Tale of a Missing Child - Bev Russell, Library Director

(This column appeared in the June 24, 2007, Star-Herald)

A few years ago, I was standing in a local store ringing bells for the Salvation Army. Usually a Bell Ringer is too busy greeting people with Merry Christmas to do much else; however, I found a few minutes to study the posters of missing children, hanging on the store’s bulletin board. The rash of missing children in the United States is a national tragedy. As I stood there, considering the children and their families, I found myself trying to memorize the faces on those posters. Perhaps I would see one of them someday, maybe at a gas station. I did not have much luck memorizing faces, but my hopeless attempt gave me a brief glimpse into the desperation a parent must feel.

"The Year of Fog" by Michelle Richmond is about a year following the disappearance of a young girl and the impact of her disappearance on those who love her. Abby Mason and her fiancé’s six-year-old daughter, Emma, walked on the beach in the middle of a dense fog. When Abby looked away briefly, Emma ran ahead and vanished into the fog. Her disappearance would stretch into a year of fog.

When the reality of the situation hits Abby, panic ensues. She runs frantically along the beach, looking for Emma. Maybe she is just playing hide and seek. Although he tries, Emma’s dad Jake can not hide the accusations in his eyes as Abby tells him of Emma’s loss. How could she look away? How could she lose his daughter?

Both Abby and Jake dedicate themselves to finding Emma; however, her disappearance alters their relationship. They can not find comfort in one another. While Abby attends a support group to deal with the loss, Jake refuses to consider that option. On the other hand, Abby can not find the peace that Jake finds in his religion. Out of the blue, Jake’s ex-wife Lizabeth reappears. She deserted Jake and Emma when Emma was a baby. Now, she wants a place in his life. Jake finds that he is able to share memories with Lizabeth—memories, which he can not share with Abby. Perhaps, Lizabeth will provide Jake the comfort he needs. Or, perhaps, Abby wonders, there is a more menacing reason for Lizabeth’s coincidental reappearance.

The frantic search for Emma consumes Jake and Abby. While Jake is organized, meticulous and scientific in his efforts, Abby is scattered, incessant and frenzied in hers. Jake organizes search parties and sets up a headquarters, staffed with volunteers. He divides the city, San Francisco, into grids and assigns people to cover specific areas. Although Abby assists him with his methodical hunt, she nevertheless continues to risk her life, wandering in unsafe neighborhoods at all hours--searching, searching, searching. Her obsessive hunt borders on insanity.

The police believe Emma drowned. When Emma’s sneaker is found on the beach, Jake becomes convinced that Emma drowned. For his own sanity and closure, he holds a memorial service. Abby refuses to give up. Convinced Emma was kidnapped, she seeks out a hypnotist to help her remember every detail of the day Emma disappeared. On the trail of the last clue to Emma’s fate, her risky search takes her to the surfer sub-culture of Costa Rica.

A missing child is every parent’s worst nightmare. Michelle Richmond’s novel submerges the reader in the lives of two people, being ripped apart by the tension, despair, desperation and insanity of their year of fog.

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