PART 4

After a rather successful shopping trip, Trent and Tandi were on their way home. The entire time they had spent in the mall, the conversation stuck strictly to "What do you think?" "Does this look nice?" "Think Mom will like this?" and so on. Trent had been around too many people to know that excuse Tandi had given him was a fake.  **Why won't she tell me what is going on?**  He glanced over to his sister. She looked so solemn and...  **And so, so helpless. I have got to find a new approach to get her to talk to me. I'm afraid if I don't --** his thoughts suddenly became interrupted.

"Trent!" Tandi screamed.

"What?" He had half a mind to stomp on the brakes.
"What? What's wrong?"

"You missed the driveway! What were you thinking about?"

"Oh, sorry." Trent looked around at the scenery on each side of the road. Sure enough, he was two blocks down from their house. "I guess my mind must have been elsewhere."

"Evidently!" Tandi said while grinning at her older brother.

Back at the Malloy house, the phone had been ringing off the hook all evening.  **Geez, I wish Tandi would get home so I could quit answering the phone for her!**  Tyler looked at the clock on  the kitchen wall. "Hey, Tommy, when did Trent say he and Tandi were coming home?"

Tommy sauntered into the kitchen where Tyler was doing his homework. "He didn't. Why?"

"Just curious. I don't know who keeps calling here, but whoever it is really, and I do mean really, has to talk to Tandi."

"Guy or girl?" Tommy asked becoming intrigued. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall.

"I couldn't tell. They didn't stay on the phone that long. They just stay on there long enough to find out if she is here and then hangs up," Tyler replied.

Both Malloy's looked out the kitchen window as a beam of headlights shown through. "Sounds like Trent's ‘Vette." Tommy commented as the car pulled up and its engine was turned off. Tyler rose from his seat and walked over to the door and unlocked it.

:Hi guys," Trent said as he and Tandi entered the house. "Where's Mom?"

"She's upstairs. Why?" Tyler asked.

"Good! Well, what do you think about this?" Tandi quickly answered as she laid the white bag on the table and glanced to Tommy and Tyler. Tommy reached into the bag and pulled out four small boxes, one at a time.

"Wow! Nice watch!" Tommy said as he opened the first box. "I am assuming all the other boxes have jewelry in them too?" Tommy asked while raising an eyebrow in Trent and Tandi's direction.

"Yep. We found her a watch, necklace, a bracelet, and a pair of earrings," Trent paused. "Tandi's idea, of course."

"What?!" You asked me what I thought Mom would like and I told you!" Tandi retorted in her defense.

"Tommy, Tyler, mental note: women are not easy to shop for," Trent said while laughing at Tandi.

"What's going on down there?" Katie shouted as she was coming down the stairs into the living room adjacent to the kitchen.

"Quick! Get the bag!" Tommy said. "Somebody hide it!"

Later that evening, the whole Malloy family was sitting in the living room watching television when the phone rang. "Not again," Tyler moaned. "Tandi, you had better get it. Someone has been calling here all afternoon wanting to talk to you."

"Oh, okay?" Tandi said as she stood up and walked into the kitchen and picked up the phone, unaware Trent was watching her every move.

"Hello?" Tandi said as she picked up the picked up the phone and held the receiver to her ear.

"Where have you been?" a voice raged on the other end of the line.

"Who is this?"

"Tandi, Tandi, Tandi --"

"I'm sorry. You have the wrong number," Tandi said as calmly as she could. Her hands were shaking as she hung the phone back on the wall.

"Who was that?" Trent asked her, aware she was still shaking.

"Hmm? Oh, wrong number. I am going upstairs to finish my homework."

"I thought you said you did finish it!" Katie Malloy gave a stern, motherly look at her daughter.

"I thought I did, but I just remembered something I forgot to do. Sorry." Tandi raced up the steps and ran into her bedroom. She sat down at her desk, by the phone, waiting for the phone call she knew would be coming in a matter of minutes.

Trent glanced at Katie. "I think I will go up and see if she wants any help with her homework."  **If what I think is going on...** he thought as he walked up the stairs.  **I just hope it's not.**  Trent paused in front of Tandi's door and took a deep breath before knocking. As his hand raised mid-way in the air, the phone rang again. He brought his hand down and eased closer to the door to listen as Tandi picked up the phone. When he heard his sister begin to raise her voice, he knew his suspicions were becoming all to close for comfort. He knocked on the door. "Tandi?"

"I don't ever want you to call me again!" Tandi stopped when she heard Trent's voice. He was knocking a second time on the door. "Look," she said as she lowered her voice, "I don't want to see you or talk to you. It's over, okay?"  She slammed the phone down, ran her hands over her face, and sighed."I'm coming Trent."

When she opened the door, Trent asked, "Everything okay in here? I thought I heard you yelling."

**Oh, no. Not now. Please not now...** were the first thoughts running through her mind. "Yeah, everything's okay. Did you want something?"

"Well, I was just going to ask --" Trent was cut off by the phone.  **Again?**

"Ask what?" Tandi impatiently asked.

"Aren't you going to answer the phone?" Trent had a hunch Tandi was going to evade answering the phone.

"No, why?" Tandi replied. **Why won't he leave me alone?**

"Well, if you're not going to answer it, I will." Trent stepped over to the phone sitting on her night- stand and picked it up.

"Trent, no!" Tandi felt a wave of fear overtake her.
**Please, no, don't let it be!**

"Hello?" Trent said.

"Where's Tandi?" a voice growled over the phone line.
"Put her on the phone, now!"

Trent looked back at Tandi. "I'm sorry. I can't do that. Why don't you leave me a message and I will give it to her."

"‘I'm sorry. I can't do that'," the voice mocked. "Who the heck do you think you are? Put her on the phone!"

Trent was beginning to lose his patience. "No." Click.
He turned to Tandi, "Well, whoever that was just hung up. You want to tell me what is going on now?"