“Okay girls, you’ll be good for daddy today, right?”

“Yes.” They replied in unison.

“Pam, we’ll be fine. Won’t we?”

“Yes daddy, we will.” They said in unison again.

“And you’ll help daddy out with you sisters, right Tommy?”

“Of course. What are big brothers for?”

Pam kept fussing, zipping her son and daughters coats, pulling mittens on, wrapping scarves, retying boots.

“Pam, will you calm down. I know how to handle my children. And it’s just one day.”

“But you’ve never had them all at once on your own. Alice and Olivia like to run off, Tommy encourages them-“

“Do not!”

“Yeah, do not! What you mean?” Alice asked after copying her brother.

“Alright, the kids are wrapped up as tight as they can be without suffocating, and Amanda is wasting gas waiting for you. We’ll go to the museum, get some lunch, come back and watch a movie or something. You’ll be home just after I put the girls to bed, Tommy and I will do some male bonding, it’ll be great.”

“Okay but-“

“Pam, you have to learn how to let go. What happens when they have to go to college?”

“The won’t, not if I have anything to say about it. Okay, I love you guys,” She kissed Alice, Olivia, and Tommy-he pulled away as usual- on the forehead. “Be good for daddy, girls, please don’t run off, you’ll see all the old stuff, and Tommy, hold their hands please, and don’t dare them, their only three-“ A gorn honked outside.

“Pam, she’s waiting.”

“Oh, alright. I love you guys. See you tonight.”

“Love you mommy!” They all said, including Jim. Pam gave everyone a quick peck, and flew out the door.

Once Jim heard the car pull out of the driveway and turn the corner, he looked down at his kids. Twin three year old girls, Alice and Olivia, and seven year old Tommy.

“Okay guys, you ready to go?”

“Yeah!”

“Alright, into the car!”

They ran out into the cold (the thermometer was at -15°C, or 5°F). It was really fun trying to get everyone in a spot where they wanted to sit. Alice wanted to sit beside Tommy, Olivia wanted to sit beside Jim, so did Tommy, but he didn’t want to sit beside Alice or Olivia, but Olivia wanted to sit beside Jim and Alice, but Alice just wanted to sit beside Tommy. Eventually, Tommy was in the middle seat with the girls on either side.

Jim put in the Disney CD that Pam’s sister had made for them, gave them all juice in spill-proof sippy cup, a bag of graham crackers, and they were off.

At the museum…

“Hi, three kids, one adult.” Jim gave the young woman behind the counter the money, and she handed him the tickets.

“Do you guys want Dinosaur stamps on your hands?” The ticket girl asked.

She smiled when three tiny hands shot up from below the desk, and she stamped their hands.

“Thanks.”

“Have a nice day.”

“Alright, Alice and Olivia, you guys get to hold daddy’s hand, Tommy, stay close please, maybe hold one of your sisters hands, its really crowded in here.”

“Daddy, what’s that mean?” Olivia asked.

“It means there’s a lot of people.” Tommy answered.

“Oh, okay. Can we go see the mummies?” Olivia asked.

“Eww, no, they scary. I wanna see the animals.” Alice said.

“We can see the animals at the zoo, lets go see the airplane stuff.” Tommy suggested.

“No, the animals!”

“But the mummies.”

“Oh, can we see the dinosaurs?”

Jim let them argue over what to see, ready to step in if anyone got called a stupid-head.

“Hey guy, how about we go in order. We’ll start with the art, then we’ll go to the animals, then the-“

“Daddy, I have to pee!” Alice whined.

“Okay, but first we’ll stop at the washrooms.”

“I don’t have to pee.” Tommy said.

“Me neither.” Said Olivia.

“Daddy, I’m gonna pee my pants.” Alice whined.

“You know what dad, if mummy were here, she could take Alice to the bathroom, and we could go on ahead.”

“Yeah, Alice, we’ll meet at the mummies.” Olivia started to walk away.

“Not so fast speedy.” Jim pulled her hand back. “We’ll quickly let Alice go pee, then we’ll go see everything, I promise.”

After a confusing excursion to the bathroom, in which Olivia decided she did have to pee, the Tommy wanted to go, but there was a man in there, and he couldn’t go with someone else in the bathroom. Jim had to go in there with him, and worry so much about the girls running off, or worse, that he let his hand slip into the urinal.

Once they all got going, running wild through the exhibits, it was actually kind of a fun day. Jim had to hold Alice while they went through the Egyptian exhibit because she was afraid of the mummies. Tommy got really bored when they went through the stuffed animal exhibit, but he did think that the prehistoric ones were cool.

Then they got to every parents favorite part of a museum, the interactive part. Once inside the room, it was impossible to keep the kids with him. Jim let them all run in different directions, and found a seat on the benches with the other parents who were stuck here until closing.

“First time alone with them?” A woman beside him asked.

“Um, yeah, how’d you know?”

“The sigh when you sat down, and you didn’t give them any specific instructions when you came in. I’m Sally.”

“Jim. Mine are there, there, and there.” He pointed in three different places all around the room.

“Mine and my sisters are in that general direction.” She pointed over where Alice was playing in the archaeologists digging centre.

“You have you sisters too?”

“Two are mine, one is a friend of my sons, and four are my nieces. All under age thirteen.”

“Wow. Um, wow.”

“You get better at it. Usually go out with your wife?”

“Yeah, but she has an art show to do today, last minute sort of thing. Can you believe I volunteered for this?”

“Oh, you know you love it.”

“Yeah. Hey, Tommy, watch your sisters please.”

“’Kay daddy!”

“Oh, enjoy that. My son stopped the whole ‘Mommy/Daddy’ thing around age 9. Kimmy, share please!”

“Wow, you didn’t even have to look at her.”

“Practice cutie, practice.”

Jim smiled at the woman. She had to be at least in her early fourties, Jim being in his mid thirties. Very experienced at handling chaos. Jim hoped he could be that good some day, and then maybe Pam could leave them without getting an ulcer from worrying so much.

His cell phone rang. Pam’s special tune, Rockin’ Robin, was barley noticeable through the noise.

“Excuse me.” He said to Sally. “Stop worrying Pam.”

“I’m not worrying. Who says I’m worrying?”

“Ask the question.”

“What question?”

“Pam…”

“How are they?”

“We’re in the interactive wing, and while they are having the time of their lives, I am talking to a nice woman named Sally. She’s here with seven.”

“A seven year old?”

“No, seven kids. All under age thirteen.”

“Wow. I wouldn’t volunteer for that even with you there.”

“I know, crazy right. So, how’s it going?”

“I’ve already sold a painting.”

“Really? That’s amazing! Which one? Is it that one I like?”

“No, it’s the one Liv helped me with while she was home sick.”

“Awesome. That’s really great sweetie. Oh, crap, speaking of the little angel. She just threw sand in some kids face. Got to go. Love you.”

“Love you too Jim. See you tonight.”

He hung up, and ran over to where another mother was yelling at his baby girl. If he wasn’t surrounded by young kids, he would’ve decked her one. She was treating Olivia like she was some hardened criminal who tired to kill the little brat who wrecked her castle. He told Olivia to go play with Tommy at the microscope hunting station, and went to sit back down with Sally.

It had been at least two hours since they got to the wing. He had gotten up numerous times at his kids insistence that “Its so cool daddy, you gotta see this!”.

It was almost time to go. Most parents had taken their exhausted kids home for dinner, and the place was emptying fast.

Sally was trying to do a head count of her group at the door, so he figured he should gather his up. They could rent a movie and order pizza when they got home.

“Halpert kids! All Halpert kids, time to go!”

Tommy and Olivia came running up. “Wheres your sister?”

“I haven’t seen Alice daddy.”

“Tommy?”

“I lost sight of her around the fingerprint thingy, I think she was talking to some guy.”

“What?” Jim started to panic.

“Okay, guys, um, are you sure you haven’t seen her?”

“No daddy. But I’ll go look!”

“No, just stay here Livvy.” He didn’t need to lost children.

Sally, hearing this, told her group to stay put, and walked over. “Everything alright, Jim?”

“I lost my daughter. She was wearing a pink jumper like Olivia’s, and she was talking to some guy. I thought I had an eye on her, I…”

“Okay, don’t panic. We’ll find her. Andrew, Mike,” she called over her oldest and his friend. “I want one of you to go find a security guard. The other I want to sit with the younger ones in that corner, and don’t move or talk to anyone. Tommy and Olivia?” Jim nodded. “Hey guys, you want to sit over there. I’m going to help your daddy find you sister.”

They nodded, and walked with Andrew over to his sister and cousins. Mike ran off to find a security guard.

When he came back with one Jim told him what happened. He said she was wearing a pink jumper, looked just like Olivia, and was seen talking to a man with brown hair and scary teeth near the finger print thingy (Tommy’s words), about 15 minutes ago. He radioed the information around, and they started looking. An announcement came on the loud speaker.

“Will Alice Halpert please go to any security guard and wait. If anyone sees a three year old, wearing a pink jumper, brownish red curls, with a Dora The Explorer backpack, please bring her to the nearest security guard or staff member. Again, will Alice Halpert please go to any security guard and wait.”

Jim was in major panic mode. He was running around the museum calling out Alice’s name, not even wanting to think about what might be happening to her. He hadn’t called Pam yet, what was he supposed to say?

For extra measures, no one was allowed in or out until she was found.

After ten minutes of searching, Jim met Sally back in the interactive wing. The kids had been moved to the staff lounge.

“Did you find her?” She asked.

“No, I…what if…” Jim couldn’t take it. He broke down, right there.

“Jim, it’s alright, we’ll find her and she’ll be alright.”

Jim just sat there on the floor, tears streaming down his face.

“Jim! I have to see him, let me through! Jim!”

Jim got up when he heard Pam’s frantic voice. A security guard was trying to hold her back. “She says she’s the mother.”

Jim nodded and ran over to Pam, enveloping her in a hug.

“What’s going on? Someone called me, said Alice was missing…”

“I’m so sorry Pam, I wasn’t watching-“

“It’s not your fault-“

“If I had been paying closer attention-“

“Its okay Jim, please don’t blame yourself.”

They collapsed into each other, and just held on. Sally left with another security guard to help look again, and another stayed with Jim and Pam incase any news reached them.

Pam wanted to ask what happened, but she was almost afraid of the answer. She didn’t want to blame Jim for this, it was so not his fault. After ten minutes, she couldn’t stand it.

“Jim, what happened?”

“I don’t even know. One minute I’m playing with Olivia at the digging box, then next Tommy says he lost sight of Alice after she talked to some guy. It all seemed to happen so fast. I thought I had an eye on her.”

Pam nodded, and let it all sink in. Their kids were to much for one person to handle, even her. That’s why they always went out as a family.

“You’re sure Steve. She’s answering to Alice Halpert? Okay, copy that, sending the parents down, over. Mr. and Mrs. Halpert, we found her.”

“What?”

“Where?”

“In the basement, a storage room, the guy fled as soon as they kicked the door down, we have the police on him. She’s seems fine, no visible trauma, they don’t think he got that far yet.”

“Oh my god…” Pam sighed.

“Take us there.”

Once down stairs, they saw Alice being carried up by a security guard. She was covered in dirt, and had a bruise on her face, but other than that looked fine.

“Mommy! Daddy!”

“Alice!” Pam grabbed her and held her close.

“Baby girl, daddy’s so sorry. It’ll never happen again. I’m so sorry.” Pam let Jim take her, still not letting go of her.

“You guys were lucky.” One guard said. He was holding Olivia and Tommy’s hands, and Pam knelt down and hugged her other children as tight as she could.

It was a sight to behold. Jim and Alice were locked together, Jim saying over and over again how sorry he was. Alice finally told him “It’s alright daddy, it’s not your fault.” And he just cried and held her tighter. Pam was trying to thank the guards who found her, but they wouldn’t here it. They just said good bye and good luck, and escorted them out. Pam was going to drive Olivia and Tommy to Jim’s parents for the night, and then meet Jim and Alice at the hospital (“Just to make sure she’s alright.” A paramedic assured them.)

Jim didn’t let go of Alice the whole time, and when he had he watched her like a hawk. He didn’t think that was going to change anytime soon.

THE END