Inquisitive Child

Lucy was an in inquisitive child. She liked to watch the shopkeepers open their shops each morning and close them each evening. She watched the butcher cut his meat up and place it in the cases. She watched the jeweler set the fine jewelry out each day. She visited the dress shops and the linen shop and the hosiery shop. She knew everyone's name and spoke to each of the adults she met each and every day.

One day, she did not show up for her visits. She was not there when the shops opened in the morning and she was not there when they closed at the end of the day. She did not go see the jeweler set out his jewelry and she failed to watch the butcher as he cut up all of his meat and set it in his cases. She failed to visit the linen shop and she never appeared at the hosiery shop or at any of the other shops she normally stopped at each and every day. She spoke to none of the adults she would have spoke to each day. No one noticed.