Good Tidings — Terri Reid

Black Friday - the official opening of the Holiday Shopping Season - and Patrice Marcum is stuck in the middle of her local superstore with a crying infant, a near hysterical desire to just abandon the diapers and milk she desperately needs, and the snowstorm of the century dumping a half-foot of snow on the parking lot outside. She needs a miracle.The little old lady seemed sweet, but there was no way Patrice was going to leave three-month old Jeremy with a stranger. She looked outside at the snow-covered parking lot and saw yet another distressed shopper's cart topple over in the drifts. The old lady sensed her distress and volunteered to call a store employee to help watch over Jeremy while Patrice got her car. The older gentleman, wearing a store badge with the name “Ron,” seemed too good to be true. What could be safer?Less than five minutes later, after brushing the snow off the van and driving across the crowded and snow-packed parking lot, Patrice pulls up in front of the store. Jeremy is not there. Pushing back panic, she rushes into the store and looks around. Jeremy is not inside either. She pushes through the line at Customer Service, the associate calls Ron on the intercom, and issues a Code Adam. When Ron appears and he's only seventeen years old, Patrice realizes the worst. “Oh God! They've taken my baby!”Mary O'Reilly, Private Investigator, is decorating her office for the holiday season when the newly installed bell over her door jingles. She looks over to see a six year-old boy standing next to her desk. His name is Joey Marcum and he wants to hire Mary to find his baby brotherMary nodded. “Okay, Joey, but I'll want to work with the police on this one. Do you have any problems with that?”Joey paused. “No, I guess you can talk to them.”“That'll be helpful.”“But you can't tell my mom you're working for me,” he said, “Promise?”“Yes, I promise.”Joey shrugged. “I don't think she'd understand, seeing that I'm dead, you know.”