Six-year-old Morgan Nick ran off to chase fireflies with her friends 20 years ago this week and never returned.
The image of that child with long blond hair and bright eyes is emblazoned in the minds of Arkansans and people all over the world, thanks to the never-give-up search made for the missing child ever since.
It is a heart-wrenching story that could be anyone's story.
Morgan was snatched away from an Alma ballpark, last seen when she stopped to empty sand from her shoes after playing with other children.
The search for the long-missing child is renewing with this anniversary and a billboard campaign featuring an age-progressed image of Morgan, who would be 26 this year.
It's the image of a young woman who ought to be building a life, pursuing dreams, maybe taking her own child to a Little League baseball game.
It was at just such a ballgame in Alma on June 9, 1995, when Morgan Nick disappeared, the apparent victim of a kidnapping.
She had gone with her mother to watch a friend of the family play ball but asked to join other children at play. They were climbing a hill overlooking the park, playing in sand and chasing the fireflies that speckled the night sky.
It's the sort of thing children do when their siblings are playing ball and they've sat still on the bleachers for as long as they can.
There was no great reason to worry that anything could come of their play other than a scraped knee or two. It was a June night in a tiny Alma, Ark., ballpark.
Morgan got her mom's permission to play and off the kids went. Later, Morgan and two friends stopped to dump the sand from their shoes. The friends sat on the front bumper of a car while Morgan was at the back.
Then she was gone.
No one has admitted seeing her since, although the continuing investigation has focused on a man who was seen watching the children from a red pickup truck with a white camper shell.
Morgan's mom, Colleen Nick, had been doing what all moms do, looking back to check on the playing children.
Once she realized Morgan was not with the other children, Colleen began the search that continues today.
Alma Police responded immediately to help with the search and to this day keep the case open with detectives assigned to take tips that continue to come in.
State Police and other law enforcement agencies remain involved, too, as evidenced by the renewed campaign to "bring Morgan home."
It's a catch phrase that's been in use these many years as the search for Morgan Nick stretches on.
"Still missing," the new billboards declare, asking for any information to be reported to www.missingkids.org or by phone to 1-800-THE-LOST. The calls go to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which has also posted online an updated video of Morgan Nick's story as well as images of her as a six-year-old and as she might look today.
Notably, Colleen Nick turned the tragedy into something more, creating the Morgan Nick Foundation a year after Morgan's disappearance to assist families with missing children.
It is about making sure that other families get timely help in their searches and about helping families keep their children safe.
Twenty years pass in a blink or an eternity, depending on the perspective.
For those in Morgan Nick's life, it's 20 years of missed birthdays and Christmases and all the other holidays and family events. It's missed recitals and proms and graduations and who knows what else.
It's 20 springs with lonely nights lighted by fireflies and endless hours of wondering what happened to Morgan and asking why.
This week, as they've done each June since she disappeared, Morgan's family released pink balloons as a reminder that they have not given up hope and that they're still searching.
They do something else, too, asking others to take time to chase fireflies with their children and talk about safety.
That's a powerful message.
Whatever happened to Morgan in that Alma ballpark could happen to any child anywhere, no matter how safe the environment might seem.
Commentary on 06/10/2015