Second set of 20 pages.

For all of my family and friends who read the first post, here's the next installment to my book "The Ride". For those of you who missed the first installment - which in BENEATH this posting - please see that first installment titled "The Ride". It was posted just about a month ago on the 16th of May.

   Getting back on the road Jack looked at his watch, they would never make Atlanta before three or four o’clock. Maybe he could pick it up a little, three or four miles an hour. He was already going faster than he should. Better safe than sorry. Now take your beating - he hated Atlanta.                                                                                                                                                                When he got to Commerce he thought he might make it, but he had forgotten that real traffic began twenty or thirty miles out from Atlanta. When he got to the six lanes, they were all full as far as you could see. Even though Jack was doing the speed limit, some cars came by as if they were going home to a family emergency. Some were going at less speed than Jack, some had to get in front of the RV no matter what – (because when they got home the wife would ask “Did you get in front of that RV?” He would have to say “No.” - “OK, you’re cut off for a month.”) Then, others were the ones that wouldn’t let you change lanes even if your mother was in the truck waving. Then there’s always the guy who lets you in after crossing six lanes of traffic and you feel like a quarterback for the Panthers. He lets you in about fifty feet from the exit. The problem is, the trailer and truck are forty feet long. You’re doing sixty miles an hour and you have to make a decision right then. It’s like coming in on a carrier deck but you don’t have a cable to catch you. You decide to go for it, your heart is about to jump out of your chest and you can’t breathe. You want to stop but about the time you get to the top of the exit, you are dumped onto the circle of the dammed-- interstate 285. You’re trying to get up to speed so you could blend in with traffic but that will never happen. Jimmy Johnson couldn’t catch that traffic. Jack decided he was going for it, if someone didn’t let him in, he was going to push all three lanes into the concrete wall. Someone let him in - but only because they had no other choice.

        Jack was in the inside lane because he knew his exit was to the right. What he failed to realize was - that was the speed lane, the NASCAR lane. The other drivers came around with a look on their face like they could kick his butt. What’s really exciting is when a tractor trailer truck gets about three feet from the back of the RV’s bumper... that’s one of those unspoken messages. MOVE OVER ( or else!). Jack was going to try to move over, what’s the magic word - move over. A nice man in his early thirties let him in. Jack was thinking maybe he was a family man with children and went to church on Sunday. He noticed the man didn’t give him one of those faces as he came by. He was going to move back behind the truck when he looked in his mirror and saw a line that looked like speed skaters, but the only thing under their foot was a gas pedal.                            

        Jack didn’t like this at all. He saw exit 34; he was going to exit 52, which was NOT just down the road. He tried to stay in the right hand lane as much as possible. But sometime, if you thought a tractor trailer truck couldn’t get closer, you were wrong. You were thinking “Why is that man in the back seat screaming at me: “Move over, you’re going too slow”. It seemed this guy had to meet a girl at this bar and if he didn’t hurry she might leave with another guy. Now that’s true love, trying to kill himself and everybody around him, to find out she had gone off with another guy. Come on 52, come on 52. This is like being in a crash derby but everyone is kidding. Oh my god, oh my god, he’s going to hit me, surprise, he was only kidding. You see the whites of his teeth like the Joker, just to let you know he could have hit you if he had wanted to. Yeah, there is the sign that says exit 52, two miles.                                                                                                                          Interstate 675-south-Macon he’s going to make it to 675 in two miles. That was the longest two miles he had ever driven. It seemed like he was walking. If he could make it to 675 and get away from ‘the circle of the dammed’, the traffic would get much better. Off the ramp, my god – it’s a parking lot moving about three miles an hour. When he got to the bottom of the ramp a big hole opened up, the expression on the guy’s face said ‘what the hell, I’m not going anywhere.’

         Then Jack finally got to what was holding up the traffic. In the median was a middle aged Honda that had run into the back of a brand new Volkswagen convertible. The little girl who was driving the Volkswagen was crying, and if the police had let her loose, I’m sure she would have crammed that Honda up it’s owners a_ _.

        Everything opened up like Moses parting the water. The guy who had let him come into the lane came around on the left... Martha said always give a wave to someone who’s nice to you. As he went by, Jack gave a jester of a wave. The guy smiled and went on. If Jack had listened more to what Martha had said, his life would’ve been a lot easier.

        Marty moved, as if she were waking up. But, she was only re-adjusting and squeezing the pillow as if it was a marshmallow. As long as the truck was moving J.R. slept like he would be taken care of forever. Speaking of Marty, she will be better off with Nate; he couldn’t take her on the trip he had to go on. Jack couldn’t believe his mind would even think about letting her going with him. It had already been settled.

He was looking for exit I-77; he had been there a few times with Martha, she loved county parks, state parks, federal parks. Jack had asked Martha why she liked those parks better than private parks.

“In the private parks, the spaces are so close to each other, of course they want to make as much money as possible, and that’s business. Besides, State Parks have my trees.” Jack had never thought about it before, if she felt it was her park, it was her trees. Maybe that’s why she liked her RV so much. It gave her an opportunity to be next to lots of trees. Jack must admit, he didn’t know much about RVing at the time. Now he sees things he never thought existed, plus he was pretty good at driving, backing, and setting up now. Jack was fascinated watching Martha back this little house on wheels into its spot. The first thing she would say before getting out of the truck was: “Chocks first. Always. It’s very dangerous if the RV rolls after you have disconnected it from the truck.”                                                                                                                                       Jack shakes his head up and down as if he was in agreement with what was she talking about. He got out of the truck to watch her. He had no idea she knew all of this. It’s strange how things get by you when you’re looking it in the face every day. She looked like a little fireman running around getting the fire truck ready to start pumping water. He knew when she got involved in something she was always in it up to her elbows. Jack asked; “How did you get all this knowledge about RV’s?”

 “Research - and the teachers in the class I took were very nice and patient. It took a little while to get the hang of turning corners, backing up, and driving at the speed limit. One of the scariest things was to hold on when a tractor trailer truck comes by you on the interstate, ‘cause you think he’s going to blow you off the road”.

It looked like she knew what she was doing so Jack decided to stay out of her way. One time they came into the park after dark, maybe it was this park. Now, coming into the forest with no moon is like being in a coffin. (Walter here: - I don’t think that’s very appropriate to say - how about at the bottom of a coal mine with no light. I’ve heard it’s as dark as looking up a bear’s ass. Now, if you feel like checking that one out, don’t wait for me to bring lunch. You’re on your own. Now if you’re looking for dark with no moon, central Georgia has one of the thickest forests in the country. Ok, it’s not a forest, its woods. In a forest you find Robin Hood and his merry men, in the woods you find old man Paxton and his three boys making moonshine. They don’t shoot at you with a bow and arrow.)                                                                           

The ranger was riding around checking everything out before he leaves at ten; he locks the gate at ten on his way home. If you’re not in by ten you are “SOL”. If you want to get out before seven o’clock in the morning you are “SOL”. There have been many a young family caught on the wrong side of the fence. Just kidding, there is a space just big enough to squeeze through, but your car stays on the outside of the fence. You must know the rules. You will see these young fathers walking up the road a little after ten o’clock at night. But, because the gate is locked, their car is on the wrong side of the fence all night. All he can say is “I didn’t know.” Cause he didn’t know the rules. The night walk did them good, the little one had to be carried because her legs hurt, and the older boy was scared of the dark, so he hung on his father’s leg like a leech. At the same time he is saying to his wife “I didn’t know.” It was about a mile to his camping spot. He had a beautiful spot for camping, the only thing, it was on the other side of the park, add another mile. “You must always know the rules”, Martha would always tell Jack. He thought it was ok to bend the rules a little.                                                                                                                                                        The RV’s rear is beyond the entrance to the site. This is something he learned from Martha? He thought was real cool. (Old guys can say cool can’t they?). Jack always asks “Can I help?” She always answered “No, sit tight”. He always watched her in the mirror until he couldn’t see her so he stuck his head out the window “Are you sure you don’t need some help?” He only asked because he felt guilty just sitting there.

        “No, I got it.” He knew she would say no because he knew she was having fun and to her it was quite an accomplishment. Jack saw her go into a storage box on the side of the RV. She had taken flashlights out of the storage box, so as Jack watched. It looked like lightning bugs buzzing around. Lighting bugs don’t buzz around much, that’s why you could catch them easily when you were kids. It was dark (you remember these Georgia woods at night.) He couldn’t see what she had taken out of the storage box on the side of the trailer; she walked to the back of the site. Jack could tell she was lining something up with the back of the site and the pine trees. She laid a flash light down on the ground on each side of the asphalt before it ended and your rear end started kissing trees; you do not want to do that. He could see the two on the ground shining up the side of the parking space; he couldn’t see what she was doing with the other two. Then she came up to the back of the trailer and stuck the other two to the back bumper on each side shining down to the asphalt. Jack couldn’t understand how they were sticking to the bumper. She got back in the truck; he could see this little smile on her face. 

“What are you doing?”

“The light on the bumper is at an angle so it’s in line with the one on the ground. As you back up, you watch through your mirrors at the lights on each side. When the lights intersect, you stop, because you’re there.”

        He was just amazed at her; even parking a R.V. was an adventure. She was so full of life (I know you’ve heard that before. Some people are and some people just ain’t.) She made him feel good just being around her, she was good medicine for his soul.

“How did you get the flashlight to stick to the back bumper?”                                                    

“Magnets on the flashlight.”

        She cranked up the truck and turned the steering wheel to the left just a little, making the rear of the trailer go to the right. Just before the trailer was lined up with the lights, she turned the steering wheel very slowly so the trailer would turn to line up with the lights.

“Jack, just follow the trailer.”

        She backed very slowly, then stopped, put the emergency brake on and jumped out. Jack saw her checking the lights, they seemed to be OK so she started picking them up. She opened one of the doors to one of the boxes on the side and put them inside. She went around back and started pulling an electrical cord out from the back of the RV. She then walked up to an electrical box on a short post, flipped up the cover and plugged in the cord. She went around where the entrance door to the trailer was, pulled down the steps, unlocked the door and went inside. All of a sudden all these lights came on. Jack though it was OK to get out, this thing looked like a shopping center in the middle of these dark woods. Just as he got out of the truck she came out of the trailer.

        “Jack - number one rule, chocks, very important.”

        Chalks? Were they going to write something on the asphalt, maybe draw pictures, what are chalks? She went into another one of those doors and pulled out four plastic wedges. They were about a foot long with one end about six inches high and went down to nothing on the other end.

“Jack, the number two rule, chocks under the wheels.” She had already told him that.  “Jack, number three rule, chocks under the wheels, so when you disconnect the trailer it doesn’t roll into the truck. The other worst scenario is the trailer rolls backwards; somebody could get hurt bad or killed.”

           Jack saw that she took all this very seriously, maybe he should pay more attention. Without her, he had no intention of being an RVer. It was nice he could spend some time with her. He did admit that it sure was dark in these woods, once you turned off the lights on the RV the trailer disappeared like a magician throwing his magic cape over it.

        J.R. had been good during the whole ordeal; he was ready to get out.              

        “Hun, will you take J.R. for a walk?”

        Jack was thinking maybe beside the trailer. He was not going to get out from the light of the trailer. If the power went off, he would be consumed by the darkness. There was no way he was going to walk up the road. But if J.R. takes a crap beside and trailer and she finds it, she will know what he did. He thought maybe he could take him across the road. Power, please don’t go off.

        This is crazy. He was born and raised in this part of the country. He had been in these woods before. He was a Boy Scout for Pete’s sake, they lived in the woods. They could run through these woods at night as fast as they could go and never run into a pine tree - except Larry Gibson. He’d gotten a cut on his forehead. Naturally, Nate had to be the medic. He had enough gauze wrapped around Larry’s head it looked like a tunic. When everyone was asleep, he and Nate would sneak around the tents stealing everyone’s cookies, cakes and candy - anything that was sweet. Jack was always the lookout man. Nate was always the action man. That’s when everyone said if Nate got into trouble Jack wasn’t far behind. But he was thinking if something comes out of this darkness, J.R. is on his own.

                                                                 *

         Now that he had his own RV, Martha would have been proud of him the way he backed down the driveway, using her light system. It really worked. He was trying to remember everything she said. All in sequence. Dark-dark, oh yea, lights, around back, pull cord and plug to box. The flash lights were still on the ground to show where he was going - pine trees were not into the side of the trailer. It was all plugged up and ready for the lights. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out this control about one half the size of a garages door opener, clicked the button, and out comes the steps and you hear the door unlock. Jack thought that was really cool (is it ok for an old man to use the word cool, no one answered the question when I asked before.) He stepped up on the step and reaches around the door and there it is. The dread and terror of darkness. The light switch. Jack went around turning on every switch in the R V, even the one in the closet. It wasn’t that he was afraid of the dark; he just didn’t like it - too much city life. Now came the part that amazed Jack.

 At the end of the cabinet closest to the front door was this little panel on top of the cabinet. Jack opened the little door and there was a cone shaped glass, with a black round circle inside, with a ball floating around inside. Then he realized he had forgotten something. He ran around to the front of the trailer, took the lock off the hitch, and pulled the handle to disconnect the trailer from the truck. You feel the trailer move as it is let go, it is a frightening feel for about one second. You don’t have to worry because you have your CHOCKS in place. Jack ran back inside to feel the magic. He put his hand on the button, took a deep breath and pushed. You could feel the RV move as if it was in an earth quake. Then it stopped, the floor was as solid as if it was a house. He was amazed at the technology so much. One time he let it back up, ran outside to look under the trailer to see where the four legs went to. Then he went back inside the RV to bring the four legs down, so it would level up again.

        (Ahem, Walter here again - It doesn’t take much to entertain some old men because technology has left them so far behind. I guess a lot would depend on what they did before getting old. Where am I going here, just buying time, it’s time for Jack to pull off the trick that would make Nate proud. But I have to tell you about one more thing. I think I have already critiqued you on slide outs - this baby has four. Now, when all four are out, this RV has about as many square feet as a small apartment. Some people live in a RV all year around.

        Well I guess I’ve stalled about as long as I can. Jack’s gone to walk J.R. thinking maybe J.R. will take a while and give him a few minutes to think. He goes to the nearest bush, waters the bush, heads back to the trailer. Jack tied J.R. to the hand rail by the RV door.)

        “Well, how do you think we should approach this situation?”

        J.R. was looking up at Jack: “How we approach this situation? No-no, one of us has to be alive to tell the park ranger what happened. I’ll just back up the sixteen feet on this leash and you go ahead and do what you have to do.”

        Jack finally got up enough nerve to open the door. Marty was sitting up straight with her arms around the pillow, holding it tightg as if it was trying to get away. She was in such a deep sleep if a bear jumped on top of the truck she wouldn’t move. Jack was thinking, she hadn’t slept for three days - she was exhausted...

        “Well it would be a lot easier if I could throw her over my shoulder and carry her inside. I don’t think I had better try that. We both might end up in the dirt.”     

 J.R. was thinking “Might - there is no doubt about it. You get out of breath if I run you about a hundred feet. You do understand that running is not one of my favorite things to do?”                                                                                                                   

        “Maybe if I shook her a little she could wake up enough to walk inside the trailer on her own.”

        “Jack, you know if she wakes up and you have your hands on her trying to help, she does have that knife somewhere - don’t forget that knife.”

(I know this is something I’m asking you to be open minded about. Sleep walking.

I know that’s a lot to ask of people who base there lives on fact and reality. Well, let’s not get into reality. Jack had seen his mother coax his sister along when she was fast asleep. Of course she was a lot younger. Now remember, there are certain people who can tell you what a dog is thinking. I think I have brought this up before, Jack doesn’t know it, but it’s good he doesn’t know J.R. can talk to him without Jack hearing him.)

“Jack, are you crazy, that’s the stupidest thing I ever heard?”

“I know I saw my mother help my sister sleep walk, and my sister didn’t wake up. Maybe Marty would be in such a deep sleep she wouldn’t know she was sleeping walking.” Jack thought “Who am I talking to?”

“Jack, don’t think you’re such a brain. That guy Walter following you around all ready came up with that idea. If you don’t mind, I’ll just back up over here.” Jack never saw the guy J.R. saw because he wasn’t there - but J.R. saw him.

Jack was thinking, if he could turn Marty in the seat so her legs would be hanging down toward the ground, he could move her. But he had to hold her up so she wouldn’t fall back into the seat. The hardest part was to get her to stand up and not fall over on him. He held on to her dress behind her neck to keep her from falling back into the seat. Then, he took his free hand and pulled on her arm. Then Jack let her dress go and grabbed the other arm. “This is the moment. If this doesn’t work, I guess I’ll have to try to wake her up enough to walk to the trailer but not enough to wake up.”                                                                                           

“Yo, Jack - you’re going to wake her up and she’ll be laying on the asphalt. Jack, you’re going to die. Some humans just live their life on the edge, until something jumps up and bites them. You are going to get her to walk where?” 

Jack started to pull real easy, real easy, as she started to come on her feet. As he got her up, he put his arm around her waist,” Please god, don’t let her wake up with my arm around her waist”.  He kept talking to her like she was a baby as he coaxed her along.

“My goodness, Jack she’s not a baby, stop all that goo, goo, goo. You might wake her up; here you are with your arm around her waist trying to get her inside this little boat on wheels. I think she called it that. Jack, I would be real quiet, it doesn’t look real good. I hope the ranger doesn’t come by.”

She was moving along pretty well and started mumbling something about they couldn’t catch her. Something about hiding so they couldn’t find her.

“Jack, I knew we should have left her at the shopping center. We need to get her to Nate’s, we can be gone before she realizes we left. Jack, she is trouble. I know you can’t hear me but you better figure it out yourself.”

Everything was going pretty well until they got to the steps. Jack knew he couldn’t lift her up when they were there, but hit the step with her shin pretty hard. Then she lifted her foot on the first step. Since he had the momentum going, he pushed forward a little. That made her take a step to keep from falling, a normal reaction. Jack felt easer now that she was over carpet. If she fell it wouldn’t be on the asphalt. Three more steps and they were nowhere near as tall as the front steps. He got up the first one and felt he could make it to the top. He started talking to her again as if she was a baby. That drove J.R. crazy and sort of stayed out of the way waiting for the plan to fall apart.

Before Jack got Marty out of the truck, he had turned off all the lights except the small lamp between the two leather recliners down stairs.  He turned all the lights off upstairs, (I think I explained to you about an upstairs in an RV. If not, now is not the time.) When he closed the door to the bedroom it was ‘woods dark’.

She was now standing next to the bed. Now what? He couldn’t let her sleep in her dress. It was the pretty one she liked so much. Oh what the hell, we’ve gone this far . . . as long as she has a slip on.  Ok it’s a go. He looked under the back of the dress and saw a slip. He held her arms up, but before he could get the dress up, her arms fell down. He tried about three times, but each time her arms fell down. He had to be faster than those arms, so he pulled the dress up around her neck. He held on to the dress with his chin and held her arms up; before the arms came down he jerked the dress off over her head. Now here was the end to the plan, how was he going to get her in bed? He turned her so her back was to the bed, so he could take her arms and let her down easy. As he got her turned, she just fell over on to the bed. “O shit . . . sorry Martha.”

She stirred a little then turned her over on her side. That gave Jack a chance to take off her shoes. As soon as they were off, he put her legs up on the bed, covered here up and headed for the door.

After he closed the door, it was as dark as being in the Georgia woods with no moon, (remember?)

How could all this happen to him in one day? He knew Martha was happy he did the right thing. “Ok Martha, I did the right thing, now I got to move on. She will do just fine with Nate. You know I can’t take her with me - wouldn’t want to take her with me. Even J.R. is afraid of her. And she cusses like a sailor. She is very disrespectful; I think she has very little education. I don’t think she has had very much in the way of material things. This thing about hiding . . . maybe that’s what’s happened. She’s been hiding somewhere and the world just passed her by. Martha, listen to me, she will be better off with Nate.”

Jack pushed back in the recliner where he spends most nights. He has problems sleeping. Sometime he just gets up and walks around because his mind is racing with some of the good thoughts of the past. Sometime he dreams about Martha, in that he’s a little boy crying for her. When he awakes he gets up and walks around, he is crying inside. He misses her so much.

J.R. came over and flopped down on the carpet beside Jack’s chair. Sometime about three or four o clock in the morning Jack would take J.R. for a walk. He has a big strong light that shines deep into the woods.

Jack was tired; it seems to take a lot of energy to be nice to this girl. Now, how was he going to explain to her how she got from the truck to the bed with her dress off? It’s just not something that most people would believe.     

He woke up about three o’clock and took J.R. for a quick walk, then got back in the recliner. He thought he might snooze a little. He looked at the clock and it was about three thirty. The next time he looked at the clock it was eight o’clock. Wow, where did it all go?

He thought about letting her sleep. But if he woke her up, it would give him time to walk J.R. and go to the bath house for a shower while she did what girls do. Whatever that is. He went over and tapped on the door as if a sick person was inside. He tapped a little harder - no response. J.R. had gotten as far from the door as he could. He didn’t know what might be coming out of that door when it opened. Whatever it was, he wanted to be as far away as possible. Jack knocked a little harder - nothing. Jack took his fist, but not meaning to be rude, and banged on the door harder.                                                                                                            

 “Marty, it’s time to get up”. Jack had no idea what monster might be awakened.                                                    “You have the wrong room, go away.”                                                                                 
      “It’s time to get up.”

“Why?”

“We got things to do.”

“No, YOU have things to do. I have to stay right here in this wonderful bed. I have never slept on anything like it before.”

What ran through Jack’s mind at that time made him feel like he was being cruel. Don’t get accustom to it. You’re going to Nate’s. Are your eyes open? Open your eyes.”

“Hot Damn.”

Jack thought; “Here comes that language, now what?”         

“Look at this room can you believe it? You could lay five people side by side in this bed. Look at all the stained wood. It has cabinets and a TV in the bedroom and a whatever.”    

“A CD player”

“A built in friggin’ round shower door, a sink, and a toilet in its own little room.”         

Jack was waiting for the big question, as soon as she realized where she was.

“Look a big mirrored closet door.”

Jack heard the door slide open.                                                                                       

“Jack, someone left a lot of clothes in here.”                  

“They’re yours.”

“Jack, I did not steal any of these clothes. The only thing I bought was the pretty dress I had on yesterday. Wait a minute, what’s my dress doing on the back of that chair? How the hell did I get here?”

Jack wanted to say “there were two big men in the back of the truck that jumped out and picked you up and brought you in to this bed” - do you believe that? or “You walked from the truck, went upstairs and closed the door. That’s probably when you took your dress off because you didn't want to ruin it. The girls at the salon said you picked those clothes out. They look very nice to me. In one of the draws is tooth paste and----whatever.”                                                                       “Something funny is going on here.”         

“Don’t be so paranoid, you still have your knife don’t you?”

Jack heard her laugh, now was the time to move on, quickly.

“You take a shower. I’ll take J.R. for a walk, and then go to the bathhouse to get a shower”

“What’s a bathhouse? Sounds Japanese.”

Jack laughed - lightly because he didn’t want to make her feel like he was making fun.

“If you stand under the water too long you won’t have enough hot water”              , he warned.

Jack got out of there before she could ask any more questions. He was thinking he might get back and she’d be in her pretty dress wanting to leave.

When he got back to the RV and let J.R. in, he heard the shower running. He put his clothes on the picnic table so he wouldn’t have to scramble around finding what he needed. He didn’t want to give her a chance to ask more questions. At the bathhouse he took his time, because he had heard teenage girls were slower than teenage boys. Only having boys was what he had to judge the time by. When he got back, he paused a moment to take a deep breath - not knowing what was in store. The shower turned off. Taking her time was a good sign. Jack thought he would give her a little bit more time before saying anything. If she knew he was there, she might start asking more questions. He was hoping she didn’t dress in anything weird to go to Nate’s.

        “What do you think about going to get breakfast at Cracker Barrel?”

        “What’s a Cracker Barrel?”

        “A Cracker Barrel - you know, on an interstate, every two hundred feet? Just kidding. But there are a lot of them - great food, novelty shop full of stuff you don’t need, but it’s different. Martha always liked to browse through; she always found something that was cute and knew somebody to buy it for as a gift. You’ve never been to a Cracker Barrel?”

        “You ever been to Pinckney Street in Gastonia?”

        “No can’t say that I have.”

        “I use to live on that street and the houses weren’t two feet apart.”

        She got him; he remembered hearing Martha saying there are lots of different worlds. The material one we live in and the spiritual one that each person has. She would say if you didn’t know something about someone’s world, you didn’t know them. Jack couldn’t understand how that was possible that she hadn’t at least seen a sign to Cracker Barrel.

This kid had a strange story to tell but he wasn’t interested. He just wanted to get her to Nate’s. He wasn’t going to press her for time; he wasn’t in any big hurry. He just didn’t want her to start asking any more questions, he wasn’t a very good liar.

He was sitting in a recliner that sat at the back of the RV facing the entertainment center. Next to the entertainment center was the door to the bedroom. The door opened and out came this pretty young woman, prettier than when he saw her walk up the hill. She had on a nice pair of jeans; a cute pair of sneekers that shouted out, I’m new; a T- shirt with sparkles on it that said the name of some rock group that Jack had never heard of. She had a sweater thrown around her shoulders with the arms lightly tied in the front. Her hair looked like there was one of the girls from the Salon hiding in the bedroom. It was as if she had just walked out of the Salon door. She looked like a  shy five year old little girl asked to model her first party dress.

“Is the sweater too much, I saw it in a magazine done like this?”              

“It looks great - all of you looks great.”

Jack was fighting to get out of the recliner, it was so comfortable. It tricks you; you can just fall back into it so easy, but when you’re trying to get out your butt is a foot lower in the chair than when you sat down. The chair wraps around you like a cocoon. (I’ve heard that some elderly people had to be buried with their chair because they couldn’t get them out of it.)

Marty went down the steps first and held the door for Jack and J.R. and he was impressed - it takes a lot to impress J.R.. Jack was thinking “No WAY this is the same girl that climbed out from under the tarp in the back of my truck yesterday. Yesterday? It don’t seem like it was just yesterday.”

When they got to Cracker Barrel, Jack lowered the windows for J.R.to get some fresh air. He held the door open for Marty and from the look on her face, it was like a kid being let into a toy store for the first time; she really hadn’t been to a Cracker Barrel before. She lightly ran her hand over things as if she was feeling them for the first time. To Jack it was just stuff, to Martha it was fun. Most of the time, Martha would find something. She would come to the table with something that was different, cute, funny or unique. Maybe that’s what Marty saw, but Jack was going to find a table.

“You look around - I’ll get us a table.”

After the hostess had seated him at a nice table by the window the waitress came by and asked what he wanted to drink.

“Bring me coffee and bring the young lady the largest diet coke you have. Put the ice in first, a little over half way, and then coke.”

The waitress looked at Jack as if it was some kind of joke. She smiled and said;

“We’ll bring it, be right back.”

Jack saw Marty standing in the door stretching her neck trying to find him. He raised his hand and waved so she could see him.

As she sat, Jack smiled and said;“I ordered you a large diet coke with coke first, a little over half full, ice last.”              

She looked at Jack and smiled. She remembered the coke but made such a fool of herself she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t say anything because she had rather forget about yesterday. Except the part about meeting the girls at the Salon, the makeover, the shopping and the lunch at a real restaurant. She wanted to remember how she felt for the rest of her life. She sat holding her hands together on the table not knowing what to say. She didn’t know if she should look at all the antiques on the walls or look at him waiting to see if he was going to speak.

Jack sat looking out the window, should he speak first to sort of break the ice or would it seem he was trying to be overly friendly? He had already told her how nice she looked, besides if he opened the conversation she may think it was her opportunity to start asking questions. Getting her to Nate’s was his top priority; he would drop her off, then be on his way.

She couldn’t stand the silence or air around them. She wanted to talk to him but didn’t want to give the impression she was some gabby teenager that could talk but never said anything. She wanted to let him know she had noticed what he had done for her.

But if she did, it might be taking down her guard, or maybe getting too friendly. She could tell he was quite harmless and trying to be nice to her, she didn’t know why? Oh what the hell.

“You’re from Charlotte?”

“For the last forty something years, how about you?”

“Gastonia.”

“Have you lived there all your life?”

“Well yes and well no.” She realized she had said too much all ready. “Where did you live before Charlotte, I guess you’re older than forty something?”

  Jack was glad to see she had a sense of humor and everything wasn’t about her and the end of the world. Martha would say a good sense of humor was one of the greatest gifts a person could be given.

‘Macon, Georgia”

“Where’s that.”

“About eighty five miles south of Atlanta.”

“Atlanta?”

“You do know where Atlanta is?”

“Yes I know where Atlanta is, you people in Charlotte think everybody in Gastonia is uneducated, country bumpkins.”

“No they don’t.” Jack could see a little rise coming with her trying to speak up for where she was from. About that time the waitress showed up with their breakfast.

“I ordered for you when you were looking around.”

 It came just in time; the way the conversation was going, Jack didn’t want to see the little bitch from yesterday reappear.

Jack was thinking, she’s a fiery little thing, don’t think anyone would pull too much on her unless they wanted to pay the price. You could tell she had been on her own for a long time.

Jack’s breakfast was a couple of eggs, hash browns, two pieces of bacon, small bowl of grits and some biscuits. He had ordered the biggest breakfast they had; she looked up at Jack with what is this? Jack gave her a big smile.

“I thought you would want to make up for the breakfast you left at the rest stop.”

She gave him a smile, “That was so embarrassing. And that dog stood there

looking as if he was laughing - that dog doesn’t like me.”

“You have to get to know J.R., he thinks he’s different from other dog’s.”                                                                                                                          “So that’s his name - J.R.?”           

“Well, Martha said dog’s should have a dignified name that makes them feel like somebody, being a Jack Russell J.R. was it. He thinks he’s human. I would give anything to know what he’s thinking.”

        She made it a point not to ask anything about Martha. She could tell that was a touchy subject. If he wanted to talk about her she would listen but she didn’t want to send him off into a hallucination like the one she did last time she mentioned her. Marty thought it seemed O.K. for Jack to talk about her as if she was still alive but he felt uneasy if someone else did it.

             Jack was watching her eat as he took his time hoping she wasn’t in a hurry. He had already said his good buys to Molly and Nate and didn’t know how his coming back might affect Molly. Maybe she wouldn’t even notice he was there. He had to get this girl to Nate’s. Nate would take care of her. Jack couldn’t take her with him for sure.

They were back to not knowing what to say, neither looking at the other. They sat eating their breakfast, both feeling uncomfortable. Jack waved to the waitress for more coffee hoping to give Marty enough time to finish. He wanted to talk, but was afraid Marty might start asking questions he didn’t want her to answer. He wanted to make sure she understood how she got into the trailer, but maybe not right at this moment. That might lead to why I am doing what I’m doing for her, the makeover, the nice room, the clothes, the night’s sleep, the shower. It’s really easy to explain but how would she take the fact that Martha wanted him to do it?         

Marty wanted to ask questions but didn’t think this was the right time. She might get answers she didn’t want. It had been so nice - she didn’t want to find herself back at another rest stop. Maybe it sounded like she was using him, she didn’t think so, and anyway, he invited her. She felt she might be taking advantage of the situation but she didn’t know what was going on; maybe it’s best to just let things alone now.

Jack heard the sucking sound of the straw at the bottom of the diet coke.

“Are you ready to go?”

As they walked from the restaurant into the room with all that stuff, Jack walked in the middle of it. It surprised Marty after knowing how he felt about this stuff.

 “We’ve got to get something for Molly.”

“I’m not good at picking out something for sick people.”

Jack was walking around looking. Marty was picking up things and looking at them putting it back, just waiting for Jack.

“That’s it.” It surprised her; she wasn’t interested in what he was doing. She was holding a pretty little doll all dressed in a dress from a foreign country, in a box with cellophane on the front of the box. Jack went to the cash register to pay for their breakfast and doll. Marty was standing behind him and asked.

“You’re going to drop me off at the trailer?”                                          

Jack turned his head so Marty assumed he heard her.

J.R. saw them walking toward the truck and Jack had a Styrofoam box in his hand. JR was doing flips, and running around and around as if his butt was on fire. Jack put the box on the ground then opened the door. J.R. came out so fast you would think he was after a varmint. The way J.R. was gobbling up the food you would think he hadn’t eaten for a week. Marty watched thinking he looked like any other dog she ever saw. Maybe he was something special to Jack, but she was thinking she would hate to be forced to pull every tooth out of his head if he tried to bite her.

Jack picked up the Styrofoam box and walked over to the trash can and disposed of it. Marty got into the truck still not saying anything - not having anything to say. She guessed she was along for the ride.                                                                 
               Jack was hoping that by the time they got to Nate’s Marty would open up a little and not seem weird.  If she had to be the wicked witch from the east to talk; he had rather she not talk. He didn’t have much to say either; all he could think was just get her to Nate’s.

They got onto the interstate heading in the direction of where the RV was parked. Marty recognized the sites along the way, and then Jack took an exit that looked like it was going down town. She thought maybe he just wanted to show her something like where he was raised or went to school.        

“See that big brick building over there?”

“Boy it’s really big.”

“That was a textile mill.”

“You mean a cotton mill.”

“Are you familiar with cotton mills?”

“Yea, my grandfather, grandmother and mother worked in one until it closed.” 

“That’s what happened to this one.” 

“That’s what happened to a lot of them.”

About three blocks from the mill Jack pulled through an older neighborhood. Most of the houses had been remodeled and fixed up. Then he pulled up in front of a house that looked like it had been fixed up but kept its outside original in design.

Jack pulled up in front of this house and stopped.

“Aren’t you going to take me back to the trailer?”

“Oh, was I supposed to take you back to the trailer?”

“You said you would.”

“When?”

“Back at the Cracker Barrel.”

“I don’t remember.”

“When you were in line paying.”

“I didn’t say I would take you back to the trailer.”

“You nodded your head.”

“I nodded my head - is that saying I would take you to the RV?”

Marty could tell Jack was getting a little irritated, so to keep peace she asked;

“Well, how long are you going to be in there?”

“Just long enough to see my sister and give her the doll we bought her, why don’t you come in?”

“I don’t do sick.”

“I’ll be back in twenty to thirty minutes.”

“I’ll be right here.”

J.R. started whining as soon as Jack opened the screen door to the house and went inside. He walked back and forth on the back seat and started whining again.

“Stop whining or I’ll throw you out the damn window. Ok it’s been twenty minutes; ten to go is the limit. Stop that friggin’ whining!”

J.R. kept walking back and forth on the seat, looking out the window, then start whining again.

“Ok it’s been thirty minutes, why did he lie to me? I think I’ll go knock on the door and remind him we’re out here waiting.”

Marty opened the door about six inches then questioned whether or not she should go to the house. About that time J.R. jumped out the door of the truck and started running toward the screen door to the porch. Jack opened the door to let him in about the time Marty was making it out of the truck. She was trying to catch J.R. - which was a joke. Jack was holding the door open when she got there. She walked through the door without thinking as she was telling Jack:

“Jack, I only had the door open just a little when he jumped out.”

“It’s Ok, come on in.”

“Jack I waited, your thirty minutes was up.”

“I know, but since you’re here, at least meet Nate.”

“Hello Nate pleased to meet you. Jack, are you ready----.”

Before Marty could finish asking Jack about leaving, the front door of the house to the porch was open. Marty was caught off guard when a voice from inside the house called----.

“Martha, Martha, I knew you were coming, Jack said you wasn’t here. I knew you wouldn’t go anywhere without J.R., he came to see me, Martha.”

Jack motioned with his head for Marty to go in; she stuck her head around the door frame and saw an older woman about Jacks age. She was sitting in a big overstuffed chair; you could tell she spent a lot of time in that chair. Marty couldn’t understand why she was mistaking her for Martha . . . . oh . . . .Alzheimer’s.

Marty was very familiar with Alzheimer’s - she had seen enough to know what she was looking at. It had affected her life to not knowing what today or tomorrow will bring. Her heart sank knowing there was nothing she could do or anyone else could do - just watch it get worse. She remembered toward the end of the first faze how her grandmother would come and go to the point her memory would take her to different places. Marty remembered how she liked her to wrap her hands around hers and sit with their faces about six inches apart and look into each other’s eyes. For some reason it gave her a little peace and she wouldn’t be scared. Okay, she would be Martha for Molly.

“Where have you been?”

“I had some business to take care of, I’m here now.”

“Come give me a hug, you haven’t been to see me.”

“I’m here to see you now.”

Marty sat on the foot stool holding Molly’s hands; she wanted to see if what worked for her own grandmother would work for Molly. But Molly would not look into Marty’s eyes; she moved her head around as if she had something to hide.

“Hi Molly, I came a long way to see you, this is Martha.”

“Martha you came.”

“Yes I did.”

Molly turned her head to face Marty. She smiled real big, and Molly smiled back. It seemed to make her settle down and be calmer - be more at peace. (Walter wished he could tell Marty that behind those eyes was a two year old crying in the dark because Nate had stuck a hair pin into an electric plug blowing out the fuzzes.

Walter wanted to tell her about the three year old showing her mom the star she had gotten for knowing the scripture she was to memorize and that Jack hadn’t wanted a star because he said it was for sissies.

 He wanted to tell what it was like having an older brother Jack and his best friend Nate. They were a year older than Molly, so on her first day of kindergarten, Nate felt it was his obligation to show her where her room was so she didn’t get lost.)

In elementary school she did very well because she had a yearning to learn.

She got her first kiss in the sixth grade from Tony Wilson, if you called bumping two sets of lips together a kiss.

 Walter wanted to tell Marty what it was like in high school, she was a year behind Jack, Nate and Oscar as they were making a name for themselves. If any of the underclass girls saw her with either one of them she was envied. It made her very popular even with the girls in her own class.

She worked hard to get a scholarship; she knew she couldn’t go to college any other way.

Walter wanted to tell Marty about one of the most important times in Molly’s life. She got a scholarship from the Georgia Teachers Association, that’s how she got to the University of Georgia.

 That’s where Molly had met Martha.

She’d worked hard to become a school teacher, that’s what she wanted to be.

She taught in the Macon school system for twenty five years.

Walter wanted to tell Marty that somewhere along the way Molly and Nate got married.

 He knew he couldn’t because that was one of the rules; you have to always obey the rules.                         Marty wanted to clap her hands together and Molly would wake up out of this trance, she wanted to do that for her grandmother too. 

Marty felt it shouldn’t end like this, no matter why or who is to blame it just shouldn’t end like this.

About that time there was a knock at the door, it was a distraction and they both turned their heads. It was the food service with lunch. The nurse came in from the porch where she had been sitting reading a book.  Marty moved from the foot stool while the nurse went into the kitchen to get a spoon. Molly’s face sent out a message that said this was not what she wanted. Marty went over and told the nurse that she could get Molly to eat. The nurse handed Marty the spoon and went back out on the porch to get back to her book. Marty sat holding the empty spoon up as if she was giving Molly another bite. Marty asked Nate “Can she walk?”

“Sure with a little help.”

Jack and Nate looked at each other not knowing what Marty was up to.

“Help her to the kitchen.”

Jack nodded his head to Nate, letting him know they had their orders. One on each side, they helped Molly up and into the kitchen. Marty was going through cabinets and refrigerator not very happy at what she was finding. “You haven’t been to the grocery store lately.”

“I don’t usually eat here.”

“So you go out to eat and let Molly eat that crap.”

“Well her meals are set up by a nutritionist, doctor’s orders, to make her get . . .”—Nate stopped because he realized he and Marty had the same thought - she will never get well, just worse.

There were a few things in the refrigerator the nurses had left for snacks when they were there working, but nothing Marty would’ve wanted to give to Molly.

“I guess we’ll have to settle for this can of soup. Open it and I’ll get a bowl.”

Jack could tell Nate liked the way Marty kind of took over, but he didn’t want her to push too hard. She was doing great with Molly. Jack knew that had impressed Nate and he knew she would tell him the truth about Molly. Not like these nurses and doctors when they knew she would not get better. She could tell him what to prepare himself for.

Marty knew there was more to Molly’s sickness than just Alzheimer’s, she wanted to ask, but didn’t want to seem to be nosey or playing doctor. What the hell, she was only trying to help.

“Nate, she’s having a hard time moving and breathing?”

“She had a small stroke about six months ago.”

“They let her stay in that chair all the time?”

“The nurses were having a hard time getting her up.”

“Fuck the nurses, let them bring in more help. One of my grandmother’s friends had a stroke and her children walk her twice a day. It wasn’t long before she could get up and around pretty good by herself.”

“Maybe I should talk to them.”

“Nate I’m sorry, it’s not my place to tell you what to do. Where I came from, there weren’t any nurses, just family.”

Jack was thinking Nate could see how much help she would be, he knew Nate would take her and then Jack could be on his way.

Marty had fed Molly the soup and she seemed to like it better than the delivered food. She got Nate and Jack to help her get Molly back to her chair.

It didn’t take Molly long to get a sleep. Jack and Nate went out on the porch to sit. Marty came out shortly after and Jack could tell she was thinking about something.

The nurse had gone and Marty was glad to see her go.

“What do say if I cook Molly a good meal for supper?’

Jack spoke first “I think that’s a good idea.” That will give Nate a chance to see Marty cook, then she could cook for Molly and he wouldn’t have to eat out.

“Yea, I think that’s a good idea, Molly will like that.”

          “I will need some things from the store; will you go get them Nate?”

        “Sure.”

      “I’ll make you a list.” She went back into the kitchen looking for something to write on.    

         “She’s a lot of help, looks like she can do a lots of things.” Jack added

    “I think she can.” Marty walked out and handed Nate the list.

        Marty went over and sat in the swing, Jack was sitting in one of the tall straight back rocking chairs that you could tell had been around for quite a while.

        “Molly and Martha were pretty close, huh?” asked Marty   

        “Closer than most sisters - no, closer than that. In all the years I’ve known them I never heard a cross word between them.”

   “Does she know Martha passed away?”

  “She took it pretty hard, I think she don’t wanted to face it. For her, Martha is always around. Like when her mind is like it is now and you came along - she wanted you to be Martha.”

        “I don’t mind being Martha for her.”

   They just sat with Marty making the swing move very slowly - Jack rocking back and forth in the rocking chair... They just sat moving back and forth, not having anything to say or acknowledging the other was there. They both felt neither had to say anything, and neither one was uncomfortable. It wasn’t long before Nate was back from the store

        “I’m back.”

        “I’m glad you told us, I thought that you were some of those big rats you have in the kitchen.” Jack replied, always picking on Nate.

        “Marty he’s funny, just like a clown, it’s a shame nobody thinks he’s funny but him.” About that time a new Buick pulled up to the curb in front of the house. Jack was looking to see who it was, and then he turned to Nate.

        “I’m going to kill you, I will get you. How did she know I was here Nate?”

        “I saw her at the store and just mentioned you were here, I didn’t invite her to come over.”

        “Nate you’re dead.”

        “Get out there before she can get on the porch or we will never get rid of her.”

        Just as she was getting out of the car, Jack went out waving as if he was glad to see her.

        “Who is that?”  Marty ask.

        “Betty Boobs.”

        “Who’s Betty Boobs?”

        “Wait until she comes around the car.”

   She looked very nice, dressed very well, hair very nice. Marty didn’t see anything unusual about her.

“She had those bastards reduced, I can’t believe it. She had a jacket on in the store.”

        Marty couldn’t see what he was talking about. Marty did notice how she walked up to Jack and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him like they were the hottest couple in town. Jack didn’t put his arms around her but he did back up to the car and slid up on the fender trying to get as far from her as he could. She walked up between his legs putting a hand on each knee. She was saying something to Jack but it couldn’t be heard from the porch. Nate was trying to hear, sticking his ears out like an elephant.

        “What are you doing?”   

  Nate said; “This should be good.”

“He said he was going to kill you.”

        “Naa, he always says that.”

Nate was grinning from ear to ear with almost a giggle.

“What’s so funny is, it’s something that started in high school. Betty showed up our sophomore year. As soon as she saw Jack he was to be hers. Even at that time Betty was well endowed - get the idea?”

“Yes I think I do.”

“Something about breasts and high school boys, they sure noticed Betty. But Jack was what she wanted. Jack was in sports - baseball, basketball, but his sport was football. She became a cheerleader so she could see him at every game. A lot of the guys went to the games just to watch Betty jump up and down. They would fight over the front row seats behind the bench at mid court. That put them about eight to ten feet from those------ Betty. Are you old enough to hear all this?”

Marty felt that Nate was enjoying telling this story “Sure, I’m old enough.”

“She was always after Jack; he would hide if he knew she was coming. I think Jack liked the chasing rather than being chased. Naturally, he caught hell from everybody - I think from me and Oscar the most. The three of us would be going down the hall and we’d say to Jack ‘here she comes’, he would turn around and go the other way. Or me and Oscar would try to hide him as she went by. Oscar is big enough to hide anybody, you know Oscar has always has been big. I guess Jack, me and Oscar have been friends since we were two. And that’s been a long time.”

    Marty guessed all this talk about high school was making Nate feel young. “It’s nice to have friends that long, not many people can say they have friends since they were two and still see them and talk to them about high school.”

        “I guess you’re right. Anyway, we talked Jack into taking her on a date and really be a horse’s ass - then she would think he was a bastard (sorry Martha) then she wouldn’t want to have anything to do with him. The date lasted about an hour and a half, then Jack showed up at the Star Light drive in - that’s where we all hug out. Well, the whole thing back fired. She was telling everybody that she and Jack was going together, I’ve never seen Jack so mad at me and Oscar. Anyway, this went on our sophomore year. The other cheer leaders and everybody else convinced her she didn’t have a chance”.

        And here she is. Jack thought he might get away, but she caught him as he slid off the fender. She gave him another kiss as he all most got away. She was saying something to Jack again, but Nate couldn’t hear.

        “You never know how things will turn out. Betty went to Clemson where she meets this guy who was going to be a doctor because his father was one.  Then he died. Her father left her investments in companies like Coca Cola, Georgia Power, Ford, etc. They were bought in the early fifties; today they’re worth a LOT of money. And her husband had his own airplane - he and a women died in a crash coming from Callaway Gardens golf course. It was said the women was a wife of one of the golfer buddies. Supposedly, Betty’s husband was just giving her a ride home. Who knows, any way he left Betty a pretty good sum of money.”

        Marty was enjoying listening to Nate’s gossip; she was thinking he probably didn’t have a lot of people to gossip with.

        Betty yelled out to Nate “Nate, it was good to see you, hope to see you again.”

        “Same here Betty.”

        “Jack, you need to come go with me I’ll fix you some supper.”

        “Betty I can’t today, I’m already promised.”

        “The next time you’re here, you better call me.”

        “I sure will.”

        She got in her car, waved and left. She never acknowledged Marty was there.

        Jack came back on to the porch acting like he was all mad. Even Marty knew he wasn’t really mad.

        “You owe me and I mean to collect.” Jack would bring that up when he talked to Nate about Marty.

Marty could tell they enjoyed each other’s company. About that time Molly called out and Marty jumped up to go to her before she thought she was in a strange place and be afraid. Molly was telling Marty something about what happened at school, how she was listening and asking questions. Molly had been retired from teaching for ten years.

        “Jack if you and Nate will help Molly in to the kitchen I’ll fix her something good to eat. She can watch and talk to me while I cook.”            

        Marty had started things earlier, so it was almost ready. She brought Molly up to the table with two chairs so she could help Molly eat. She could probably feed herself but that wasn’t what it was all about. Molly really liked the meatloaf and mashed potatoes and homemade biscuits. Jack and Nate didn’t have any problems with the food either. Jack was thinking it was really good - that this should work in his favor when talking to Nate.

       

      “Well I guess I had better get back to the R.V.”

Upon hearing “R.V.”, J.R. popped his head up. He had been good all day. Lots of lying around, but he was ready to move on. Jack had taken him for a walk about four or five times, it seem like sometime he would do something that frustrated the heck out of Jack. Jack knew J.R. felt no remorse and he knew J.R made fun of him. To some elderly, the height of their day was going to the mail box. You don’t want J.R crapping beside anyone’s mail box. It really ruins their day. Just about the time they get back to their front steps, they start to smell something. You know you have a fifty-fifty chance it’s not on the bottom of your shoe. You lift your foot and it’s not there, you feel a little better because so far the fifty –fifty chance has worked in your favor. But the smell hasn’t gone, the confidence you felt after the first shoe was checked, has dwindled. You slowly lift the other shoe and there it is. Their day is completely gone. You know something told them not to get up this morning besides all you got in the mail was sale papers, junk as it’s called. Not even Oprah is entertaining today, who cares about a baby being born with hair on his forehead.

             I bet you didn’t know J.R. had so much power; J.R. could make an elderly person have a heart attack, all their blood would rush to the top of their head. .

             “Come on J.R. not there.” J.R. digs in, his back legs look like he’s on water skis and the leash is the rope running back to the boat. Jack pulled J.R. and JR digs in. It took only a moment for that mail box to be anointed. JR prances along with this look on his face that says “I feel better, now let’s go back to Nate’s.”

                   After getting to Nate’s, Jack didn’t want to walk back down the street to pick up JR’s ‘gift’. Maybe no one saw him. People should look when going out to their mail box. Now who is the bad guy here, J.R. didn’t care, Jack knew he shouldn‘t leave the crap by the mail box. . .

                                                                            

        “Martha is staying!” Molly announced.

        “Yes I am. I’ll be right here,” said Marty

                 Jack and Nate helped Molly back in her chair. It didn’t take long for her to dose off again.

         “I’ll be going and I’ll see you tomorrow, anything you want me to bring back for you?” Jack was looking at Marty.                                                                            

 “My tooth brush would be nice. I can wear these jeans and sneakers tomorrow, but I need some socks, a blouse - the one that is blue; a bra, and a pair of panties”. Jack cleared his throat

         “Are there anything the matter Jack?”

       “Panties, I think you should pick for yourself.”

       “I’ll tell you where you can find them, but you know which drawer they’re in.”

         “I don’t think I should be going through your drawers. That’s kind of private.”

             Nate was standing behind Jack about to bust a gasket. It was taking all he could do to hold it in.

            Jack was thinking maybe he should just bring all of her clothes, but it would be better for her to go and pick them up herself.

      Marty was thinking she never had anything to choose from before. In elementary and part of junior high school her clothes came from Good Will. There wasn’t much to choose from. When she was young, nice clothes from the Good Will store made her happy. It occurred to her that a panty drawer was something she had not ever heard of in her whole life and it rolled out of her mouth like saying bathroom. It is normal to say bathroom because there is one most places. She assumed most other girls didn’t have panty drawer. It was totally not normal for her to say panty drawer under the TV, because she’d never had a panty drawer before. She didn’t have much time yesterday to look at all the clothes but she knew they were not hers. She had convinced herself she was wearing someone else’s clothes, they were just on loan. She had never been given the opportunity to pick and choose from such beautiful clothes. Things were moving so fast she didn’t have any idea where it all was going, but she knew she felt safe here with Jack and Nate and it would be hard for anyone to find her here. It was kind of frightening her, knowing that it was going to end and she had no idea what was after ‘end’.

                “Underwear is in the third drawer down from under the TV.” It rolled off her tongue like she had had an underwear drawer forever.                                                                                               

                       After Jack left he wanted to make sure his phone was in the truck. Nate burst out laughing “You got him, Jack has turned into an old man.”

        “Don’t call him that, he doesn’t like it.”

        “You know already what he likes; let’s see if he brings some panties back. I can see him now trying to pick out a pair.”

                                                                     *     

          Now Marty was wishing she hadn’t put Jack on the spot, giving Nate an opportunity to laugh at him - thinking Jack would have to make a choice. When she was growing up, her panties came from W-Mart, she always got three pair as the sizes changed from big to tight before another trip was made. They had to take the bus because granddaddy’s old car didn’t run anymore. Momma didn’t like riding the bus because one time it stopped at a red light and beside the bus rolled up this very pretty car. Momma couldn’t tell if it was new or not, it was just pretty. In the car sat Sharon Buckner who Frances had gone to high school with. Sharon had gone to college, met a nice boy and married him, both had great jobs. They had a house in one of the best neighborhood and were expecting their first child. Frances hid her face so she wouldn’t be recognized.

        Marty was too young to understand what was going on because no one had ever told her she was poor. She was more excited about going to get new panties. The waistband around the top had flowers. If she got three pair, one would have blue flowers, one yellow flowers and one pink flowers.  She liked the pink the best. Frances, Marty’s mom, bought the different color so she could tell if Marty changed her underwear every day.

                                                                *     

           Marty heard Molly call out, so she got up to see about her.

“Martha, I changed the sheets on the bed and cleaned the room and bathroom for you.”

“That’s great, thank you very much.” Marty kept up the charade.

“Or you can stay in your room.”

        That sounded strange, she never would have thought Martha had a room here.

“It’s very nice of you to keep my room for me.”  Marty added.

“Well it’s been there for over forty something years, you know I would keep it for you.”

        The night nurse and sitter came in for the night.

“Martha, who is she, do we know her?”

“Yes Molly she’s the house keeper.”

“Do you remember at school when we were demonstrating against the Vietnam War and we all got arrested and then someone appeared at the back door of the bus and told you and me to get out? All the others who were in the bus they took to jail. I never could understand that. Whatever. It kept us out of jail.” Marty had no idea what she was talking about.

        The nurse came over to Marty and whispered to her it was Molly’s bed time.

“Can I help? I think it will be a lot easier.”

        The nurse was more than happy to have Marty help. After they got Molly into bed Marty walked out on the porch were Nate was rocking back and forth in a rocking chair. She sat in the swing and started moving back and forth. Nate turned to look at her to acknowledge that he knew she was there, and then they sat moving back and forth. It was a few minutes before either one spoke.

“I’m sure there’s something upstairs you can sleep in. Martha left some things Molly wouldn’t get rid of. I’m sure you can find something to wear.”

        They both kept swinging and rocking. Marty felt like she would be violating Martha’s space by going through her things looking for something to sleep in, but for real, that stuff represented Martha, it was not her stuff anymore. She remembered her mother telling her that when she had to get rid of her grandmother’s stuff after the state put her in the hospital.

“I think I will go see what I can find.”

“Marty, I don’t know what is up there but I’m sure if you go throw what Martha left you will find something.” he motioned upstairs. “Martha left some things that Molly wouldn’t get rid of, you’re welcome to anything you want. I had rather you take what you want than later I have to take them to Goodwill.”

       

            On her way up the stairs Marty felt like she was intruding on grounds of someone else’s life. She had only known Jack for a little over a day but it seemed as if she met him shortly after Martha died and had known him ever since. She guessed because she felt so comfortable with him she was seeing a different side of him that was totally different than what most people saw. She knew she was just trying to justify what she was about to do - look into some one’s life where she didn’t belong. 

        When she stepped off the top step with her bare feet, she could feel the plush carpet underneath them. She moved her feet around as they melted in to the carpet. She didn’t know what color the carpet was but it went great with the walls which were a pastel yellow. There was a short hall with a door at each end; she went to the right to see what was behind the first door. She didn’t want to admit it but her hidden desire was to try and find out more about Martha - she seemed to be this strange person who had the power to move mountains.

        Marty drug her feet as she walked down the plush carpet to the door. As she opened it, it was like walking into a magazine picture. She had never seen anything like it before. The carpet felt softer in the bedroom than the hall. The furniture was all stained oak, not that Marty knew any difference between plywood and oak. It looked so expensive and elegant. All the drapes and bed spread and small overstuffed chair in the corner had the same matching material. She couldn’t understand why the small chair was there with a table and lamp. She went over to sit in it, and when she did it, was like sitting down on a cloud. Looking around, there was a book lying on the table. She turned on the lamp just to see what effect it had on the corner and noticed the pretty curtains behind the drapes blowing lightly in the breeze. She picked up the book and it dawned on her . . . this is a reading corner - what a nice place to read a book. She turned off the light and looked at the bed. The spread was as smooth as water and was the same pale yellow as the walls in the hall. The spread fit the bed as if it was painted on it and the overstuffed pillows at the top of the bed had their own pillow cases and matched all the other material. She wanted to run over and jump across the bed, but had second thoughts. The room had a ceiling fan with a beautiful light fixture like the one that was in the magazine. As she walked by the dresser she ran her hand down the top just to feel the wood and when she got to the end, looked at her hand . . . no dust. The table on either side of the bed had a beautiful lamp. All the furniture matched, all the same stain, dresser, chest-of-drawers, the tables beside the bed, the table next to the reading chair, and the big magnificent bed. She peeked into every drawer as if there was a bird inside she didn’t want to get out.

         The other door was open enough for Marty to see it was a bathroom. She opened the door and there was another magazine picture - she had never seen anything so beautiful. It had a real marble floor, nice neutral wallpaper on the walls and the shower was big enough for five people to shower and never touch each other. The vanity cabinet was stained oak like the furniture in the bedroom and the top had two sinks - marble like the floor. The faucets, towel bars, trim around the shower door, and light fixture, were colored gold, even the handle on the toilet.

Marty thought it was too pretty to use.

        At the other end of the bathroom was a door Marty assumed was linen closet. She felt like she should check it out - she had checked out everything else. When she opened the door, there wasn’t much light and she thought she was in a big closet. Her eyes started to adjust to the dim light.  Her chest felt like it had just been kicked by a horse and she couldn’t breathe. What she saw in the dim light was such a shock. She could just see a light switch beside the other door and assumed the door was the entrance to the room from the hall. As the switch was turned on, the room lit up by a single bulb in a porcelain light holder in the ceiling. Marty had seen the porcelain light bulb holder before. She had grown up with them throughout her grandmother’s house. The single window was covered by a roll- up shade. Marty had seen lots of them. She needed some natural light so she went to roll up the shade. You pull down, then the shade would roll up. She remembered these shades in her grandmother’s house and they never worked.

        What surprised her most was the iron bed. Her grandmother had one just like it. Marty had slept on it many times. The head was pushed up against the wall next to the window. She couldn’t believe it.

(For those who have no idea what an iron bed is, I will explain. It’s called an iron bed or a tube bed, the pipes make a tube. The head and foot consist of a three inch pipe bent in a half a circle, two feet up the pipe was welded, a one inch pipe going from side to side at the bottom of the circle. One inch pickets were welded from the top down to the pipe on the bottom. Special clips were made to hold the side rail on. As you can tell it was indestructible. They first showed up around 1925 and they were quite popular. Then, furniture makers started making bedroom sets with all matching furniture. People traded in their iron beds for the newer matching furniture, so the furniture salesman had a warehouse full of the iron beds, and sold them at a very low price. That’s how so many poor people could afford them. There is significance to all of this, so hang in there.)

        Marty went over and bounced on the side of the bed and it almost threw her on the floor. It had coil springs under the mattress - just like it’s called. The springs were all tied together to form a mat and the mattress was put on the springs. You could see the springs, because they were not covered with material.

        On the other side of the window was a dresser which had four drawers. It was plywood, except the front. The front was sanded pine that was stained to match the plywood. It had little gold scribing on the front with whirls starting at the top of the dresser and went down to the bottom. What made it so unique was, it had legs. They were about a foot tall and had little wood wheels.

        Marty pulled open the drawers like she did in the other bedroom, not wanting to let the birds out. But there was something in this drawer.

        J.R. had his front feet on the armrest, stretching his neck out the half opened window. He couldn’t understand why Jack had stopped at the park office. In a few minutes, Jack came out with something folded up in his hand. When Jack got, in he threw the whatever on the seat and it started to unfold.  “Jack, a brown grocery bag? The only time they are any good is when they are full.” 

        Jack was tired and he had a small headache. When they got to the R.V. Jack asked; “J.R., are you hungry?”

“Does a cat have a climbing gear, does a bear fart in the woods, of course, need you ask?”  Jack got his bowl and filled it full of dry dog food.

“Come on Jack, is that the best you can do? I saw a McDonalds not too far.”

        Jack flopped down in his recliner; it felt so good to lie down. It was too early to go to sleep but if your mind doesn’t recognize time it doesn’t matter. He knew at some time he would be up walking around or taking J.R. for a walk. He forgot to take one of his pills for his headache. He had to get up and try to find them. He found them on the counter, took one, got some water to wash it down. He flopped back down in the recliner and watched J.R. flop down on the floor. J.R. liked the carpet. He really didn’t care for the dry dog food, he was holding out for breakfast. He knew Jack would stop to get something and something for him to, maybe McDonalds. He would go in to make sure Jack got the right thing if they would let him. He was hoping to get something before he got to Nate’s, or he would have to eat what that girl fixed, she was no cook compared to McDonalds.

       

        She opened the draw slowly as if she was a trespasser. She should be looking for something to sleep in, not going through someone’s things. Nate did tell her anything she wanted; she was just looking for that anything. There was this pesky feeling that her curiosity was bigger than finding something to sleep in. In the drawer were three very nice sweaters, very nice and Marty could tell, very expensive One was a white turtle neck. Marty picked it up and held it in front of her. She thought that it might be a perfect fit. She put it back in to the drawer thinking how she could ever consider such a thing, Martha was Jack’s wife, no matter how nice they were.

She hated to see them go to waste when someone could wear them; they were too nice to just give them to Goodwill. The closet door wasn’t closed all the way; she could see clothes hanging there. She wouldn’t wear anything of Martha’s clothes because of Jack. Even if it was ok with Jack, she didn’t think she should.

        In the closet were three dresses that looked like they would fit her, they were like dresses you would wear during the day around the house, like an old bathrobe with holes that died long time ago. You could wear them out to the store and still look good. Nice slacks hanging on hangers, even blue jeans, not folded and laid flat in a drawer. Hanging kind of by its self was a black dress with a cape. Marty pulled it out and held it up so she could look at it, then she realized what it was so she hung it back where it came from. It gave her the he-be-gibbies.

         On the floor were three nice pairs of shoes, very nice shoes. Marty was barefooted so she slid her foot into a shoe, it felt so nice. It felt as good on her foot as they looked. It was a perfect fit. She put on the other shoe so she could walk around; she never knew a pair of shoes could feel so good. She put them back asking herself what was she doing? She wasn’t up here to try on Martha’s clothes. As she put the shoes back, she noticed a pair of western cowgirl boots. That seemed so out of place for Martha.

        She started to back out of the closet when she saw the shelf with books. There were nine. She ran her finger down the books reading the titles: Child Psychiatry, Moral Development, Research Manual in Child Development, Social and Cognitive Development in the Context of an Individual, The Developing World of the Child, Complete Guide to your Child’s Health, How to Nurture your Child’s Intelligence, Magic Trees of the Mind. Marty was thinking maybe Martha was a doctor.

        She saw something else on the shelf, while stretching to see what it was, her feet hit a box on the floor. She pulled it out and it was full of paperback books. They were of different cities, big and little, the range from Atlanta to Key West. Savannah had three, she must like Savannah. She pushed the box full of books back into the closet, then, stretched to reach the box on the shelf. It was bigger than a shoe box but had a red ribbon around it tied in a bow. She set it on the bed and untied the bow. As she took the top off she thought this is where she shouldn’t go. There was a stack of letters with a big rubber band holding them together; she had to turn them around to see who they were sent to. It was strange that the name on the envelope said Martha, just Martha, 2500 Harrington Estates, Charlotte, NC 28301. The return address was SSgt Jack Carter, Company C, Fifth Armored Division, Signal Battalion, Saigon, Vietnam, 286-643-4359. She left the rubber band on the letters and puy them aside. She pulled out Jack and Martha’s wedding invitation. It was quite simple, Marty liked it. Under it was Nate’s and Molly’s invitation, it was a little formal. Under that was another invitation that said all over it that money was no problem. Under that was some photographs. She recognized Molly but the other face was nothing like she expected. She was a lot smaller than Marty had imagined but if Martha’s clothes fit her, they were the same size. But looking at Martha it was a long time ago. They were sitting up on the back seat of an old mustang like they were in a parade. But Marty thought, back then it wasn’t old. You could see they were being silly. The next one was the same except Jack was behind the steering wheel. The next one was Nate pretending he was going to pull Molly off the back of the car. There were more pictures but her conscience made her put them back into the box along with everything else. She put the top back on and tied the ribbon back around it and put it back up on the shelf. She shut the door and thought she might look in some of the other drawers to find something to sleep in. Marty pulled open the next drawer of the dresser. It had some underwear there so Marty thought she wouldn’t go in there. Just as she started to close the drawer she saw something blue with ruffles. Picking it up and holding it so she could see it, she had another surprise like the cowgirl boots, only this was a much bigger surprise. It was something that looked like it came from Victoria Secrets. To Marty, it made Martha more of a real person, not just someone in her imagination. Putting it back, she found a grey t-shirt with two inch blue letters that said “New York Yankees”. It would be perfect to sleep so she threw it on the bed. She would go down stairs to tell Nate she had found something.

        Just as she got down stares the front doorbell rang, it was the night nurse. Molly was asleep. She sleeps a lot from the medicines she takes. Nate was on the front porch rocking back and forth.

        “Nate, I found something to sleep in.”

        “I hope you didn’t go to a lot of trouble going through all that stuff.”

        “Does Jack ever go up there?”

        “No, I don’t think he has since Martha died.”

        “Do you sleep up there?”

        “No I have a small bedroom off Molly’s bedroom. I need to be close if she has a problem. You won’t be scared to stay up there by yourself?”

        “Oh no, not a bit.”

        “Molly is probably down for the night if you want to go in the den to watch TV.”

        Marty sat there swinging back and forth thinking how nice it was here. The screened in front porch, the swing, nice house, she could sit there and swing all night.

        “That’s ok, I don’t watch TV”

        “Never?”

        “Never had one growing up with my grandmother. Her old TV died when I was very young, she didn’t have the money to get it fixed or money to buy another one.”

        Nate sat there rocking back and forth not saying anything. Marty sat there swinging back and forth not saying anything. She shouldn’t have said that about her grandmother, he may start asking questions. She swung back and forth for about five minutes which seemed like an hour.

        “I think I’ll go upstairs, if that’s ok?”

        “Sure, you don’t have to ask, just make yourself at home.”

        “Thank you.” She picked up her shoes and headed up stairs.

 While she was putting on the t-shirt she held her balance by holding on to the iron bed, she couldn’t believe what she was looking at. She went over and laid down on it thinking about her mother and how she had disappointed her. She wasn’t going to give up; she remembered what she had promised her. If it took her all of her life she would find them.

        She wanted to sleep in the magazine picture, she felt she had a choice, it should be something new. Marty knew what an iron bed was like, why not live a little fancy while she had a chance? She had to walk through the bathroom to get to the fancy. The bathroom was too pretty to use. Maybe she should go ask if it was ok? Maybe you’re supposed to use the one down stairs?  It would be such a contradiction to be sitting on the toilet and looking at such a beautiful room.

        She went in to the bedroom and pretended it was hers. Marty fell across the bed like a movie star waiting for the handsome male star to come and get into bed with her. Then she thought how silly, she didn’t get into bed with any man even it was a movie star. She didn’t know if she should take the bed spread off the bed so it wouldn’t get wrinkled. Maybe she would fold it back easily and that would be ok. As she slid under the covers she ran her hand over the sheets that was nice and smooth and smelt so good. She lay there looking at the ceiling with the pretty light that came from the lamp on the table next to the bed. She was thinking how she got from a rest stop to this wonderful bed in about twenty four hours.

She didn’t believe it was fate, because there was no fate in her life. Her Grandmother always said nothing came as fate, only rich people had fate. Maybe it was a holy spirit that was looking out for her. If her Grandmother heard such a thing she would make her go to church every night it was open, and that was a lot of nights. She would say only God was a spirit. It was kind of scary since Marty didn’t believe in fate or spirits, it was like she told Jack, she was just going along for the ride. It bothered her she didn’t have any idea when the ride would end but the further she went south the less chance they had of them catching her. She turned off the light and went to sleep.

           

                                                               *

“J.R., I don’t know what to get for this girl, what did she say to get?”

“Jack, don’t ask me. I’m not trying to dress a girl I don’t even know. Take her anything; she’s going to be surprised if you bring anything.”

“Now, she said she would keep the sneakers and the blue jeans, now what else?”

“Don’t ask me. I’m waiting to see you stick your hand into the panty drawer. Nate’s going to love this.”

“What kind of a blouse? It’s going to be fairly warm today. Maybe it should be one of these t-shirt things. J.R., does the color matter?”

“Jack, here you are asking questions to somebody you can’t even hear answer. So I’m not going to suggest anything. I’m waiting for the panty drawer.”

        Jack remembered she had her sweater so maybe this belt would look nice.

“Jack are you kidding me? You’re going to leave her with Nate? What do you care what she looks like?”

        J.R. noticed Jack sliding the bag of clothes along the floor toward the TV.

“She said the second drawer down.” Jack looked at J.R. lying on the floor looking at him as if he was a squirrel and if he took eyes his off of him he might get away.

“J.R., it’s a little early so maybe we’ll go by the McDonald’s and get a biscuit and coffee, maybe a hamburger.”

“You’re the man Jack! God bless America! You can stick your hand in that drawer and I didn’t see a thing, even if a snake is lying in there.”

        Jack opened the drawer just wide enough to stick his hand in, grab something and drop it into the bag. He wasn’t embarrassed; he felt that he hardly knew this girl and he was asked to bring her underwear. That’s ok, when she comes back to get her things she won’t be my problem. Sure, I feel sorry for her but I think I’ve gone out of my way to help her. She’ll be better off with Nate and he can help her get on her feet.

        “Come on Jack, throw the bag in the truck and let’s go. We can go to McDonald’s, then take the clothes to her, including the panties and say ours good buys. We can be on the road within the hour.”

        As soon as Jack opened the door to the RV J.R. was standing by the truck. There was a McDonald’s between the RV Park and Nate’s. Jack was sure J.R. knew it. Jack drove around back where there wasn’t much traffic; he didn’t go to the drive through window because he wanted to keep JR’s desire running back and forth in the backseat. Jack took his time, so when he got back the side glass was fogged up from J.R.’s nose being so close to the glass. Jack sat the bag on top of the hood, took out two hamburgers, laid them on the ground. J.R. had never had two burgers at once. As soon as Jack opened the door J.R. was out like a bull at the rodeo. All of sudden he stopped, never had this situation before. Jack was sitting in the truck having his coffee and biscuit waiting to see what J.R. would do. It didn’t take him long to figure out he could peel the paper on one then the other. Then he did his regular ritual, sliding the top bun off the meat, smelling the meat then slowly eating it. He left the bun and moved on to the next burger, doing the same thing he did with the first. Then he gobbled up all the buns. He looked at Jack as to say he had rather eat burgers than have his belly scratched. The door was open so he jumped up into the back seat and flopped down. From the look on his face it was good.  

       

                                  *                              *

When they arrived at the house, Nate was on the screened in front porch leaning back in his rocking chair reading the newspaper. Jack came in with some water and the brown paper bag for J.R. He sat the bag next to the front door that was open about a foot and J.R. lapped at the water as if he had just eaten two McDonald’s hamburgers. Jack picked up a section of the paper that Nate had finished and laid it the other chair next to him. They hadn’t said a word to each other, and then Nate started cursing about the politics in Macon. Jack could care less because he didn’t live here. Then all of a sudden he heard someone running down the stairs. He got up to open the door to see what was going on, and there it was, the grey t-shirt. He couldn’t believe she kept it all these years, it looked brand new. It was perfect for Marty to sleep in. She went into Molly’s bedroom when she heard her call out. She was quite after a few minutes.

“She’ll sleep a little more, didn’t you hear her calling out?’’

Nate had a big smile on his face while watching Jack stumble around like a school boy standing up in the middle of the class and not knowing what to answer. Nate liked the way she kept Jack on his toes. Finally, Jack blurted out: “Here’s your bag you wanted me to get.” 

        She bent over to look in the bag and the back of her t-shirt moved up her back. Jack turned his head to look away, Nate’s eyes got as big as quarters. Jack could see him looking; he was hoping she wouldn’t pull out the panties.

“Great, it’s everything I need.” She rolled up the top of the bag and went inside.

“You are a filthy old man, what’s wrong with you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You could have given her a little respect.”  

“I did, I didn’t tell her what I was thinking.”

“You’re disgusting .”

“What’s wrong with admiring something that’s gone forever? How does it go? “A rose is a rose, whatever, that is a rose.”?

“What do you know about a rose, you’re just a dirty old man?”

“There might not be any heat in the house but the furnace is still under there.”

Jack laughed “Where did you get something like that, not from AARP I bet?”

        About that time Marty stuck her head out the door. “You boys want some breakfast?”

“No, I had something earlier.”

“Jack?”

“J.R. and I stopped at McDonald’s.”

“Ok, I think Molly will sleep a little more, I’ll go take a shower and then I’ll fix Molly some breakfast.” She looked at Nate “Is it ok for me to take a shower up stairs?”

“Sure, you don’t have to ask.”

“I don’t want to make a mess up there.”

“Don’t worry; we have a cleaning lady twice a week.”

        A cleaning lady twice a week, boy if I lived here you wouldn’t need a cleaning lady. Just to shower in that round glass shower is going to be wonderful. You could put five people in there to shower and no one would touch each other. (Haven’t we heard about five people before?)

“Come help me get the lawnmower off the truck.” Jack asked Nate.

        Jack backed up to the garage door. They both pulled themselves up into the back of the truck. (There’s a hitch in the back of the truck that the trailer hitches to. It’s called a hitch because that’s what it looks like. The pin slides into the hitch , flip the handle to lock it in .----Now here is the hitch, joke, it’s a joke, hitch, get it---The hitch is about a foot and a half tall and runs from side to side of the truck with not much room to get by. Anything put behind the cab has to be picked up over the hitch.)

        Marty had finished with Molly’s food and helped her to her chair. She turned on the TV, but didn’t know if Molly really watched it because she just sat looking at it. Marty was at the kitchen sink washing the dishes and looking out the kitchen window. There was Jack and Nate trying to get the lawnmower out of the truck, the lawnmower was sideways and behind the cab which meant it had to come over the hitch. One was trying to tell the other one how it should be done, the other one was trying to tell the other one how it should be done. (I could say the Loral and Hardy thing but it’s used too much.) Marty thought, what we have here is two old geezers trying to get a lawnmower out of the back of a truck with a one and half foot high RV hitch in the middle. That about sums it up. They were sitting on either side of the rear of the truck; Marty was afraid one might fall off and hurt himself. She thought about going out to help but that would be a mistake. Her being a female and them being men, might make them feel like wimps. They finally decided it had to go over the hitch. They balanced it on top of the hitch while one held on to it and the other moved around the hitch. He balanced it while the other worked his way around the hitch. Now that they were on the same side they picked it up and set it down on the tail gate. Then they realized they couldn’t get down with the mower in the way. After turning it sideways and pushing it to one side gave them space to get down. Nate didn’t have much trouble getting down but it wasn’t as easy for Jack with his bad leg. Nate pushed the mower into the garage and it seemed Jack was waiting for him.

“Nate I need to talk to you about something that is very important.”

“Ok, I’m listening.”

        Marty was looking out the window and wondering what they were talking about. Jack’s face got all serious. Nate was looking down at the ground slowly shaking is head up and down every so often to let Jack know he was listening. They looked so serious. Marty would like to be a little bird sitting on the garage listening to every word.

“I need to leave Marty with you. I can’t take her with me. She’s a sweet girl and very good with Molly, and she can cook really well. She can help you take care of the house and you will have someone to talk to. You can help her finish school, help her get a job, you know a lots of people in this town. Teenagers like to have a little job making some money. Nate I sure would appreciate it.”

        Marty didn’t know exactly what happened but the mood changed. It seemed Nate wasn’t very happy with what Jack had to say. It must have been really big for Nate to get so excited.

“Jack, did your head fall off your shoulders and hit the sidewalk? You must be really desperate to ask me that, I don’t know what you are thinking. With Molly the way she is I’m sure I don’t have the time to help some teenage girl grow up. You picked up this problem and you want me to bail you out? I know you were trying to do the right thing like Martha would. Now you got to see it through no matter what you think is your way out. If you think you have done enough, just drop her off somewhere, you can take her to Savannah. They have lots of restaurants and bars.”

“I would never drop her of to push drinks in a bar.”

“What do you care? You just want to get rid of her. Isn’t that why you wanted to drop her off with me? You picked her up and helped her because you felt Martha would have expected you to.”

“What about my problem?” Jack always referred to it as his problem.

“I don’t know Jack, you created this problem with this girl. I know Martha wouldn’t want you to say you’ve done your part, so now it’s time for you to get rid of her.”

“Martha’s not here to tell me what I should do with this girl.”

“You got to do what you think is best for you and someone you took responsibility for. That’s what Martha would want you to do. Jack I’m sorry I can’t solve this problem for you, there’s no way I could take her.”

        As they started up the drive way to the front of the house you could tell from the expression on their faces whatever they were talking about didn’t get settled.  As they came around the corner to the front of the house to the screen porch J.R. had been laying there listening to what was being said. “Jack, I told you to get rid of her at the mall. Does that mean I have to put up with her until you can find a place to drop her off? Jack you have to think of me in this situation. Can I stay here with Nate?”

        As they came into the house Marty knew not to say anything. Jack went over to Molly and was talking to her close to her ear. Molly probably couldn’t hear him. Marty thought it was time for her to leave the room.

“I’ll go upstairs to get my stuff.”

Nate spoke up, “Get anything up there you want.”

 Then Jack looked up from talking to Molly. “Yea, anything you want.”

“Jack, anything?” She thought this would liven up the party.

“Yea, anything.”

“All of it?”

A smile came on Nate’s face. He thought how much she was like Martha in knowing when things needed to be stirred up a little. Jack looked up with his forhead all wrinkled.

“What do you mean all of it?”

“Jack you said anything I wanted. Of course not the furniture, there are just a few cloths and shoes and Martha’s books. What you decide we don’t want we will take to Goodwill, no reason to leave it so Nate will have to get rid of everything later.”

“I’ll help.” Nate still had this small mischievous smile on his face. On his way up stairs he walked by Molly and heard Jack whisper in Molly’s ear “This girl is going to drive me crazy, I can tell already.”

Marty didn’t want Nate to see the box with the ribbon around it. She wanted to give it to Jack at the right time so maybe he would share it with her. There were a lot of good times in that box; she didn’t want Jack to miss out on remembering them.

“No, we got it; you stay and keep Molly company.”

Maybe it would give her a chance to hide the box.

As she went out through the porch with the first load, J.R. was laying on his favorite blanket. He looked up and saw her arms were full. “Wait a minute, where are you going to put that? Not in the back seat. Where do you think I’m going to sit? I’m not riding in the truck bed.”

She hid the box under her first load of clothes.

Jack said; “I can help, Molly will see us coming up and down the stairs.”

“The books and that’s about it. It will take a couple of trips.”

Marty was taking the last load when she stepped off the last step and Molly could see her.

“You must be the girl from up the street helping Nate? Make him pay you good. You have to watch him, don’t let him cheat you.” She laughed.

Marty knew what just happened, she looked at Nate. Nate saw the disappointment in her face. Not that she wanted Molly not to have these moments, it’s just she wanted to be Martha a little longer because this meant Martha was gone forever.

Marty took the last load to the truck and then came back to sit on the porch swing. She remembered her own grandmother would think grandpa was in the house. First, her grandmother would go looking for her grandfather, then she would come back and never realize she had gone looking for him in the first place. That was before Marty’s grandmother went away and never came back.

Nate came out on the porch and sat in one of the rocking chair and pushed back with his legs. That seemed to be the only way to sit in one of the rocking chairs.            

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For pretending to be Martha. That may be Molly’s last time.”

Nate said; “That’s what makes it so sad -you know where it’s going from here.”

“You can’t do anything about that. When it happens, there is nothing you can do. You took her somewhere she may never go again, she really loved Martha. You were Martha for her and that’s what made it special. Thank you.”

She felt better. She sat pushing herself back and forward with the toe of her shoe. It felt good just sitting in the swing going back and forth. She knew at some time she had to leave Jack, she hoped he would understand. What was scary was, she didn’t know when that sometime would be or where.

Jack came out onto the porch.” Well buddy it’s time for us to hit the road.” As he was giving Nate a hug he asked; “Well it’s been fun, hasn’t it?”

“We’ll see you again.”

Jack gave him one of those looks that said don’t screw with me. Marty thought it was because she was there.

Jack opened the truck door and J.R. stood there looking at all this strange stuff piled in the back seat. Marty had put all the clothes on one side so there would be room for J.R.

“Jack, what if something comes out of all that and gets me?” JR was thinking.

Jack gave him a push and up he went. Jack kind of waved as he got in the truck. Marty was standing at the back of the cab. She threw Nate a big kiss and he waved. As they were driving off, Jack seemed very mentally pre-occupied and was rubbing his head as if he had a headache.

                                   *                                 *

        Marty didn’t remember much of the park or the R.V. since she didn’t spend much time there before they went to breakfast. The park was very nice with all the trees and lake. She didn’t remember much about the R.V. except the wonderful bedroom up stairs, the big bed, the T.V., the big dresser with all the drawers, the round shower with the sink beside it. The big mirrored closet door with all those clothes she didn’t understand. She would be finding out.

        Jack was still rubbing his head as they drove up. He opened the door and let J.R. jump out, which he never does without his leash. Marty went around to the driver’s door and got the leash and caught J.R. before he could get very far. She noticed Jack had the trailer key on the ring with all his other keys. He was having a hard time finding the right key to let them in.  Marty brought J.R. in and shut the door and took off the leash when Jack asked; “Do you mind if I lay down on your bed for just a little while?”

“You don’t have to ask, it’s your bed.”

“I gave it to you, remember?”

        Marty could tell Jack wasn’t doing too well. He picked up a pill bottle that was sitting on the counter. Marty got him a glass of water and was standing there watching him struggle with the pill container.

“It’s hard, hold the water.”

        She had hoped she didn’t embarrass him. His head hurt so bad he wouldn’t care if J.R. had opened it for him. He went upstairs and flopped down on the bed. Marty closed the door. She was trying to be quite.

               She thought it would be a good time to bring the things in from the truck. She put the leash on J.R. and tied him to the picnic bench. She brought in the clothes and laid them on the sofa. She came back with some shoes and the box with the ribbon. She didn’t know where to hide it down stairs so Jack couldn’t find it. There was a bookcase to put the books in, that’s where she would hide it. Behind the books. After getting everything out of the truck she brought in J.R.. Just sitting there looking around and thinking how nice this R.V. was, she could live in it all the time. She pulled out one of Martha’s books just to see what they were all about, threw her legs over the arm of one of the recliners and started flipping through the book. All of a sudden J.R. goes to the door and starts whining, she