explained that Daisy was still contagious, so Daddy couldn't come into her room and she couldn't come out. They could talk through the gate but not touch each other.
Why are they doing it this way? asked Shep.
Not sure, I answered. I guess because she really doesn't know the guy except from that photo and the DVD. But now, after this, she really DOES know him, his different facial expressions, his mannerisms, how tall he is, like that. So when she finally goes home with him, he'll be completely familiar.
SO creepy, Shep commented.
I could only agree.
The clothes in the bag he'd brought were totally over the top. They looked like baby hooker clothes.
Where do you GET stuff like that for a four-year-old? Shep wondered.
I thought about it. Maybe it's stuff for pageants, you know, those beauty pageants for toddlers, like what's her name, JonBenét Ramsey, I finally suggested.
At that point, Daisy shouted with delight and pulled a tiara out of the bag.
Ewwww, said Shep. I guess you're right.
"That's because you're Daddy's little princess," Mr. "Smith" was saying. "And when you get well and can come home, we'll get you lots more!"
Daisy could hardly wait.
We could hardly wait for the Ys to finally, finally go to bed so we could be pulled out. It was such a relief to be back in the TSA, back in our own bodies, unlinked, free to walk around and shower and eat—we were ravenous, not having eaten for what felt to us like six days.
Andrew and Nick and Angel had seen what went on in the hotel, because it was actually the hotel in World A and they'd been monitoring Kirk A. We told them what had gone on before, in the TSA—how Jessica had been brainwashed.
"You were in the Ys for six days?" asked Andrew. "That's—that must have been ghastly. I'm so sorry. I guess we didn't think it through as well as we could have."
"No," I said. "I mean yes, it was really awful, but it's a good thing we did, because they didn't leave the TSA for all that time and otherwise we wouldn't know what they've done to Jessica. So it was in a really good cause."
"But we're really glad it's over," added Shep. "And I've been thinking about it—unless we somehow keep them from taking Jessica, there isn't any opportunity to get her back before they do all that stuff. Will she ever be okay?"
"Hard to say," said Nick. "She's very young, and it's only been a week. So I think so. But I'm not a child psychologist. I think she would have to see someone, have some intensive therapy, maybe for a long time, but I think she'd eventually get back to normal."
"Why don't we call the police on World A and leave an anonymous tip?" suggested Shep.
"Because there's already a Jessica in World A," I said. "Jessica Daisy was kidnapped from World Kappa. She's not missing in World A. There are two of her." A thought struck me. "Won't the two of them try to get together—isn't that what happens when there are two in the same world?"
"How would a four-year-old try to get to a different city?" mused Andrew. "She—they might feel kind of antsy or something, but I don't think they'd even really realize why, at that age. And they certainly can't do anything effective about it."
"But that's off the subject. We have to do something. We have to save her," objected Shep. "You just cannot imagine how creepy it was."
"No," I said slowly. "I mean, yes, it was creepy, big time, but it was much worse than creepy. It was—it was evil. Kirk A is selling toddlers to pedophiles. He's selling babies for dirty old men to have sex with."
"No!" said Angel. "I mean, how do you know? Are you sure?"
"What else could it be?" I responded.
"An illegal adoption?" she suggested.
"Yes, sort of, but not only. First, it's an awful lot of money, even for an illegal adoption, I think. And there's no mommy involved—Mr. 'Smith' doesn't have a partner. It's just going to be him and little Daisy. Yancy was spoiling her rotten, with the ice cream and all, and so was 'Smith,' with the clothes and the presents. And those poses in the album. And the kind of clothes he got her. And remember, Kirk A told him he could trade her in for a younger model when she go too old! 'Smith' is buying a live sex toy. I'm sure."
There was a pause.
"I think he's right," said Shep finally. "'Smith' sure isn't buying a live-in housemaid."
There was another pause.
"So what do we do?" asked Angel.
Andrew sighed. "Nothing immediately springs to mind," he said. "I think we all sleep on it."