The Blue Hat

The Blue Hat
by
Raman Jalota

   Captain Goldwater picked up the phone after the 5th ring.
   "City of Springfield, police department."
   "Captain Goldwater please."
   "Yes? This is Goldwater."
   "Hello. My name is Rebecca Reynolds. I need to talk to you about Walter Smith."
   "Are you a relative of Mr. Smith?"
   "No. But I have been hearing from him. .... The last two days."
    "Where is he?"
    "He is in Springfield of course ... but he needs my help."
    "When did he last call you?"
    "He never called me. But I can help him. He needs my help."
    "But you said he has been calling you. What ..."
    "Well this is a little difficult to explain ... you see captain; I have been hearing from him since he disappeared."
    "How do you know he has disappeared? Where are you calling from?"
    He looked at the caller ID and frowned.
    "I am calling from Marinaville, I live about two hours away."
    "And ..."
    "I went for a walk in the local park here yesterday, next to Lake Sabusabu. It's next to the Bluefossil hills, and as I was walking I could hear him. No, it wasn't a voice so much as it was a message in my mind ... it was very distinct ... an old man ... Walter told me he was lost and needed help ... he ..."
    "You say, you heard this man in your head?"
    "I believe it was a very strong connection that he made with me ... he found me out and somehow connected with me ... at least that's how I would describe it."
    He shook his head, "And you believe this voice ... this thought came from Mr. Smith?"
    "Am I wrong. Isn't he missing?"
    "Well ... first tell me what else you know about this."
    "He is in his late sixties ... gray hair ... he walks with a slight bend at the waist ... he has a bad back ... He lives in a small ranch home ... "
    "That's Mr. Smith alright. I don't know what to make of all this?"
    "Can you tell me if he has been reported missing? Maybe ... Well it's possible ... Have you found him already?"

.....

    Walter Smith went missing on Tuesday. He left his house for his usual evening walk just as it started snowing. The snow wasn't hard; it was one of those light, lazy snowfalls that seem to go on for hours but only amount to half an inch or inch of accumulation. The cops were called Wednesday morning when his sister Josephine contacted them to say he wasn't answering the phone. When they went to his home, he wasn't there. The neighbor told them that he saw him leave for his usual walk around four in the evening, but didn't see him come back.
      The cops called in the canine unit and the dog sniffed one of his shoes till he nodded his head, acknowledging that he had gotten the scent. He stood around for a long time near the sidewalk. The snow had covered not only the tracks but the lingering scent also. The dog had to sniff the shoes again. He eventually found the track and started walking down the sidewalk. He walked for about twenty minutes and then stopped in the middle of Acoma Street, in front of a house with a large tree in the front and cacti all around. The handler tried to move him, but the dog couldn't pick up the scent any more.
      The two-story house looked no different than the others on both sides of the street except for a freshly painted white fence that went around the house. The cops knocked on the door and talked to the homeowner. He was very concerned about the disappearance of Walter, a friend of his he had known for years. Yes, he had stopped by for a little chat, had taken one of the cigars that Leonard Schlenz had recently brought back from Guatemala and left after a couple of minutes saying he was leaving early because he didn't want to get caught in the snow. He was worried that it may become dark soon and he didn't have good night-vision.

.....

    Rebecca drove her silver Honda CRV to the police station and walked in. Captain Goldwater came out to receive her.
    "No, we haven't found him yet. We used a canine unit to trace his scent but the dog only went for about 7 or 8 blocks from his house then lost the scent."
    "But we need to help him. And I know I can help find him. Do you have a picture of his?"
    Goldwater took her to his office and pulled out a folder. He handed her a picture. She stared at the picture for a long time. It was a group picture - Walter and his friends with beers in their hands celebrating a fourth of July Bar-b-q. She cupped the picture in her hands and looked at it focusing on just the face of Walter.
    "I know he walked to an area with a Wawa store and a car repair shop and then ...Can you take me to his house?"
    They drove to his house in the police car. Goldwater stopped the car in front of Walter's house and got out. Rebecca slowly got out, clutching the picture in her hands. She stood facing the house and looked at the front porch and then the two windows to the left of the front door. She looked at the garage door for a few seconds, back at the front door and then turned her back on the house. She started walking east following the road that the dog from the canine unit had taken. Captain Goldwater walked a little behind her, not divulging what he knew
    She walked three blocks east and turned right on Himalaya. Goldwater was impressed with her accuracy. She was holding the picture in her right hand and would look at it from time to time. She walked two blocks, crossed the road and turned left on Catalina. She walked a block and a half, turned on Acoma and stopped. The two story brick-front house looked no different than the others on both sides of the street.
    She turned to Goldwater. "Walter came here and stopped for a while. He talked to a man. Perhaps that man ... if we can find him. He may know something."
    "Yes, we talked to Mr. Schlenz and he told us Walter stopped by for a while. But Mr. Smith didn't tell him anything about his walk. About where he was going. He chatted for a few minutes and then started down the street as usual."
    "O.K. Yes .. yes .. "
    She looked at the picture for a few seconds and started walking again. Goldwater walked next to her. This was starting to look interesting. They walked two blocks and she turned right. Half way down the block was the Wawa store, next to a car repair shop along with the Mexican restaurant El Trepiche. Rebecca stopped in front of the Wawa store and hesitated.
    "He ... he came here and stopped. He .. he didn't go inside the store but he felt a little fear when he was standing here. It was getting dark ... because of the snow and ... He was feeling disoriented ... lost ... and a little afraid. "
    She looked at his picture again and walked to the end of the block. She shook her head.
    "No... I need something else. This picture is not giving me strong enough signals anymore."
    "Signals?"
    "Yes, I can feel his thoughts by looking at his picture. I can read his eyes and he tells me where he went and what he did. But ... I can't feel it anymore. I need something more personal of his ... Do you have access to any of his belongings?"

.....

    Josephine was waiting inside the house as Rebecca and Goldwater pulled up in front of Walter's home.
    "I am sorry but I couldn't be here last night."
    "No, no. This is great. We wouldn't have done anything last night anyway. Could we have?"
    Rebecca shook her head.
    "No. It's a good time to start. The morning is very fresh and I am more relaxed after the night's rest in the hotel."
    "So, Josephine, let me tell you exactly what happened yesterday. Rebecca walked from this house to the house on Acoma Street using the same route that the dog from the canine unit took, and then she walked to the Wawa store on Pinewood Street. It was there that she told me that she couldn't receive any more messages using the picture of Walter and asked me to get her something else that belongs to Walter."
    Josephine's eyes were wide with surprise. "That's amazing. She took the same exact route?"
    "Yes. I now think that maybe she can help us find him after all. I wasn't sure about what she was doing at first."
    "Well! Today is the fourth day since he has been missing... ..."
    Josephine took them to Walter's bedroom and then his closet and finally his study. There was a blue hat on the table in the study. It was an ordinary wool and synthetic hat that are sold by the thousands as soon as the first snowfall starts and are lost by the thousands soon after the snow season ends. Rebecca stared at it for a split second and picked it up immediately.
    "This is very strong ... I can feel the signal ... "
    She cupped the hat in both her hands and sat down on the chair next to the table in the study. Josephine and Goldwater stood around, watching her. Rebecca sat in the chair with her eyes closed.
    "Yes. Give me a pen and a piece of paper, please."
    She started drawing a map showing a pond next to some railroad tracks that followed a road that went up a hill.
    "There has been some construction here. In this area. Can you recognize this? And this road is a dirt road over here." She pointed to the middle of the map with the pencil.
    Goldwater shook his head, "No, I don't recognize it. And as for construction, well; our town is booming. There's construction everywhere. Whole bunch of subdivisions, businesses, a school and yes even a golf course. Yep we have all kinda construction going on."
Rebecca looked at them both. "Maybe I need to walk down the road to where this is. Can I take this cap?"

.....

    They traced the earlier path back to the Wawa store. Goldwater went in and got two cups of coffee. They sipped their coffees as they slowly walked past the store. Rebecca cupped the hat in her hands and walked three more blocks and then it happened.
    Goldwater recognized it as the walk of a lost person. Rebecca took a random path that zigzagged and went left and right - obviously Walter took this path when he got disoriented and lost. Rebecca went left two blocks, then right three blocks, then left three blocks, then right four blocks and then she went straight down Tallwind Street for almost a mile. There were some railroad tracks that went somewhat along the street and the Tallwind Street curved and left the side of the railroad tracks. They arrived at the Coors Park, under construction. There were a few trucks, building materials and a bulldozer in the park.
    Rebecca stood there for a few seconds and closed her eyes. She cupped the blue hat in her hands and then started walking through the snow-covered park. She walked across the park area and into the trees at the back. There was a small hill that was covered with pine trees and she kept walking through the trees, walking up the hill. The snow was deeper here and the hill was muddy. She stopped after a few minutes. They were standing on the top of the hill looking down. There was a ravine that ran across the bottom of the hill. She pointed down the hill to a spot a little left of where they were standing.
    "He is right there."
    Goldwater stood there mesmerized. He walked a few yards to his right to get his bearings and then smiled.
    "Yes, I know exactly where we are. I will get a search party and come down the other side to the ravine. We can access it from there."
    As they sat in the police station gathering the rescue party together, Josephine came down to the station and sat down with Rebecca.
    "So tell me how is he?"
    "He is OK. Very lost and confused but Ok."
    "So, he is alive?"
    "Yes I am sure of it. But we need to get him out fast. He hasn't had anything to eat the last five days. He found a little shelter ... a natural shelter made of fallen trees and branches. He has been staying in there since the very first night. He doesn't have the strength to walk out."
    "God help us. I hope we find him before it's too late." She hurried to one of the vans waiting outside.

.....

    The caravan of several trucks and vans proceeded to the other side of the ravine and parked almost exactly in line with where Rebecca had stood and shown Goldwater the spot where she said Walter was. They had two snowmobiles with them but soon realized that the terrain was overlade with rocks, dead trees and branches making them completely useless. So! They started on foot, walking through the wet, muddy snow with the canine unit ahead. The dog seemed to have found the smell and was walking through the fallen trees and snow purposefully, stopping every few minutes to sniff the air and proceed again.    Rebecca walked for a little while with them, and then she let them go ahead of her. The hill was too steep for her to walk down and she started walking back towards the parked cars and vans.
    Soon the search party was down to the creek level and walking along it. Goldwater felt strangely optimistic. He kept telling his posse to walk carefully and be on the lookout for a shelter of fallen trees and branches. And then he saw it.
    The dog had stopped near some fallen trees just touching the water. He was wagging his tail and stomping one if his paws. His handler was just a few steps behind him.
    "He is here." He shouted and bent down.
    All of them quickened their paces. And soon Goldwater stood at a little cave like shelter barely three feet deep. Huddled inside was Walter. The first deputy down there was holding up a bottle of water as Walter drank it slowly.
    "Hi Walter, can you walk?"
    "I don't think so. But I will try." He whispered.

.....

    Goldwater was overjoyed. He didn't expect to find Walter, not alive at least. He let them take care of him in the emergency ward. When he walked into Walter's hospital room, Walter looked much better. His cheeks were getting some color back in them. His eyes didn't look so bewildered and confused. There was a bottle by his bed on a stand dripping glucose into him. A technician was adjusting the drip as Goldwater walked in. The technician started talking to Goldwater.
    "Hi sheriff."
    "Is he going to be OK?"
    "Yes. He is very lucky. Even at his age, he survived those cold nights and days ... darn near freezing out there you know. Mr. Smith was very lucky, he had his hat. Most people lose their body heat through their heads, get hypothermia and die. His blue hat kept him warm. His hat kept his head from freezing, from letting him become hypothermic. His blue hat saved his life."
    "His blue cap?"
    "Yes, he had it on when you guys found him and brought him in." He pointed to the hat lying on the table beside his bed. Goldwater looked at it carefully. It seemed to be the same hat that Rebecca had used.
    "Ah. I am a little confused but he must have two of them. Rebecca used his blue hat to communicate with him, to find him. Yes, she is the one who led us to him using his blue cap."
Walter was getting his strength up already. His eyes were following Goldwater and the technician talking around him. He nodded his head acknowledging Goldwater. The glucose was doing its trick.
    "Hey Walter, you OK now?"
    "Yes sir. Thank you sheriff for saving my life."
    "Rebecca is the one who found you. She came to me and told me she needed to help find you. Funny, I didn't see where she went as we came here. Maybe she is just outside, in one of the other cars. One question. We ... er ... Rebecca used your blue hat to find you. You must have two of them. Correct?"
    "Yes, I have two caps. But the other one is red."

The End ... 2874 words ... March 2006

Copyright © 2004 Raman Jalota. All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the author.

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