Little Boy Lost
 

Part One

Brian and Lindsay were out shopping, once again, for Gus. They were wandering through the boys department at Sears and Brian could only cringe as he looked at the clothes.

"Lindsay, must you dress him in this?" He held up one of the shirts.

"They're good quality clothes and they're inexpensive."

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't give a fuck about money? Just get the boy some decent clothes."

"You are not going to turn our son into a label queen." She smirked. "Besides, I think you'd start caring about money considering that this is the third time in the last six months that we had to buy him new clothes. He's growing out of them so fast it's ridiculous."

"He can't help it if he's going to be tall." Brian smirked.

"Gus, honey, stay where I can see you."

"Okay mama." At four years old Gus was running around constantly. He was so much like his father at that age it was scary. Brian actually started to feel a little sympathy for his parents, though not much. Once again Gus disappeared behind the many racks of clothing. Brian and Lindsay heard him playing nearby so they didn't make a big fuss about it.

After about an hour, Lindsay had taken everything to the counter and was checking out and Brian had the job of rounding up Gus.

"Okay, sonny boy, let's go. We're getting ready to leave." Brian started looking around the store. When he received no response he started to get a little angry. "Gus, this is no time to be messing around. We're leaving. If you're not with us we're gonna leave without you." The anger changed to worry when he still received no response. That usually got Gus to come out of hiding. Brian started looking around a little more quickly. After searching the entire area, he started to panic. "Okay, Kinney, calm down. He's got to be around here somewhere." He said softly to himself.

"Brian, where's Gus." Lindsay asked as she walked up, arms full of bags. Brian jumped when she first spoke, then he looked at her.

"Linds, don't panic, but.....I can't find him."

"What?"

"I can't find him. I've looked all over this part of the store and I can't find him." Lindsay started to look around.

"Gus......sweetie. Come on, it's time to go home." Brian started looking again as well.

"Sonny boy, come on. This isn't funny. You're scaring your mom, get out here now!"

After they had been searching the entire store for more than an hour, they met at the customer service desk. Lindsay looked ragged and was trying to stay calm. Brian was pacing up and down the little area in front of the desk.

"Now, if you'll just calm down and tell me what your son looks like, maybe I can help you find him." Brian stopped pacing long enough to remove the most recent picture of Gus from his wallet and hand it to the woman. She paused a moment as she looked at the picture, then looked up at Lindsay and Brian. "This is your son?"

"Yes, this is my son. What do you mean asking that?" Brian started to get very angry.

"The reason I asked is because I saw a young man leaving with this little boy earlier."

"WHAT?!" Brian and Lindsay both asked.

"What did he look like?" Brian glared at the woman.

"Well, he was kind of tall, blonde. Looked a little young."

"Justin?" Lindsay's tone was hopeful. Brian shook his head.

"Justin would have told us he was taking Gus. Besides, Justin isn't really what I'd consider tall." The realization sunk in right after he finished speaking and Brian sighed heavily, looking down for a minute, then looked up at Lindsay.

"Brian.......you don't mean......."

"I'm afraid so, Linds." He looked at the customer service woman. "I need you to call the police. Our son's been kidnapped." Lindsay dropped everything and put her face in her hands. Brian walked over and hugged her, trying to keep calm while Lindsay cried.
 

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