The Great Family

Rescue

by Jessica Segura

February 2013
 Chapter 1

One day, in Kentucky, Ronald, Mary, and Sierra woke up at six o’clock in the

morning and got ready for the day. They got dressed, brushed their teeth, and

went down stairs.

Today was the day they were supposed to have a big luncheon with a lot of

family at two o’clock. They were cooking a bunch of food, so they had to get

started immediately. They had to cook enough to feed about 25 people. Ronald,

Mary and Sierra all helped to prepare this lunch. They were cooking an assortment

of foods like ham, turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, and fried

chicken. They also cooked different desserts like pie, pudding, cake, and cupcakes.

There were also things, other than cooking, that needed to be done in order

to be prepared for this big, exciting day. First, they had to go to the store and get

groceries. After that was done, they had to clean the house. This included the

living room, bathroom, upstairs, downstairs, and the kitchen. The kitchen had to be

cleaned before and after they cooked. It seemed like a lot, but they knew they

could get it done by working together.

It was about 12 o’clock in the afternoon when they finally got a chance to

take a break. They were cleaning up the kitchen when all of a sudden, they heard a
loud bang. It sounded as if someone had crashed through the front door. They all

rushed into the living room to see what was going on. Standing there in the middle

of the room were nine very large men. They all had black masks, wore black clothes,

and looked like ninjas. Ronald, Mary, and Sierra were all very scared. As the nine

men rushed towards them, Ronald reacted and fought the intruders. Mary and

Sierra thought they should help, so they tried. They soon knew they were seriously

out matched. The three of them were no more than mosquitos to the large, strong

assailants.

With Sierra in tears, they grabbed her and tied her hands and feet

together. They taped over her mouth and took her to their large, white van. As

Ronald and Mary kept fighting, their tears mixed with blood and bruises. The men

snatched Mary and threw Ronald out of the way and down the basement stairs. He

struggled back up just in time to watch them tie Mary up. He lunged at them, but

they kept pushing him out of the way. The men dragged Mary out to the van and

drove off.

Ronald tried to run after them, but he was just in too bad of shape from all

the fighting. Panting like a freight train, he walked back home. He thought to

himself, is this the end of us as a family? Am I ever going to see my wife and

daughter again? He knew he needed a plan.

 Chapter 2

The next day, Ronald called the police first thing in the morning.

“Hello. What is your emergency?” the operator asked.

“I need to report a kidnapping,” Ronald answered, in tears.

“Okay. I need your name, and I need the name and age of the victims,” the

operator said.

“My name is Ronald and my wife, Mary, is 36 and my daughter, Sierra is 15,”

he said.

“When did the kidnapping occur?” the operator asked.

“Yesterday afternoon,” Ronald answered.

“Okay. I need you to come down to the station, please,” she said.

“All right, I will be there in ten minutes.”

Ronald got dressed and walked out to his car. He drove a couple blocks away

from his house and arrived at the station. When he walked in, he went straight to

the emergency center. He went to the first window where a young man was sitting.
 “Hi, my name is Ronald, and I called a little while ago about a kidnapping. I

talked to a lady, and she asked me to come down here to talk about what

happened,” he explained.

“Okay. You must’ve talked to Susan.” He pointed to a narrow hallway and said,

“Walk right down that hall, take a left, and you will be in her office.”

He walked down the hallway looking in every office he passed. Ronald saw

people in every room. Most of them had tears in their eyes and were bruised or

bleeding. When he reached the office which he was looking for, there was only a

young lady sitting behind a large, wooden desk.

“Hello, my name is Ronald. We talked earlier about a kidnapping,” he said,

trying to jog her memory.

“Yes, I remember. Now, tell me exactly what happened,” she said.

“Mary, Sierra, and I were getting ready for a big day when, all of a sudden,

someone crashed through the front door. We all ran to the front door and saw nine

men standing in the living room. The three of us had no chance against nine of

them. They tied Mary and Sierra up and threw them into the back of a big, white

van,” Ronald explained to her as she sat quietly, listening.

 “Can you describe anything you recognized about the kidnappers?” Susan

asked.

“They were all about the same height, about six feet. They were wearing

black clothes and masks. I am sorry, but that is all I can say. Like I said, they were

wearing masks,” he answered.

She wrote everything down on a notepad and put it in a file folder. “I will get

to this right away. We will do everything we can to get your family back safe and

sound,” she assured him.

He went home and waited. When waiting became too much for him to handle,

he decided to do something on his own. He came up with a few ideas, but he really

didn’t think they would work.

Ronald remembered a wise, old man named Simon he had talked to before

about his family history. Simon had helped Ronald find his parents about a year

before. Ronald decided to go to him and ask for help.

Simon’s house was only five blocks away. When Ronald got there, he was in

tears.

“What is the matter, Ronald?” asked Simon.

 “Mary and Sierra, they were kidnapped,” Ronald answered.

“Did you go to the police?” Simon asked Ronald.

“Yes, but, I have already been waiting for two weeks and it doesn’t seem like

they are making any progress because Mary and Sierra are still not home,” Ronald

said.

“What happened exactly?” Simon asked.

Ronald explained to Simon about the men and the fighting. He knew that

Simon was a victim of a kidnapping a while back. Simon remembered how horrible

the experience was. He didn’t want to tell Ronald about the experience because he

didn’t want to hurt him even more than he already was. Seeing the fear and

sadness in Ronald’s eyes, Simon decided he was going to help him. They tried to

come up with an idea on how to save them. It took a while because they weren’t

able to see each other every day because Simon had other problems that he had to

deal with in his own life.

The days they did meet with each other, it was sometimes at Ronald’s house,

and sometimes it was at Simon’s house. For a while, they couldn’t figure anything

out.
 “I know,” Ronald said,” When we discover where they are holding them, we

can have a stake out and make a plan from there.”

Simon used Ronald’s idea to form a rescue operation.

“When we find where they are holding them, I can distract them while you

go inside and get your family back,” Simon said.

After hours of going over all the details and adding a few more ideas, they

had a great plan. First, Ronald would have to keep an eye out for the van or the

men. Then, they would be able to give their plan a try.

 Chapter 3

The next day, when Ronald was at the grocery store, he saw a man that

looked very suspicious watching him. The first thing that came to his mind was that

he was one of the kidnappers. When the suspicious man left, Ronald followed him

outside. He got excited when he saw the man get into a big, white van. Ronald got

into his car and immediately called Simon.

“Simon, I think I have spotted one of the kidnappers,” Ronald said as he

followed the van.

“Ronald, where are you right now?” Simon asked

“I am following the van. We are about to pass by your house. HURRY!” said

Ronald in a panic.

As Ronald drove by Simon’s house, Simon pulled out right behind them. They

followed the van for about five miles out of town. When the van slowed down and

entered a drive way, Ronald and Simon pulled into some trees to stay hidden from

the man. They watched as the man got out of the van. He opened the back door of

the van and got the groceries out. The man walked into a large building and closed

the door behind him. The building looked like an old empty warehouse.
 “What would someone be doing in that old dump,” Simon asked.

“Wait! This warehouse used to be something. I got it! This is the place where

those three men got arrested for kidnapping people and treating them as slaves,”

Ronald explained.

“If he is one of the assailants, Mary and Sierra must be in there,” said Simon,

“they could be slaves.”

Simon tried to comfort him by reassuring him that they would get them

back.

Ronald decided it was time to give their plan a try. He went home for a while

and then he went back to the warehouse yard. He hid in the trees at the edge of

the big, open field. The warehouse was in the middle of the field. He sat in the

trees for about two hours and decided that he needed to be careful in case

someone saw him.

When he was ready, he decided to give his plan a try. Before he ran across

the field, he looked around for possible hiding spots just in case something went

wrong. He spotted a bundle of trees next to the warehouse. Since this was the only

hiding spot around, he would have to run to them without getting caught.
 He checked one more time to make sure there was nobody around. When

there was no one in sight, he ran as fast as he could to the trees. All of a sudden,

when he was right in the middle between the edge of the field and the trees, he

saw someone walk out of the building. The man spotted Ronald and took him into his

custody. The guard locked him in a room.

Ronald was in there for about four hours. Three men finally went in and got

him. They took him into a room to be interrogated. They asked him questions like,

“Who are you?”, and “What were you doing out in the field?” He told them that he

wanted his wife and daughter back. When the men left, Ronald spotted a little

window in the corner of the room. He walked over to the window, opened it, and

escaped.

When Ronald got home, he was in shock and exhausted. He fell into his bed

and slept for the rest of the night. While he was sleeping, he dreamed about when

he, his daughter, and his wife were still together. They were at the park on a nice,

warm, sunny day in July. Sierra was only eight years old at that time. She was

playing on the slides and swings. Mary and he laid on the grass staring up at the

clouds. When they got hungry, they had a nice picnic with sandwiches, juice, and

pie. He cried during this dream. When he woke up, his tears had stained his shirt

and his pillow. Since it was morning, he got up to face the day.
 It was nine o’clock am when he got up. He got dressed and went downstairs.

He ate breakfast by himself. When he finished, he sat down on the couch. He

thought for a while and decided that he needed to get his family and friends to

help. He spent the whole day calling people and asking for help. Some people agreed

to help, some people were willing to help but were too afraid, and some people were

out of town. The people who agreed to help were going to Ronald’s house at 12

o’clock pm.

When everybody got there, the first thing they did was make a schedule for

when and where they would meet. Sometimes they met at Ronald’s house,

sometimes at the library, and sometimes at another person’s house. They met for

about a week, and then they were ready. Would they be able to rescue Mary and

Sierra from slavery for the rest of their lives without getting caught?
 Chapter 4

About a week after the family came up with their plan, it was time to set it

in motion. They made sure they had everything they needed, and they planned for

the worse. If they would get caught, they had a plan to get away and if they

succeeded, they also had a plan for that, too. Ronald had weapons, flashlights,

ropes, and a lot of back up just in case.

Ronald and about 25 of the 30 people that helped with the plan went to the

edge of the field and waited. When Ronald was ready, he ran as fast as he could

and got to the trees by the fence. All of a sudden, he saw the door open. He saw a

slave, in dirty, ragged clothing, washing dirty lunch trays and clothes. Ronald saw

her face and immediately recognized her. It was Mary!

Ronald watched her for a while then whispered, “Mary.” She didn’t react to

the call, so he did it again. This time, she heard him and turned around. She looked

around, but didn’t see Ronald, so she went back to washing dishes and clothes.

Ronald called her name once more, and she turned around and said,

“Who’s there?”
Ronald didn’t answer her, so she said, “If you don’t answer me, you will be in a lot of

trouble.”

Ronald peeked out a little bit and whispered,

“Mary, over here, behind the trees.”

“Ronald? Is that you?” Mary asked.

“Yes, Mary, it is me,” Ronald replied.

“You came for us,” Mary whimpered as tears quietly rolled down her cheeks.

“I would never leave you guys to a life like this,” Ronald affirmed.

This chance meeting gave Ronald a chance to let Mary know what was going

to happen. Ronald would come back the next night, help the women over the fence,

and get out of there as quickly as possible. Ronald told Mary to meet him back at

the fence at midnight the next night. First, Mary had to go back in and tell Sierra

the plan.

The next night, Ronald and the family went back to the field. Excited to get

his wife and daughter back, Ronald ran to the trees by the fence without getting

caught. His mood immediately changed when he didn’t see Mary or Sierra anywhere.

He thought to himself, maybe they’re coming, and, maybe I should just wait.
 He waited for about an hour. He was about to give up when, all of a sudden,

he saw the door open. Mary and Sierra sneaked out ready to go. They met at the

fence – fear and excitement passing between them like electricity.

First, Ronald helped Sierra over the fence from the outside of the fence.

Mary helped by pushing her up from the inside of the fence. Next, Mary climbed

over, snagging her clothes as she tumbled to freedom. After the brief embrace,

the three ran for their lives. Ronald looked back and saw one of the men watching

them through a small window. He just kept running with Mary and Sierra.

When they got to the edge of the field, the rest of the family circled

around them. They hugged and cried tears of joy. All of a sudden, they saw three

men running towards them. The whole family ran as fast as they could.

They got back to the car and drove home. They were happy to be able to

sleep in their own beds again. They slept safe and sound all night long.

The next day, they woke up and got ready for the day. Ronald, Mary, and

Sierra planned to have a celebration with everybody who helped rescue them. They

invited everybody over at 12 o’clock. When everybody got there, they celebrated

with pizza, cake, ice cream, and fun games for everyone.
 Mary and Sierra were happy to be back with their family once again. For

about two months, they didn’t want to leave the house because they were afraid of

getting captured again. Instead of leaving the house, they would send Ronald out

for anything they needed. When they felt more comfortable going outside the

house, they went everywhere together.

 Chapter 5

When they went to the store one day, Mary and Sierra saw one of the slave

traders. Ronald quickly pushed them behind the tall shelves. As they watched the

slave trader, they tried to think about what to do. They looked away for a minute.

When they looked back, he was gone. When they felt safe again, they came out

from behind the shelf just in time to see the slave trader coming towards them

from behind the shelf where they were hiding. They ran out of the store and dove

into their car.

When they drove off, they panicked when they saw the slave trader was

following them. Somehow, they had to lose him. Dodging the oncoming traffic, they

swerved around every car in front of them. They got to a stoplight just as it was

turning red. A fast moving semi-truck came from the other direction. They ran the

red light. Fortunately, they were going fast enough to dodge the truck, which

separated them from the slave trader.

They drove until they were far away from the traffic.

“We can’t go home,” said Ronald.

“Why not?” cried Mary.

 “Because they know where we live, and that is where they expect us to go,”

said Ronald with a bit of an attitude.

“Ok,” replied Mary. “We can go to my sister’s house and stay there for a

while.” Mary’s sister, Maggie, would surely help them.

They raced the 20 miles across town to get to Maggie’s house. The roads

were not that great. It was cold, raining, and muddy. When they got there, it was

nine o’clock. They knocked on the door. Jerry, Maggie’s husband, answered the

door. He could have been in his late thirties, early forties.

Maggie’s husband stared in surprise at the visitors.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“We need your help,” Mary answered.

“Ok,” said the man, “just a minute.” He turned around and yelled “Honey, your

sister is here.”

When Maggie got to the door, she was already in her pajamas. “Mary! What’s

wrong?”
 They told Maggie what had happened. When they finished talking, Maggie

said, “You guys can stay here as long as you would like. We have a couple of empty,

guest rooms just upstairs.”

The house was big, even though the only people living there was Maggie and

Jerry. Maggie gave them a tour through the big, empty house. They walked up a

spiral staircase. When they got to the end of the hall upstairs, they found three

guest rooms. They both had queen-sized beds, perfectly made with soft, warm

blankets and pillows. Ronald and Mary chose to share a room. They chose the room

with a bathroom, walk-in closet, and a balcony. Sierra chose the room decorated

with butterflies and exotic flowers.

When they were getting settled into their rooms, Maggie came in and said,

“We always have breakfast at seven o’ clock, lunch is at noon, and dinner is at six o’

clock. Also, we have leftover food on the stove from dinner just in case you three

are hungry.”

“Yes. We will eat in a little while. Thank you for helping us to stay safe,” said

Mary

When they finished getting settled, they went down stairs. They found

Maggie and Jerry sitting on the couch watching television. When Maggie saw them
standing at the bottom of the steps, she got up and showed them the way to the

kitchen. On the stove was a pot of chili and in the oven was a half-eaten tray of

cornbread. They served themselves and sat down at the table. They said a prayer

and began their dinner.

When they finished, Mary washed their dishes. They all went out to the

living room and said goodnight. They walked up the stairs to their rooms and went

to bed.
 Chapter 6

The next day, they woke up at 5:30 and made their beds. They went

downstairs where Maggie was cooking pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

“Good morning,” said Maggie.

“Good morning to you too,” replied Ronald.

Immediately, Ronald called the police station.

“Good morning, how may I help you?” the operator said.

“Can I speak to Susan, please,” Ronald asked.

“Yes,” the operator replied. The operator transferred Ronald’s call to Susan.

“This is Susan,” the lady said.

“Hi Susan, this is Ronald. I just wanted to inform you that I have gotten my

family back. Also, we ran into one of the kidnappers last night at the grocery store.

He was driving a white Chevrolet cargo van. The license plate number is ABC456,”

he said.

“Wait! Where did you find them?” she asked

“In the old warehouse about five miles out of town,” Ronald replied.
 “All right, we will track them down and lock them up,” she assured him.

They were quiet for the rest of the time until breakfast was ready. When it was

ready, they each served themselves and sat down at the table. They ate their

breakfast without a word from anyone. They finished and went into the living room

where Jerry was watching Wheel of Fortune. They sat down on the couch and

joined him.

“Don’t be afraid to change it if you want,” said Jerry.

“That’s okay. We are fine with anything,” said Mary.

They watched the television for about an hour. They got tired and decided

to take a nap at about 10:30. They woke up at noon and walked back out to the

living room. Maggie and Jerry were dressed up as if they were leaving. Maggie had

on a long, black coat and her purse hanging on her left arm and Jerry just had a

bulky coat on.

“We are going into town to go shopping. Would you guys like to go with us?”

asked Maggie.

“No thank you,” replied Mary and Sierra in unison.

They watched as Maggie walked out the front door and got into her car. She drove

off, trailing a cloud of dust. They decided to clean up the house a little bit since

Maggie and Jerry were letting them stay there.

They did the dishes, swept and mopped the floor, cleaned the bathrooms,

bedrooms, and living room. They finished just as Maggie and Jerry pulled up the

long, winding drive way. When Maggie and Jerry walked in the door, they were

surprised at how much the house was cleaned.

“Oh my,” gasped Maggie. “This house hasn’t been this cleaned in weeks.”

“Well, it’s the least we can do for you. You did take us in during our time of

struggle,” said Ronald.

Mary and Sierra helped Maggie put groceries away. Meanwhile, Ronald went

to the living room with Jerry and chatted for a while. When the groceries were all

put away, Mary, Sierra, and Maggie joined Jerry and Ronald to chat and watch the

television. They watched for about an hour and then turned it off. Together, they

went outside and cleaned the yard.

 Chapter 7

It was nice, warm, and sunny the next day. Jerry and Ronald were inside the

house fixing the pipes that were about to burst. They thought it would be good to

get them fixed before it was too late and they flooded the basement.

Meanwhile, Maggie, Mary, and Sierra were outside, in the garden, planting

various fruits and vegetables. They planted strawberries, carrots, tomatoes,

lettuce, cabbage, and many more delicious fruits and vegetables.

When they heard a car coming down the road, they looked towards the dirt

road and saw a big cloud of dust. Coming out of the dust was a white van that had a

little bit of a brown tint from all the dust. The van immediately reminded them of

the slave traders. Frightened, they ran and hid behind the shed. They peeked

around the corner and watched as the van slowly drove by the house. Mary and

Sierra were relieved when they saw that it was just a lady and her daughter.

They came out from behind the shed and continued their planting. When

they finished, they went inside and told Ronald what had happened in the garden.

All of a sudden, the phone rang, it was Susan.

“Hello, is this Ronald?” asked Susan.

 “Yes this is he,” Ronald answered.

“I just called to let you know that we tracked down all nine men and took

them into our custody,” Susan explained.

“That’s great! Well, thank you,” Ronald said with a smile.

“You are very welcome. Bye,” said Susan.

Ronald hung up the phone and told Mary and Sierra.

Ronald, Mary, and Sierra realized that they didn’t have to hide anymore.

They told Maggie and Jerry that they were going to move back into their own

home.

“Thank you for helping us out,” said Mary.

“Anytime you need anything, just give us a call,” Maggie said.

Even though the kidnappers were caught, they decided to be careful when

they were outside of the house. They had to be cautious about whom they talked

to and visited with. They didn’t want the same thing to happen to them again.
 They needed a way to know who was coming around their house, just in case.

They came up with many good ideas, but there was one great idea. They put up

security cameras outside their house that allowed them to see all the way down the

driveway and to the road. If anyone drove by, they would be able to see who it was

without having to go outside. They also installed a hi-tech security system on all

doors and windows.

When they were all settled back into their house, they felt a lot safer. They

always locked the doors and the windows. When they had to go outside of the

house, they always went together. From then on, they lived safe and sound.