Elizabeth is Missing

Maud is digging in the dirt on a cool, misty morning before dawn, looking for the other half of Sukey’s compact. She suddenly can’t remember what it is she wanted to do out there in the dirt or why she’s there. She decides to go inside and take a bath. After Maud gets dressed, Carla arrives and mentions that the grass is dug up, and the bath is filthy. When Carla mentions that sons often steal from their mothers, Maud thinks about Peter and Elizabeth’s collectibles.

This thought leads Maud to think about all the items that cluttered Frank’s house. She remembers visiting Sukey on a day that Frank and his friends were moving more furniture into the house. Sukey pointed out a glass dome full of stuffed birds and told Maud that they frightened her. Later, Maud spotted the mad woman in the bushes outside the house.

Carla convinces Maud to try going to church. Although Maud’s mother stopped receiving communion after Sukey disappeared, and no one in her family is religious, Maud decides to go to the church Elizabeth attended. Maud finds the service long and confusing: “I can’t keep up, and I lose track of where we are” (78-79).

When a woman approaches her after church, Maud’s confused about where she is and why she’s there. The woman introduces her to the vicar. When he tells Maud that he hopes she enjoyed the service, Maud’s only response is “Oh’ (79). Maud realizes that the congregants are talking about Elizabeth, and she tells them that Elizabeth is missing. Maud explains that she’d been to Elizabeth’s house, and Elizabeth wasn’t there. When the woman suggests Maud went to the wrong house, Maud feels “a flash of heat” (81) and thinks, “How dare they dismiss me, these people who are supposed to care about Elizabeth? How dare they?” (81). Furious that no one seems willing to find Elizabeth, Maud smashes her teacup. The woman drives her home and offers to take her to church next week, but Maud doesn’t accept.

Maud goes to her local police station but struggles to remember why she came. She shuffles through her notes and scraps of paper, looking for the answer. The officer on duty greets her by name and knows that she’s come to report Elizabeth missing. Maud is relieved at first, but when he informs her she’s already been in four times, she realizes he’s making fun of her. Maud feels humiliated and starts to cry. She flees the police station and thinks, “This was a last hope. If the police won’t take me seriously, what chance is there of ever seeing Elizabeth again?” (85).

This episode reminds Maud of when a police officer came to check on Sukey’s disappearance. Maud recalls his telling her family that missing persons cases were very common: Husbands returning from the war had a hard time adjusting to civilian life, and war brides would sometimes run away from home. Maud’s mother pointed out that Frank was never a soldier. The police officer told them that Frank was wanted for coupon fraud, which may be why he fled.

Maud’s father insists that Sukey would never be involved in anything criminal, but Maud thinks about Sukey’s nice clothes and accessories, the British army rations she saw in Frank’s stables, and all the extra food Sukey would bring over during the war. Maud’s father suggested that Frank killed Sukey and fled, but her mother protested that Frank would never do such a thing. When Douglas appeared, he told the police officer that Frank was a jealous man with a temper. The police officer interviewed Douglas about what Sukey had told him about Frank’s jealousy.

Back in the present, Maud is feeling hopeless. She’s written down that she’s already been to the police station four times so that she’ll remember in the future. She observes, “They think I’m a dotty old woman. I think they might be right” (90). Maud writes “Elizabeth is not missing” in red pen on a piece of paper on her sitting room wall to remind herself (90).

Carla appears and gives her usual litany of victimized elderly people. Carla suggests that things were different in the past, but Maud tells her that there were many strangers in town after the war, and things were not as safe as Carla thinks. Carla brings up the danger of key safes telling her that if a caregiver gave out the code, anyone would be able to come into a home without breaking in. Carla’s comment reminds Maud that Elizabeth had a key safe at her house. When Carla leaves, Maud decides to ignore the sign telling her not to cook and to make herself a boiled egg.

Maud thinks back to when she first met Douglas. Sukey had been working at a canteen for American servicemen, and Douglas had been the milkman doing deliveries on her route. Even then, Maud noticed how Sukey took care of Douglas. She also noticed that Douglas couldn’t take his eyes off Sukey.

Back in present time, Maud digs her old notes and the old compact lid out of the trash. She notices a smell but can’t figure out where it is coming from. Helen scolds Maud for leaving the gas on because Maud could have blown up the whole house. Helen makes Maud promise to never cook again and has her write “even eggs” on the “No cooking” sign posted above the stove. Even as she writes the words, Maud is unsure what they mean.