8. OUTING DETAILS

“So, where are you from?” I asked him as soon as I looked away from him.

“I’m from Cape Town, I think”, he said in a tone that implied that there was a lot more from the answer he gave me. “But that’s a story for another day because it’s a long one.”

I was about to answer him when Jack came around and said, “Kid, we have to move or else your dad will soon call you to find out where we are.”

“Yeah sure, let’s go.” I turned to Ashton and smiled apologetically that our conversation was cut short. He nodded in understanding and flashed a brilliant smile at me. I shuddered and looked away, dazzled. He saw that and he laughed in his mind.

“I’ll see you tomorrow at school, then”, he said that and then to Jack, “I’ll see you some other time, champ.”

“Yeah, you can count on it. Bye, kid”, Jack said.

It was getting a bit dark and chilly. Ashton jumped out of the car and he ran, no, he super-sped to his home. I stared with my mouth open at that because it was my first time seeing it.

“Close your mouth, kid, or you’re gonna start drooling”, Jack teased.

I recovered and said, “Shut up. Don’t tell me you’ve seen that before because I haven’t.”

“Whether I have or haven’t seen it before, it doesn’t amaze me that much. You seem to forget that I’m just a computer”, he said that with a laugh.

I joined him in laughing and drove out of the car park towards home. We listened to some music on our way there. I put in my One Direction CD in the player and the volume a bit high. We sang along to some of the songs together and laughed a lot until we got home.

By the time I had parked the car into the garage and heading into the house, my dad was calling me on my cell. I ignored it and appeared in the kitchen before he cut the line. When he saw us, he put his phone down and smiled at me.

“Well, I guess it’s time to go back to the wall”, Jack said with a sigh. “Thanks for the ride, kid. Sure had some fun.”

“Anytime, bud. See ya.”

He disappeared from the tab and appeared on the wall in the kitchen. I smiled at him and headed to the counter where my dad and Jay were seated.

“So, did you guys have fun?” my dad asked.

“Yep, the best time even though it was short.”

“And even more fun when Ashton joined us!” Jack added with a huge smile.

“Ashton?” my dad raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Thanks, Jack”, I said with a groan and turned to my dad. “Yeah, I’ll tell you about it over dinner. Let me get my things to my room and then I’ll be right back.”

I went up to my room and put my book on the bed along with the wallet. I’d attend to it after dinner.

I went down to the kitchen and set the dinner table. The maid had left dinner in the oven so all I had to do was set the table and put the food on the table for everyone to help themselves.

My dad and Jay joined me at the table when I was done and we sat down for dinner.

“So, where did you guys go to?” my dad asked after swallowing several mouthfuls of his dinner.

“We went to Greenstone Mall. I showed Jack around a few places including the cinema. We then went to a bookshop and I purchased one book for myself.”

“Oh, that sounds like quite an adventure for one day”, Jay commented.

I smiled up at him and said, “Yeah it was but it wasn’t a big one. We didn’t do anything particularly adventurous.”

“So, where does Ashton come in?” my dad asked.

“Well, we kind of bumped into him by the cinema. So we talked for some time before I got into the car and came home.”

“Oh, ok. Now that’s cleared up”, he said with a ‘phew’ in his mind.

We ate quietly for some time and then I blurted out the little details that Ashton had told me.

“He told me he’s from Cape Town and that he became bionic when he was seven.”

At first, they acted like I hadn’t said anything significant.

“Ok, and?” my dad asked.

“Well, the boy in the missing people’s website was around six or seven years old. I didn’t call to confirm where the boy is from but I can’t help but wonder if it’s him.”

Both of them, Jay and my dad, laid down their forks with a sound. I didn’t look up to see their expressions but I could see it from their minds. My dad was taken aback with what I had said and Jay was confused because he had no idea what I was going on about.

“Will somebody please explain to me what we’re talking about here?” Jay said.

I ran through the whole thing informing Jay about what I was telling my dad about. The moment I finished explaining the whole thing to him, his mind started tracing back to Cape Town’s news.

“I’ve heard about the disappearance of children, some from Cape Town and some from different parts of the world”, Jay explained to us. “Some of those kids were found dead but some were not found at all. So the cases were closed since they couldn’t find those kids anywhere. So, what you’re saying is that this Ashton-kid is the one from the website you saw?” he asked.

“I couldn’t be sure because of some differences that I noticed. First, the kid has stormy grey eyes but Ashton has onyx eyes. Second, the kid’s name is Joel Ashton McKenzie but Ashton’s full name is Ashton Turner.”

“Hmmm, now that is one mystery that would take some time before it is solved. All I can say is, find out more about the guy before we can take some action of calling the number on the website”, my dad said in a quiet voice that showed that he was thinking deeply.

I didn’t intrude on his thoughts but I did pick up that he was thinking more on the issue and was trying to find a solution so as to put my mind at ease. Jay was also thinking about the mystery but he was getting nowhere because there was less information concerning the background of the guy. Jay seemed to be knowing the kid but not that much because he also had a relative that went missing. He couldn’t be sure it was him but he seemed to be sure about the McKenzie name. I decided not to intrude in his thoughts anymore.

So we finished our dinner and I put the dishes in the dishwasher before heading upstairs. Jay and my dad went to the living room to watch some football game that was playing. I didn’t join them because I’m not a football fan. I went up to my room to attend to my homework and do a little bit of studying.

I jumped onto my bed and read the back of the book I had bought. The book sounded really intriguing but I’d read it later on after my homework was done.