had said their prayers sleepily, and welcomed the smell and feel of the clean sheets as they slipped between them. Sleep was just beginning to overcome their minds when they heard their mother call out. They half heard their Dad come down the hall, and then there was an exchange of voices whose tone was very serious. They heard their Dad start to go through the house, and they heard their mother run to the kitchen.
"What's wrong Mum?" Debbie called.
"Melanie's gone!"
Debbie sat up and began to get down from her bunk.
"Gone?" she said.
Tad jumped out of bed too.
"Hello? Is that the Police? Yes, I'm Mrs. Simmond, and I live on the Main Road. . .third house on the left. . .yes.. .that's S-I-m-m.., look, I know this might sound crazy, well not crazy, sorry I used that word . . … my baby has just been stolen. . .yes, we put her to bed, and my wife just checked on her..."
Mum began to cry.
"It's alright dear," said Dad. He put an arm round his wife and continued to speak into the phone.
The children stood in wonder as they listened to Dad.
As soon as the phone was put down, Dad ordered the children to get torches and go around the house to check the garden. He held Mum in his arms while she sobbed, and tried to comfort her.
"She can't have gone far," he was saying, "It's all right. She may have been sleep-walking? Don't worry, we'll find her," but he was just as upset too only he knew how to hide it better. Tad and Debbie could tell by his tone of voice how he was feeling.
The phone rang. Dad snatched it off the hook.
"Hello? Yes, this is Mr. Simmond. Thank you!"
"They'll be here any minute!"
In the confusing comings and goings of the next two hours, the children were almost forgotten. They sat and watched as two uniformed policemen went about the house. A third man sat with Mum and Dad, and asked them many questions. He filled in a long sheet of paper, ticking little squares here and there, and writing little bits of information along dotted lines. He seemed very unconcerned about the whole affair, but. Tad decided,
