Epilogue ~ An Ordinary Day
Sunday, November 29
Early in the morning on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Trixie walked down to the end of the Belden driveway to fetch the newspaper. On Sundays the Beldens received the New York Times as well as the Sleepyside Sun. Usually the Sun’s pages were filled with local high school sports, the projects of local civic clubs, and new business openings. But heavy black headlines today proclaimed Two Arrested in Local Trafficking Ring, with photographs of the owner of the Blue Dragon and the older woman who had come into the restroom looking for Lee Song and Mei the night Mei had cried about her dashed college dreams.
She couldn’t wait until she got back in the house, and started reading the article as she walked back up the driveway.
“Sleepyside Police Department, in collaboration with the Greater Westchester County Organized Crime Bureau, conducted a raid Friday night on more than a dozen “Asian Spas” in White Plains, Tarrytown, Peekskill, Valhalla, Yonkers, and Sleepyside. Two Sleepyside residents were arrested, along with twelve other adults at spas and restaurants in Westchester County. “This is not the full extent of the trafficking ring,” stated Chief Wendell Molinson of Sleepyside. “During a three-year investigation, we have learned that the trafficking cartel here is only one small part of an organization that extends over the region and across several states. However, we have shut down some key branches and expect that the operation has been curtailed in our county for a time. We also expect to obtain leads to some other key players after those arrested Friday are questioned.”
The chief stated that twenty-five adult women and twenty juveniles were taken into the custody of the Office of Victim Services. No victim names are being released at this time.”
Even the New York Times had a front page story on it. “Human Trafficking Ring in Westchester County.” She hurried back into the house and placed the Times on the kitchen table. Brian and Mart stood at the stove, Mart flipping pancakes while Brian fried a pound of bacon.
“We told Moms and Dad to sleep in today,” Mart explained. “The Open House is a ton of work for them beforehand, and we thought they deserved a day off. But I think they’re up and getting dressed.”
“That’s great of you. I’ll make some fresh orange juice and some coffee in a minute,” Trixie replied. “You guys won’t believe the top story in the Sun today.” She held out the paper so they could see the headline.
Brian set the bacon on a paper towel-lined plate, his brows furrowed as he scanned the headline. “All those girls,” he said quietly. “It’s hard to believe something like that was happening right here.”
Mart shook his head. “It makes you wonder how much goes on under the radar. People just don’t see it until someone starts asking the right questions.”
Trixie folded the newspaper and placed it gently beside the fruit bowl. “At least now they’re safe. They’ll get the help they need. And the people who did this—they’ll face justice.”
The sound of footsteps overhead signaled that Moms and Dad were indeed stirring. Outside, the morning sun was breaking through a thin veil of clouds, spilling soft gold over the backyard. It was going to be a beautiful day—quiet, maybe even ordinary.
And that, Trixie thought, was something every survivor deserved: an ordinary day.
She reached for the oranges and smiled faintly to herself as she began to juice them, the hum of the press familiar and grounding. For now, there were pancakes, coffee, and a house full of people who cared. Justice had started, and healing could follow.
The world wasn’t perfect. But it was better today than it had been yesterday.
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633 words in chapter
Thank you, dear readers, for sticking around for this whole story. You are most appreciated!
Another candidate for the element A dramatic event is the offscreen raid described in the newspaper article Trixie reads in this chapter.
Many thanks again to my faithful editors, Ryl and Trish, who have supported me throughout and helped me improve the story.
From “Brian set the bacon on a paper towel-lined plate” to the end was contributed by Trish and was the perfectly perfect ending, IMO.
List of research sources:
https://www.justice.gov/humantrafficking/key-legislation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_the_United_States
https://www.ijm.org/stories/human-trafficking-wasnt-always-crime#:~:text=In%201998%2C%20President%20Bill%20Clinton, to%20develop%20anti%2Dtrafficking%20strategies
https://surviveandthriveadvocacy.org/the-freedom-outreach/
https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en/human-trafficking/recognizing-signs
https://www.education.ky.gov/school/sdfs/Pages/Human-Trafficking.aspx
https://www.education.ky.gov/school/sdfs/Documents/Human%20Trafficking%20Protocol%20for%20Schools.pdf
https://www.amwa-doc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/AMWAPATHAdvocacyflyer_New-York.pdf
https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/17_1113_OPE_Blue-Campaign_student-adv-toolkit.pdf
https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2024-06/240624_bc_youth_toolkit.pdf
https://www.centerforpreventionofabuse.org/i-need-help-for-someone-else/helping-human-trafficking-victims-2/
https://www.pmg-ky2.com/kystandard/news/three-arrested-in-wednesday-human-trafficking-sting/article_e8bc61b1-8328-5750-84eb-988262767b06.html
https://www.wdrb.com/news/crime-reports/bardstown-police-say-human-trafficking-arrests-part-of-year-long-investigation-into- illicit-massage-industry/article_2e529e04-a8ae-11ed-9584-bf732a237ef0.html
Cellular phones have become so ubiquitous in our lives today (even mine!) that I had to do some research to find out when they were available to the general public in a vehicle that could be kept in a pocket. Sonny Crockett famously had a carphone in the series Miami Vice, so I figured he would still want the convenience of having a phone everywhere he went. While smartphones weren't available in 1998, this one was:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_6110#Variants Nokia 6190 released for US market 1998
In recent years, numerous public sculptures and murals around the US featuring Native Americans have faced protests, including in the New York state Capitol. The frieze I described on the Sleepyside bank is fully fictional, although I found some true stories that inspired it. Sadly I wasn't able to re-find the story I was thinking about, so I might have just reimagined some real controversies for the story. Since Sleepyside is a fictional place, I decided to use it in order to make another tourist attraction. A few years ago there was a big controversy in Kentucky about a mural painted by the WPA painted at the University of Kentucky that depicted enslaved people working in the tobacco fields and a Native American holding a tomahawk. The university initially held that the mural couldn't be removed, as it was embedded into a load-bearing wall. A lawsuit filed by Kentucky's poet laureate in protest of the removal claimed the mural was the property of all the people of Kentucky and should be preserved as a part of our heritage, not erased/ swept under the rug. Eventually in 2022, a process was found that enabled the university to remove the mural and relocate it without destroying it. I included it in the story because I thought it was an interesting connection as well as a comment on the difficulties around recognizing and honoring diversity in the United States.
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/02/09/kathy-hochul-new-york-governor-native-american-images-albany-capitol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_reservations_in_New_York
https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2021/10/08/the-lenape-mohicans-and-iroquois-were-native-to-new-york-state/#:~:text=The%20Lenape%2C%20 Mohicans%20and%20Iroquois,York%20State%20%2D%20Hudson%20Valley%20One
https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article269076877.html
Inspirations for funny stories about student teaching and taking the MCAT exam that I used:
https://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/index.php?threads/ok-make-me-laugh-funniest-student-teaching-story.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mcat/comments/9h07cd/any_crazy_test_day_stories/
The urls should be able to be copied and pasted into your search bar if you want to read or check them. They're current at the time of posting in June 2025. I didn't make them clickable in case they change or become dead later on.
Disclaimer: Characters from the Trixie Belden series are the property of Random House. Characters from the TV show Miami Vice also don’t belong to me. They are used without permission, although with a great deal of affection and respect. All graphic images from Pixabay.com, except for the dragon button. Chinese Dragon Vectors by Vecteezy. Images may be manipulated in Photoshop Elements by Mary N.
