I've a had a pretty eventful last few days and missed my Sunday Confession, sorry for that. Archer Girl went of to 5th grade camp (*sigh) and I had my second root canal in eight days; plus a TON of running around to get my brother to all the places the county mental health facility is making him go to in order to (possibly) get some damn help. So, without further ado; and no more bitching today - I give you my next excerpt from my WIP "Degenerates Deserve Death". As always, there is adult content and I LOVE to read feedback!
Thanks.
“Do you think anyone else saw her?”
“I think the little girl peeking outta the back of that guys big rig saw her, and I don’t think she was suppose to be peeking either” she stares into my eyes, like I wouldn’t understand what she’s saying.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now? Which one?” I whisper.
“No, and you are the only person I know that can take care of this fucker. It’s the third time he’s been through here in six months, all three times he’s coming from the Salton Sea; and every time – see a different girl. He’s the younger, cleaner one. I’d have called you, but you’ve never given me your goddamn phone number!”
I rock back in shock at the venom in her voice. Is she pissed at me? When did I become the savior of the world?
“What makes you think I can fix this?” I look at her incredulously.
“You fixed Arnold didn’t you? I’m here and I’ll help with whatever I have to, he usually sleeps through the day after he’s filled up on my good food and takes off just after dusk. I think he likes to only travel at night.”
“Yeah, less cops on the road; most of these guys are on that schedule” I say, my mind is already trying to plot out how this will go down. “Do you still have that nice mobile home up this road?”
“Yes, here are the keys. How old is that girl you got?” she doesn’t even blink, she must trust me to be on the side of right.
“She’s nine.”
“She needs clothes?”
“Yes”
“I’ve got some old stuff of my Charlene’s up there in a box labeled ‘memories’; you can help yourself to it. They’re old, but they’ll work” she looks like she’s about to cry all of a sudden.
“Who’s Charlene?” I’ve known this woman eight years and never heard about a kid.
“She’s my daughter. I haven’t seen her since 1988” her voice cracks.
“Ok, that’s a story for another time. I gotta go. When your lunch relief comes in, make your way up to the mobile home – until then, keep an eye on our ‘friend’ and try to get the license plate and his name” I hand her my card, “and here are my numbers, the cell is on and” I look down at my phone “I’ve got coverage here, so call if it looks like he’s leaving”
“Will do. Can I ask you a question?”
“Yeah”
“You do this a lot, don’t you?”
I smile. “Ma, this is not what I do; because I don’t usually deal with kids, I get the fuckers alone. I think you already knew that, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I guess I did.” She smiles back at me.
“Go back inside. Please act normal.”
“I can act normal, I did it for years” she replies with a bitterness I haven’t heard before.
I open the door and get in. “Count to 100 and then you can get up”
“One, two, three…”
My mind is racing. Fuckers are buying and taking the girls on the road with them now? This is a new development I was unaware of, when did this shit start happening and why didn’t Jake alert me? I’ve got to get a message to him, we need a meeting immediately.
“One hundred” she at least has the good sense to uncover her head slowly, she’s duly acting repentant so I offer her a small smile.
“You do understand the severity of our situation, right?”
“Yes, I guess, but really – we haven’t done anything wrong; right?” she winks at me!
“Shit! girl you are funny!” I laugh out loud.
“Well, can I help it if George was a nasty, evil drunk who abused me for years and then died in a drunken accident; just as you were walking around to take some sunrise shots of the sea?” I stare at her. God, she almost convinced me that is how it happened.
“That’s your story, and your stickin’ to it, is that right?”
“Absolutely, that is what happened. You are a good Samaritan that freaked out when I lost my mind and all you could think about was taking care of me – maternal instincts and all that.” Wow! She’s really good.
“You think anyone would believe that I’ve got maternal instincts?” I laugh out loud.
“You are better than me, older and wiser – I bet you can convince anyone of anything; can’t you?” she sure is confident of my abilities, I’d hate to burst her bubble. Truth is, I’m one of the best liars around – my whole life is a lie, so it comes naturally. I must be slipping because I hadn’t even thought of a cover story, it hadn’t occurred to me to prepare one – how stupid is that? This nine year old is up one on me in the common sense department.
“Where are we going?” she asks.
“Well, here’s the thing. We’ve had a change in plans. Seems there is a guy back there that has a girl in his truck and if it was his daughter, he’d have brought her inside for food; ya know?”
“Yeah, I get what you’re saying. What are you gonna do?”
“I haven’t quite got is all figured out yet. There is a safe place at the end of this road, where you can get showered and get dressed while I try to figure this shit out.”
“Okay.” she whispers.
“What’s wrong now?” I ask.
“It would be cool if it was my sister”
Posts
