While Ron went down to assess the basement, I debated how I should approach the kids.  I figured that waking them from a deep sleep to ask if they had used my shirt was not likely to get the best results.  Still, for my own peace of mind, I knew I would have to do that with Anna.  If it was true that she was maturing, and bleeding that heavily, we needed to get her checked out.  A giggle from the living room detoured my path.  Might as well talk to my oldest while he was still up. 

I breathed a prayer of thanks as I walked into the room and saw that a commercial was on.  Hard as it was to communicate with Joey, his utter focus on his show made it impossible. 

“Hey, Buddy,” I said, reaching for the remote.  “I need to talk to you for a minute.  I’m going to turn off the TV while the commercial’s on, okay?”

“Ah,” he groaned, “jus’ do it!”  He turned his head away, punishing me for having the audacity to interrupt. 

“Joey, did you put your clothes away today?”  I decided to start simple.  Questioning him was like deciphering a polygraph – had to throw in a few control questions.

“YES!”  He forgot about his irritation, and looked at me proudly, waiting for my praise.

“Thanks, Bud.  I sure appreciate your help.  Did you put your dirty clothes in the hamper?”

“YES!” 

“Okay, did you put anyone else’s clothes in the hamper for them?” 

“YES!”

“Who’s clothes did you put in there?”  I bit my lip.

“Uh, baf’room!”  He replied, flinging his arm in the general direction.  I cringed at how close it came to upsetting the water bottle on the stand beside him.

“Were the clothes in the bathroom very dirty?” I asked, not quite sure how to ask the question that was burning a hole through my brain.

“Yes,” he sighed, “Tha’s jus’gross.”

I couldn’t wait any longer.  “Was there a bloody shirt in there?”

“Yes.”  But no, that was too easy…  I should have phrased it differently.

“Did you put your hat in the hamper, too?”  Figured it wouldn’t hurt to have one more control question.

“Yes.”  There had been no headwear in the basket. 

“Okay, Joey.”  Poor kid was just telling me what he thought I wanted to hear.  I would have to figure out a different tact.  Perhaps after his show…  “Thanks again for your help.”  I turned the TV back on, and headed toward Anna’s room down the hall.  

Maybe I was putting off the inevitable, but I wound up stopping in the boys’ room first.  I stood by little Toby’s crib and watched him sleep for a moment.  Drool ran down his cheek to a growing puddle on his pillow.  I crossed the room to check on Ryan.  He, too, slept in a growing puddle.  The acrid aroma emanating from this puddle informed me that we would be doing laundry yet again the next day.  The doctor had informed us that our six-year-old’s bed wetting was perfectly normal, and attributed it to a tiny, immature bladder.  What I couldn’t reconcile was the fact that this tiny bladder could overflow every type of pull-up we tried.  I adjusted his blanket away from the wet spot and moved on to the girls' room.

I couldn’t help stopping at the first bed to drop a kiss on a flushed cheek.  Lily’s halo of golden curls caught the light that snuck through the door.  Hard to imagine this little angel was the same child who screamed for twenty minutes about going to bed, just a few hours before.  I’d had to hold her down as she kicked and fought to break free. Ironically, when I stood to leave, she’d screamed even louder for me to stay.  Yes, when attitude was passed out, this child had been given a double dose.  One of her rampages likely could have drawn the amount of blood I’d found.  Who knows, maybe she’d clocked Anna or Ryan and caused a nosebleed, and then they’d used my shirt to clean it up.  Reality stepped in as soon as the thought crossed my mind.  No, the kids were quick to tell me every minor infraction that had been done by their siblings.  I definitely would have been called to mediate if this was the scenario.

I quit stalling, and walked over to my eldest daughter’s bed.  I knew, sitting down on the edge of it, that something was not quite right.  The broken springs didn’t cause her form to shift in my direction like they usually did.  I reached out and touched the lump in the bed, then pulled back the blanket with a gasp of frustration.  Visions of her innocence flew from my mind.  Anna was gone.