Abduction!

Weather often reflects the tone and atmosphere of the events in the novel. When Matt first goes missing, the officers and detective on the case broadcast an AMBER Alert with helpful information. The officer describes the emergency alert network to Bonnie as “the system used for severe weather emergencies such as tornadoes or a volcanic eruption” (48). Matt’s disappearance is just as traumatic to his family as a tornado or volcanic eruption. Matt’s case is currently in an emergency state as the first 24 hours of a person’s disappearance are the most critical to their survival and safe return.

In the kitchen, Anita has a prism that creates rainbows across the floor sunlight shines through it. The rainbows are there every morning before Bonnie goes to school, but the morning after Matt’s disappearance, Bonnie thinks “[m]aybe that’s a good omen […] Rainbows are a sign of hope. On the other hand, she’d seen rainbows yesterday morning, too, and look what had happened” (81). In the hours following Matt’s disappearance and with no clues to follow, “[e]ven the sun glinting off the prism didn’t seem cheerful” (85). Rainbows symbolize hope, but as she loses hope, Bonnie interprets the rainbow more literally—as sun glinting off a prism rather than as a cheerful omen.

As Matt’s disappearance continues, Bonnie begins making posters and handing out flyers. The weather turns from sunshine into “a light drizzle [that] dripped from the gray sky, matching Bonnie’s gloomy mood” (98). At this point, her emotional state is turning from doubt and loss of hope to devastation as she begins entertaining thoughts of Matt’s potential death by the hands of his abductor. She then “wished it would either rain or clear up. It was as if the clouds had cried all their tears and now could squeeze out only this faint mist” (98). Peg Kehret personifies the clouds (gives them human abilities and emotions) to reinforce Bonnie’s grief and emotional exhaustion. When Pookie goes into the yard, Bonnie stands outside with him in the rain; the rain represents Matt’s absence and Bonnie’s fear of leaving Pookie alone.

The Mariners game is the first time Bonnie feels a moment of happiness since Matt’s disappearance, and she feels guilty for it. The retractable roof is closed until the game because of the rain, but eventually the roof opens when “the clouds blew away” (120). When the roof opens, Bonnie smiles and laughs, the temporary break in the gloom symbolizing the small moments of happiness that occur even in times of tragedy. Bonnie discovers Matt at the game, but is threatened by Denny, who carries a gun, before she can find help. As Bonnie and Matt are forced to leave the game with Denny, the “wind picked up and dark clouds covered the sun again” (136). The dark clouds and wind signify the danger of an oncoming storm and foreshadows the climactic scene of the novel when Denny threatens to shoot Bonnie and let her body fall overboard on the ferry. Rain begins again when Detective Morrison drives to Anita Sholter’s house to notify her of Bonnie’s disappearance. On the drive, “her mood matched the dismal weather” (159). The weather once again turns for the worst as the case becomes even more hopeless to the investigators and the family involved.