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Even Mrs. Williams appeared skeptical at that
suggestion.  “I … don’t think Liz is…”

“Well, you just never know,” Brady countered,
and began pacing near his car.  “I do know, we have to find them.  They can’t
go traipsing off together, as if they don’t have a care in the world.”

“Well, actually, they can,” Mrs. Williams said. 
“They are adults, sharp of mind, and neither one has given power of attorney to
anyone.”  She shrugged.  “They can do whatever they please.”

“But Mrs. Williams, they don’t have luggage. 
They don’t have clothes or toiletries…”  Amanda pointed out.

“Or medications!” Brady cried, letting out an
agonized groan.  “Granddad has to take his blood pressure medicine, not to
mention his blood thinner medication…”

The director nodded.  “I know.  I did check his
room and he didn’t take any of his medications with him.”

“He can’t go without his medications,” Brady
cried.

Amanda could tell he was sick with worry and she
crossed the distance between them and took his arm.  “Listen, they’re both
intelligent people.  Your grandpa knows he needs those meds.  I’m sure he’ll
visit a pharmacy.  And even if it doesn’t occur to him, you mark my words, my
practical grandmother will assure he does what needs doing.”

He searched her face.  “Do you think so?”

“I know so.  Besides, we know they’ve been
checking their phones for messages.  We’ll both call and text them, to remind
him.  Brady, he’ll be all right.”

“Oh, wow,” he said in an anguished voice.  “How
did this happen?  Is this all because we’ve neglected them?” he asked. 
“Because I feel enough guilt about that.  What if something bad happens to
either one of them?  How will ever we be able to live with ourselves?”

“They’re going to be fine,” Amanda said, willing
it to be true, though she was terrified for her sweet grandma.  She’d never so
much as traveled out of state, let alone hopped a plane with a veritable
stranger to parts unknown.  She abruptly turned to Brady.  “You said you have a
particular skill set.  You own a security company.  Can’t you…?”

It was as if a light bulb turned on in his
head.  He began nodding his head up and down with understanding.  “You’re
right.  I can find them.  If we have to, we’ll get on an airplane and bring
them back ourselves.”

“Brady, you can’t force them to do anything,”
Mrs. Williams reminded him.

“That’s true,” he conceded.  “But I can assure
they’re okay.”

“We’ll do what it takes,” Amanda agreed.

Brady nodded.  A partnership was formed.

***

“Wow, I didn’t think this ice cream could taste
any better, but fresh from the factory—it’s like a mouthful of heaven,” Ike
said.

Liz grinned.  “I have to admit, my Chunky Monkey
is divine.”

Ike took her hand as they stepped out the
factory doors.  They strolled the grounds for a bit, and then found their
rental car. 

As Ike drove away from Ben & Jerry’s in
Waterbury, Vermont, Liz gave a sigh of contentment.  “What a beautiful state,”
she commented.

“It certainly is,” Ike agreed.  “And just think,
by tomorrow afternoon, we’ll be in Cocoa Beach.”

“Oh, Ike,” Liz said, suddenly very serious, “we
need to make arrangements to get your prescriptions.”  She checked her watch. 
“We don’t have a lot of time.”

“It’s okay,” he assured her.  “I’ve already
called my pharmacy back home and explained my situation.  They called the
prescriptions into the pharmacy up the street from our hotel.  They’re open
late, so we’ll be there in plenty of time to pick up my meds.”

“Okay,” she said with relief, but still eyed him
with concern.  “If something happened to you because of me, I could never live
with myself.”

“Everything’s fine,” he assured her again.  He
suddenly gave a laugh.  “I wonder what the kids are doing about now?”

Liz made a guilty face.  “I don’t know.”

“They’re probably back to work,” Ike said.  “I
doubt Brady could handle being away from the business for more than a day.”

“And Amanda is awfully committed to her work. 
I’m sure you’re right.  They’re probably back on the job and happy as clams.”

***

“Brady, I couldn’t sleep all night.  I’m losing
my mind.  What if my grandma got up in that airplane and had a panic attack. 
She’s never flown before.  It’s … scary!  Oh, Lord, I hope she’s all right.”

He reached across the table separating them and
took her hand.  “I’m sure she was fine.  Think happy thoughts.  She’s off the
plane now and…”  He gave a shrug.  “Well, I’m sure they’re off the plane, but
as far as where they’ve gone…”

Suddenly, the phone rang in Amanda’s kitchen. 
It had become the couple’s command center, since Brady had arrived in the
morning so they could formulate a plan.

“Hello,” Amanda said, and then thrust the phone
at him.  “It’s the pharmacy,” she whispered. 

They had called the pharmacy the minute it
opened, asking that the pharmacist call them in the event they heard from Ike. 
Although they had mentioned something about privacy laws, Brady had somehow
sweet talked the female pharmacist into cooperating.

“Hello,” he said, and then listened intently. 
“So the prescriptions were called into a pharmacy… 
Where
?”  He was
silent for several seconds.  “Waterbury, Vermont?”  He gave a shake of his
head.  “I really have no idea why someone would visit there.  Do you?”

He was silent again, this time for a couple
moments.  “Really?”  He gave a short laugh.  “Ben & Jerry’s has a factory
there?  But why would…?”  He began nodding in apparent understanding. 
“Actually, it sort of makes sense.  Granddad loves his Ben & Jerry’s.”  He
was silent again for a brief pause, and then, after thanking the pharmacist,
hung up the phone.  He turned to Amanda. 

“I heard,” she said, shaking her head ruefully. 
“Do you really think they went to Waterbury, Vermont for ice cream?”

He gave a helpless shrug.  “I do know Granddad
loves his ice cream.  I’m going to try texting him again.”  He hurriedly
punched in a message and then eased back in the chair to wait.

No
response came.

“They’re like a couple of teenagers,” he said
with a fatigued laugh.  He sought Amanda’s eyes.  “There’s a part of me that
wants to hop a plane, but I’m afraid if we do, they’ll be long gone by the time
we get there.”

“You’re probably right.  Let me try to text
Grandma.”  She hurriedly sent a text, imploring her to either call or text
back.  To her relief, a text message came.  It read simply, “We’re fine.”

“Wow.  When she does get back here, she’s going
to get an earful,” Amanda threatened.  “If I pulled a stunt like this, she’d
never forgive me.”

“I just wonder what they plan to do next,” Brady
said.  “After they’ve explored Waterbury, I can’t imagine what they have next
on the agenda.”  He was quiet for a moment.  “Amanda, do you have any idea
where your grandmother might like to go?  Has she expressed any desire to
travel to a particular place?”

She searched her brain.  “Yes, actually.  She
always said she wanted to see the Atlantic Ocean before she dies.”

“Well, we can’t exactly search the entire Eastern
Seaboard,” he muttered.  “Where do you think she’d go?”

She sat quietly for a moment, deep in thought. 
She suddenly laughed.  “I’m probably way off, but she’s mentioned an interest
in the space program.”

He shook his head, watching her curiously.  “What
do you mean?”

“Well, she was disappointed when NASA’s space
shuttle program ended.  She always said she’d like to watch one take off into
space.”  She laughed again.  “She actually used to say, if given the chance,
she’d be the first one to board a shuttle for deep space.”

“And you’re afraid she had trouble flying?” he
said incredulously.  “She sounds pretty adventurous to me.”

“Yeah, well, she’d better knock it off.  She’s
seventy-five, for heaven’s sakes.”

“Hey, Amanda, it sounds as if she’s seventy-five
years
young
.  And she doesn’t have any serious health issues, right?”

“None.”

“Well, maybe she’s entitled to a little fun.”

“Well, you’ve certainly had a change of heart. 
Aren’t you the same guy who accused her of taking advantage of your poor, defenseless
granddad?”

“Aren’t you the woman who accused my granddad of
taking advantage of her?”

“Yeah, well…”

He checked his watch.  “I feel helpless sitting
here.  Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going to grab an early lunch, and then
I’m going to call in some favors and see if I can find out where the old folks
are headed next.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to?”

“I have my vays,” he said in a heavily accented
voice.

***

“I positively love flying,” Liz declared as the
plane took off.

Ike grinned at her.  “You’re a natural,” he
said.  “Not everybody enjoys flying.”

“Who knew?” she laughed.

“Yeah, who knew?”  He gave her a puzzled look. 
“You even enjoyed the turbulence.”

“Yeah, that was fun!” she said gleefully, of
their previous flight.  “I can’t wait to get to Orlando,” she gushed, and then
gave him a hopeful look.  “You really don’t mind touring the Kennedy Space
Center, do you?  I’ve always wanted to go.”

“Hey, you were a good sport about visiting
Waterbury, so I’m glad to accommodate.  But when we arrive at Orlando, we’ll
get a car and head directly to Cocoa Beach.”

“It’s not far, right?”

“Nope.  It’s just a short half hour or so away. 
We’ll find a place on the beach, directly overlooking the ocean.”  He smiled
delightedly.  “I can’t wait for you to see the Florida blue skies.  They’re so
bright blue…”  He shook his head.  “We just don’t see skies like those on our
side of the continent.”

“I can’t wait to see the sky and the ocean and
the space center…”  She smiled into Ike’s eyes.  “Thank you for this trip,
Ike.  I never,
ever
thought I’d have an opportunity to do any
traveling.  You’ve made my dreams come true.”

He took her hand and returned her smile. 
“You’re so welcome,” he told her.  “You’ve made my dreams come true too.”

“This is a nightmare,” Amanda declared, ignoring
the cheeseburger basket in front of her.  The strawberry shake went untouched
as well.

“Amanda, you’re not going to help the situation
by starving yourself.  Eat something, please,” Brady implored.

She emitted a haggard sigh.  “I’ll try.”  She
noticed he wasn’t eating much either.  “You need to eat too,” she pointed out.

He nodded.  “I wonder what they’re doing at this
very moment,” he said, absently taking a bite of his burger.

“Well, they’re three hours ahead of us on the
East Coast, so if they do happen to be back there, it’s mid-afternoon.”  She
shook her head and groaned.  “If only we’d paid more attention to them, they
wouldn’t have left like this.”

“Oh, who knows?” he said.  “Maybe they were
planning a getaway all along.”

“So what do we do next?” Amanda asked.

“I’m going to call a friend of mine.  It happens
he’s a detective—works in Atlanta, Georgia.  Anyway, I know him from my stint
in the military.  If our grandparents are on the East Coast, he’ll find them.”

“Could we track them if they use a credit card?”
she asked.

He nodded.  “I’m actually working on that as we
speak.”

“How?”

“As I said before, I started my business with a
buddy—also from my time in the military.  He’s like a brother to me.  Anyway, I
told you we provide security to celebrity or big name clients…”

She nodded.

“Well, there are other aspects to our work.”

“Such as?”

“Well, suffice to say, we’re trained in
obtaining intel.  I actually have my PI license too.  Anyway, I can find our
wayward seniors, but the question remains, what do we do when we locate them?”

“What do you mean?”

“We can’t exactly bring them back here kicking
and screaming.”  He ran a hand through his hair.  “My mom recently brought up
the subject of having Granddad sign over power of attorney to her.  I sure wish
he’d done it.”

“He probably wasn’t ready,” Amanda said.  “I
know my mom isn’t comfortable talking about it with Grandma.”

“But it’s important, and necessary,” he said
adamantly. 

“You’re right, but it’s a delicate subject.”

Brady eyed her speculatively.  “Hey, you haven’t
mentioned your job at all today.  What gives?”