When Time Is A River
On a bench at the edge of the Lithia Park playground, someone is stalking 2-year-old Emily Michaelson as she plays with her eighteen-year old half sister, Brandy. As if it has wings, the child’s laughter curves through the sunlight. The stalker is more enamored than ever, but aware of Brandy’s vigilance with Emily, knows a kidnapping won’t be easy. The stalker buys a coffin and plans to gain Emily’s trust by giving her a necklace. Little girls love pretty things.
A few days later, Brandy and Emily have just arrived at the park when Brandy stains her white jeans. Embarrassed, she wants to remove the spot before meeting her boyfriend, but doesn’t want Emily to be frightened by the blood. She bribes Emily to stay put with a box of animal crackers, then parks her stroller outside the bathroom stall. As she scrubs at the stains, she watches the wheels and chatters nonstop to her little sister through the door. When Brandy steps out of the stall, the stroller is empty.
Hours afterwards, Detective Radhauser finds Emily’s rainbow-colored sneakers, tied together in a double knot—confirming a kidnapping. Brandy’s father and stepmother blame her for Emily’s disappearance. Radhauser feels sorry for Brandy, but insists she stay out of the investigation. Brandy can’t do that. She is obsessed with finding out who took her little sister and why. Will they get to Emily in time?
About Susan Clayton-Goldner (Grants Pass, Oregon Author)
Susan Clayton-Goldner was born in New Castle, Delaware and grew up with four brothers along the banks of the Delaware River. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona's Creative Writing Program and has been writing most of her life. Her novels have been finalists for The Hemingway Award, the Heeken Foundation Fellowship, the Writers Foundation and the Publishing On-line Contest. Susan won the National Writers' Association Novel Award twice for unpublished novels and her poetry was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies including Animals as Teachers and Healers, published by Ballantine Books, Our Mothers/Ourselves, by the Greenwood Publishing Group, The Hawaii Pacific Review-Best of a Decade, and New Millennium Writings. A collection of her poems, A Question of Mortality was released in 2014 by Wellstone Press. Prior to writing full time, Susan worked as the Director of Corporate Relations for University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona.
Susan shares a life in Grants Pass, Oregon with her husband, Andreas, her fictional characters, and more books than one person could count.
