Miracles do happen. People do pay attention. People do see things and people talk about them. The discovery of two Missouri boys, preceeded by an abducted baby's return in the same jurisdiction a few months ago, is nothing less than wonderful in the full and truest sense of that word. The Sheriff who led the operations to recover all three children seems calm, upbeat, articulate. As one officer said, he's never seen anything like this.

I was particularly fascinated by the press conferences this morning. Everyone spoke clearly and carefully. Ben Ownby's family still looked shell-shocked although Ben himself looked relaxed and cheerful. Being 11 makes it easier, I suspect. I enjoyed watching his sister Amanda try to look slightly aloof but unable to quite pull it off. Also, so I'm on record as having really thought so when I say "I thought so" when it comes out, I think that Ben had not been forced to do anything sexual or even especially bad. Perhaps the abductor was letting him get accustomed to being there, in a twisted kind of backwards logic. Ben's face still has the open, quick look of an 11-year-old. His recovery may probably not be especially difficult.

The Hornbeck conference was quite different. Fewer law enforcement personnel (why? don't know). The family was more energetic, but they've lived with this for almost five years. And the young man was striking. He is a handsome young 15-year-old. His eyes were what startled me. They were very very still. Two dark brown pools gazing out from experiences and emotions that must have scared and horrified him more than most of us will ever know about, let alone experience. No school, no grandparents, no friends for over four years. What must that have felt like? Every now and then, he'd stare at his mother, just stare. Once or twice, he put his head in his mom's shoulder, in her hair. What must he be thinking and feeling today? I hope he's still young enough and the evident love of his parents sufficient to help him heal. His stepfather, Craig Akers, certainly seems aware of everything, loving, kind, intense. He commented that they are going to let Shawn tell them things in his own time, if and when he wants to. It will be a long road but if anyone can make their way, it seems they can.

Both boys were in apparently good physical health, something the defense will undoubtedly use as a mitigating factor. (If you don't think so, consider that Saddam's co-defendants submitted papers saying they shouldn't be executed at all because they were originally sentenced to be executed when he was, but weren't, and therefore have endured undue psychological pain. In a world with that kind of logic, we'd better hope this guy stays locked up forever.) I'm not sure why bail was set, even a million dollars. Isn't this a case for none?

Anyway, cheers to everyone involved. To Sheriff Toelke, all the officers, the FBI, the volunteers, the alert young man on the bus, the press who exercised restraint for once, the families, on and on.

Labels: blogs (others'), children, modern culture