A hush has fallen over the yeti home.  It’s Saturday.

No one (except me) is here?  Christa and the girls have gone to a birthday party leaving me home to my coffee and fantasy baseball.  Aaaahhh…

This week was quite eventful.  With language study in full swing before the October holiday the week seemed to flew by.  Now we have a week off to regroup.  Christa and I have lately been second-guessing our decision to move to a country that speaks a tonal language (not that this was necessarily OUR decision to make…)  We’re considering moving to a place where the language might be a bit more accessible.  My first choice is Jamaica.  (Ha-ha)

Anyway, I told you about Sarah’s injury this past week to her nose.  Well, after I tell you about the next episode in her little saga you may think (as we do) she might have hit her head a little harder than we originally thought.  (I’m speaking figuratively.  In reality this episode only proves that Sarah is her normal self…)


It’s called THE PRISON BREAK:

It was a peaceful Thursday afternoon in September 2006.  Todd went off to his grammar class and Christa waited for a special visitor to arrive at the Johnson estate.  The visitor was a young Chinese gal named Jessie whom Todd and Christa were hiring to play with their daughters AND to simultaneously teach them to speak some Chinese.  Jessie, who had already met and played with the Johnson girls before, soon arrived at the estate.  After Jessie settled in and began to play and talk with the girls, Christa left the house to run some errands around town.

It was at this time or shortly thereafter that a great plot was conspired.

Sarah, codenamed The Banshee, had been making plans for some time to escape from her cloistered existence within the walls of the Johnson fortress.  The time had come.

While Jesse and Anna were happily reading books together in the girls’ bedroom, Sarah (clothed for some reason in her Disney Princess pajamas) in the living room surreptitiously donned her frilly red slip-on shoes and a coat.  Removing side-walk chalk from the kitchen art supplies drawer, Sarah set her plan into motion…

Jessie and Anna never heard the clicking of the handle on the front door; they had no idea the tiny footsteps echoing down the stairwell were ones they should recognize; they were oblivious to the fact that an escape plan was quickly becoming a reality…

The details of what transpired next can only be verified through sketchy witness accounts and through the modern methods of forensic science.  DNA samples are still being gathered.  Based on investigation details and clues, it appears that this 3-year-old Houdini, The Banshee, spent some time leaving her calling card artwork on the sidewalks in front of the Johnson estate.  By following the trail of smiley faces on the concrete, one can put together a time-line of events that might shed some light onto this mysterious prison break.

Back inside the Johnson estate, Jessie soon realized that the Banshee was NOT, in fact, playing quietly in the next room (or in any room) in the house.  In a panic, Jesse fled the apartment in hopes of capturing the escapee before she was able to hop the first train to Urumqi.  By talking to local car wash attendants, Jesse soon discovered that the Banshee had been sighted not far from the Johnson estate only minutes before she arrived.

(the chalk trail)

After a thorough canvassing of the neighborhood, however, Jessie began to lose hope of finding her prey.  She returned to the Johnson estate dejected and fearful.  To her great surprise, something OR someone was waiting for her when she arrived…

Perhaps the greatest mystery of all is when the escaped prisoner willingly returns to his/her cell.  This is, indeed, what happened on this cool autumn day in September.  When Jesse returned to the Johnson estate, the Banshee was waiting there for her–with a devilish grin and a lollipop in her hand.

It is not clear to what purpose The Banshee made this bold escape (although we believe the sidewalk chalk and lollipop are telling clues) but as the pieces are put together it becomes apparent what type of mastermind the Johnson family are dealing with.  The car wash attendants, who work at a car wash at the entrance of the Johnson family compound, witnessed the escapee walking past them towards a local "7-11" and then returning.  Was this simply a shop-lifting expedition or was there someone "on the outside" who helped the Banshee acquire her contraband?  The illegally obtained substance was quickly confiscated by the prison Wardens and security has been heightened significantly.

Investigators may never know the true impetus or ramifications of this latest prison break, but for all those involved (especially Jessie and Anna) the event was quite sobering and potentially traumatizing.  Eyes were opened as this prison break surely ranks very high on one of the greatest escapes of the century!

(Note:  I actually would have liked to have seen one of those Family Circus maps of the places that Sarah went and what she did in each location…  We’re thankful for God’s protection on Sarah’s life and well-being, esp recently.  In America OR even here in China, this event could have been a nightmare situation for us and her.)