Twist

After Josie was gone, I stared down at the sleeping baby. He hadn't moved at the sound of our voices. Tucked in one corner of his crib was a large stuffed teddy bear, its glassy eyes staring at me intently. "What are you looking at, Bear? You probably cost a fortune, just like everything else around here. It's not right this little guy has so much."

That's when the idea came to me. I looked down at the sleeping kid and said, "Harry, I just came up with a way to grab some of your parents' money for myself. What would happen if I sneaked into the house tomorrow night after everyone was asleep? I watched Josie punch the code into the security system, so I know the right numbers. As heavy as you sleep, I'll bet you won't even wake up when I carry you out to my car. How much do you think your folks would pay to get you? I'll bet they'd be willing to come up with a hundred thousand dollars to have you back snug in your crib."

The more I thought about it, the better it sounded. No more slaving away at the dead-end jobs I usually worked. Once I got the kid's ransom from his parents, I'd make sure he got back to the house safely. Nobody'd be hurt, and I'd be a hundred grand richer.

I took a little of the kid's unused Play-Doh, stuff he was too young to be playing with anyway, sneaked downstairs, made an impression of a key labeled 'House' I'd seen hanging from a hook in the kitchen earlier, then headed back upstairs before Josie was done in the basement. I knew a guy who would make me a duplicate, no questions asked.

I came back to the crib and roughed up the teddy bear's head as I stared into the glossy dark eyes. "I'm going to do it. Tomorrow night, Harry and I are going for a little ride to my place." I leaned over and smiled at the bear. "If you're good, I might even take you with us. How would you like that, Teddy?"

Josie walked back into the room, her arms full of a batch of freshly laundered cloth diapers. "Who are you talking to, Bobby? Is Harrison awake?"

"No, I was just having a word with his bear." She smiled slightly. "It's brand new. I'm not sure why they bought it, though. He's got so many toys, there's no way he can play with them all. I don't really see anything special about this particular stuffed animal."

I wrapped my arms around Josie and gave her a big kiss. She pulled away after a moment and said, "Hey, what's that for?"

"I'm glad you invited me over tonight, that's all."

She flushed slightly, then said, "This will have to be the last time. The Hickmans smelled the smoke from your cigar the last time you were here, and they warned me that if I let anyone in the house while they were out, they'd fire me."

I nuzzled her neck. "You worry too much, Josie. They'll never even know I was here."

I didn't say another word as she led me out of the room. I glanced back at Harry, still sound asleep. Tomorrow night, we were going for a ride.