by Vicky Jones
“She bought it.” She turned around to face Shona standing behind her.
“Thank you, Dorothy,” Shona whispered through her cracked lips.
“We got a week or so to get your strength back up, then we’ll head to the next town’s bus station and get you as far away from here as possible,” the old lady continued. “See how you feel in a few days’ time, then when you’re well enough we’ll go at the crack of dawn, before even Buddy wakes up. Just you keep away from the windows and stay indoors, you hear?”
Shona tried to smile but flinched as the effort rippled through her bruised and broken body. “I can’t believe I have to hide out, just because of what people think I am. It’s not fair, Dorothy. I ain’t done nothing wrong.” She bit back the tears and stared at the old lady, whose eyes were also brimming.
“I know you ain’t, my darlin’. I know.”
A week later, the old blue truck rumbled along the road, sounding better than it ever had. Shona was crouched down in her seat, out of sight until they reached the open freeway.
“What are you gonna do now?” Dorothy asked after several minutes of silence between them.
“Keep running. Like I always do,” Shona replied, leaning against the windowsill. “I just won’t trust anyone again.”
The truck hit a pothole, rattling the two of them in their seats. Shona groaned at the burning sensation shooting through her healing ribs. She had escaped with her life that night, but it had been close. After spending two days and nights in the hospital, the swelling around her eyes had finally eased just enough for her to be allowed to go home to Dorothy’s, where she’d spent the last week regaining her strength.
“It's so unfair that you have to do the running. You ain’t done nothing wrong,” Dorothy said.
“I’m starting to get used to it now. Don’t worry.”
“I do worry, Shona. Some things you can’t run away from.” She looked over but saw only the side of Shona’s head as she fixed her gaze on the horizon ahead. “Please, will you just promise me one thing?”
“What?”
“Don’t tell anyone what you’ve told me, you hear? Never again.”
“I just wished I didn’t have to leave. I can’t believe Lucy did that to me. I thought she was my friend. But she’s been setting me up all this time for some weird kick. She never cared about me.” She swallowed hard, the tears of betrayal almost choking her. “I loved it at Wreckers too. What are you gonna say to Harry? I’ve let him down.” She sniffed and wiped her nose on the back of her hand.
“You leave that to me. I’ll call him when I get home. I’ll tell him you’re sorry,” Dorothy reassured her.
“I don’t know how to thank you for everything, Dorothy. I’m really gonna miss you.”
“I’m gon’ miss you too, young lady.”
Dorothy stared straight ahead, the two of them sitting in silence as they drove the last few miles.
“Lucy?”
Wearing a powder pink pencil skirt, silk blouse, matching fitted jacket and pink pillbox hat, Lillian Adamson looked down at the solitary figure sitting on the bench outside the diner. She barely recognized her pale-faced daughter.
Lucy didn’t need to look up. Her eyes filled with tears as her mother’s soft voice poured into her ear like nectar.
“Mom…” Lucy lifted her eyes. The late morning sun had created a halo of light around her mother’s head. “Oh, Mom, I’ve really messed up this time. I’m so sorry.”
“Shhhhh… it’s OK, sweetie. We got a long journey back to Monterey so there’s plenty of time to talk it all over. Everything’s going to be alright now, honey, I promise.” She crouched down in front of the bench and wrapped her arms around her daughter’s painfully thin shoulders. After a minute or so of stroking the back of Lucy’s hair, Mrs. Adamson stood up and picked up the heavier one of her daughter’s canvas bags. “Come on now, let’s get you home.”
Slinging her other smaller bag and her purse over her shoulder, Lucy slipped on her cat-eye sunglasses and followed her mother to the car. The moment she saw her sack-suited father standing by their maroon Chrysler Imperial, waiting by the rear door to open it for her, her eyes welled up once more.
His brown eyes, so similar to her own, were now glazed over. The warmth she was used to seeing in them now cold. The hardness in his handsome face was almost too much for Lucy to bear.
“I think you’ve got some explaining to do, young lady,” he said, pressing his lips together as he opened the car door.
“Honey, what is it? You ain’t been the same since Mrs. Clark called you this morning,” Marcie whispered into her husband’s ear, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I know what you’re thinking. It don’t add up, does it? The whole damn town’s calling Shona a ‘pervert’, but we knew her for over a year and… well, I just can’t bring myself to believe it.” She shook her head in disbelief.
“Me neither,” Harry agreed, taking a long sip from his black coffee. All week he had tried to process the sheer amount of abuse they’d received from the townsfolk who were raging at them for hiring Shona in the first place.
“I blame that Lucy. She was always hanging around here, bugging Shona every day. I wouldn’t be surprised if she set this whole damn thing up. Probably jealous of how much Jonny liked Shona and not her, so she got that thug Chuck to take her outta the picture. He always was a loose cannon. From what I heard, he was obsessed with Lucy and would have done anything for her. Police have got at least three other guys who’ll testify that he beat them up too—right after he’d seen them in the bar with that girl. He’s a damn animal.” Marcie screwed up her face as she finished her sentence.
“Then why the goddam hell are we believing his version of events, huh? Lucy’s gone; so has Shona. There’s no one left who can explain what actually happened that night.” The more Harry thought about it, the clearer his decision became. “You know what, Marcie, I’m gonna keep my own counsel on this one. Shona was one of the best workers I ever had come through those doors and until I hear a piece of hard evidence of her wrongdoing, she’ll always have a special place in my memory.”
Harry blinked several times as Marcie slipped her arm through his.
“Me too,” she whispered.
“So, where to next?” Dorothy asked, passing Shona a string bag containing a couple of soda bottles and two candy bars.
“Just the next state, I think. I’ll find my way from there. Do what I always do, I guess.”
“At least they’ve caged that animal Chuck. He always was bad news, but you didn’t deserve this.” Dorothy’s voice quivered.
“Don’t help me much now, though. Word would have already spread. People will believe what they wanna believe. Don’t matter it’s not the truth.” Shona paused and wiped her eyes with her palm. “I won’t ever be able to set foot in this town again. It’ll probably be worse next time.”
Hearing the “last call” announcement, Dorothy held onto Shona’s arm. They walked slowly over to the bus stand.
“Oh, I almost forgot to give you this.” Dorothy fumbled in her cardigan pocket and pulled out a now-creased postcard. “As you weren’t able to make it up those stairs to sleep in your bedroom these last few days, with your ribs the way they are, I thought I’d try to be helpful by packing up your stuff this morning.” Dorothy smiled as she held the card close to her chest, trying to break the news to Shona gently. “But I clean forgot to pack those beautiful postcards you had pinned up next to your bed. I know you were really fond of them, especially this one next to your pillow. I know it’s your favorite. I remembered the second we were leaving the house, so I grabbed my copy that I had pinned up by the front door. I’ve still got yours to look at when I get home so it’s just fine.” Dorothy held out the postcard to Shona.
Holding the postcard in her hands, Shona gazed down at the image of a beautiful white beach house with blue painted window frames and a long veranda that stretched the whole way around. At one corner of the house was a r
amp leading down to the white sandy beach below.
“The beach house, Dorothy—”
“The one we stayed at in Gulfport, yeah.” Dorothy sniffed, the tears beginning to roll down her cheeks now too.
“You’re right, this postcard was always my favorite. Thank you. I’ll treasure this. Always. And one day, I’ll have my own beach house just like this one and you’ll come stay, you hear.” She grabbed the old lady and hugged her tightly.
After breaking apart, Dorothy clasped her hands around Shona’s face. “You know, your mother would have been so proud of you, Shona,” she said. She straightened Shona’s jacket collar for her then smoothed down the front of her denim overshirt.
“I miss her so much. I just wish I could talk to her, tell her… You know.” Shona ran her fingers over her pink pebble necklace as a lone tear trickled down her face.
“Listen, I will always be here for you, OK? Just you make sure you stay safe, write when you can and don’t trust anybody.”
“I won’t. Not again.”
They hugged, tighter this time, with Shona kissing Dorothy on the cheek, before hauling her weary body up the three steps onto the bus. As it pulled away, Shona waved and took her last glimpse of the old lady, who brandished her stick in the air until the bus finally disappeared out of sight.
Shona leaned back in her seat, not entirely sure what her next move was going to be. How was she going to stay safe this time? She couldn’t understand how she had gotten into this situation, just when she had settled, and now she was on the run. Again.
Looking down at her ticket, she ran her finger over the destination printed in black, bold ink. The destination that was chosen simply because it was the first ticket out of town, the place that was to be her next chance of survival, to be invisible: ALABAMA.
Epilogue
The bus to Alabama had dropped Shona off just over the state border. With the little bit of money she had, she’d found a room for a few nights in a motel, before continuing her journey. The following few weeks were spent doing any odd jobs she could find, moving from farm to farm. They didn’t pay much but Shona was content to trade a living wage for a safe, warm place to sleep each night. One week became two and slowly, as time began to pass, the pain she felt from what had happened in Riverside began to ebb away.
Just over six months after leaving Mississippi, Shona found herself, once again, back on the road. She’d found a new place to work, cleaning out barns and tending the livestock in Alabama, staying there until just after Christmas 1957, but sure enough, as time went on, the townsfolk began to ask the questions she was used to people asking her. Sensing they were getting to close to uncovering her secret and keeping true to her word to Dorothy that she’d never trust anyone again, she packed up her satchel in early February 1958 and found herself on the road again.
In front of her, the long featureless highway stretched out for miles ahead and, with no other option than to keep going, she pulled her cap down low, wrapped her dusty jacket around her and set off on her long walk, through near-darkness, to find another town to call home.
Meet Me At 10
Chapter 1
Trudging along the seemingly endless straight road, Shona Jackson shivered as she felt the temperature in the air around her starting to fall. Jagged hills on both sides of the road loomed over her, their interweaving faces sliding down into plush greenery. The emerging crescent moon brought with it fears of being stranded in its wake, surrounded by darkness with her path ahead illuminated only by the occasional glare of speeding truck headlights. Hunger pangs groaning within her reminded Shona that she had little choice but to push onwards in search of civilization.
Running a dry tongue over her parched lips in a vain attempt to lubricate them, she wrapped her coat around her body to keep out the icy chill as the roar of a truck engine sounded in the short distance behind her. She stepped to the side of the road, safely out of the truck’s path. She held a hand to her eyes, preparing herself for the expected whoosh from its heavy tires and for the cloud of dust that would no doubt be kicked up by them to choke and blind her temporarily. But there was neither a whoosh nor a dust cloud.
The truck was slowing down.
Its headlights remained on as the truck creaked to a halt, the driver's hulking silhouette darkly framed by the windshield.
Edging forward, Shona pulled her crumpled cap down to just above her eyebrows and tucked her short blonde hair safely behind her small ears. Nervously, she hooked her thumbs underneath her coat collar, folding it up around the soft skin of her neck and pinching it against her chin.
"Need a lift?" shouted a gravelly voice from the driver's side.
"Um–" she replied in her deepest voice, looking from side to side as she assessed her predicament.
"Look, I ain't got all night, son."
"Sure, thanks."
Stifling a relieved grin at his assumption, Shona reached up for the door handle, climbed up the three steps into the cab and slammed the door. She sat on the passenger seat furthest away from the driver, his malodorous stink making this a necessity if nothing else.
"Where you headin', boy?"
The driver was easier to see now under the cab’s overhead strip light. Shona discreetly grimaced as she noticed his pudgy white belly overhanging a pair of ripped jeans, the waistband of which had long since given up the fight. His straggly brown beard appeared to have yesterday's food still clinging to it and dark, grubby sweat patches adorned the armpits of his grimy red t-shirt, completing his stomach-churningly feculent look.
"Just the next town, sir." She lowered her chin as she spoke, hugging her battered old brown satchel close to her chest.
"Well, that ain't no five-minute journey, boy. What the hell y'doin' out here at this time?"
Shona cast a surreptitious glance at the driver’s watch. It was 10:55 p.m.
"My ride bailed."
He peered over the bridge of his blotchy red nose at his passenger, an air of suspicion crossing his eyes. He grunted, then returned his attention to the pitch-dark road up ahead. Hoping he wouldn't pry too much, Shona tucked her satchel underneath her weary head and leaned against the door, then pulled her cap down over her eyes. The fingers on her right hand traced along the doorframe until she found the handle as the motion of the truck began to rock her into a deep, well-needed sleep.
After what only felt like five minutes to Shona, the truck hit a massive pothole in the road. The driver's subsequent swerve jolted her awake. She rubbed her tired, red eyes and squinted into the bright lights of the oncoming cars, shaking her head a few times to clear it after being snatched from her dream. It was then she looked up at the driver's staring eyes and recoiled in horror when she realized her cap had fallen backward, revealing her heart-shaped face and high cheekbones. Her satchel pillow now lay in the footwell, having dropped from underneath her head after the sharp swerve. Her coat had slipped open, revealing her delicate neck through the open top buttons of her checked shirt, and the thin straps of her bra peeking beyond. Shona, realizing her cover had been blown, buttoned up her shirt as quick as she could and pointlessly straightened her cap.
"You're a broad?"
The driver's face contorted with confusion, his nicotine-stained fingers gripping the truck steering wheel as he fought to control the swerve.
"Please, sir, I'm sorry. I didn't intend to trick you. I just wanted to get to the next town, and when you thought I was a guy, I guess I just went along with it." She shrugged.
"What game you playin'? You tryin’ to make me look like an idiot?" he growled.
"I didn't mean to. I understand if you don't wanna take me any further." Shona looked through the windshield into the darkness with no way of guessing where in the hell they were. She hunched her knees into her chest and curled up into a ball, shrinking into the darkest corner of the cab.
The driver sat with his eyes fixed on the road ahead, his gray teeth grinding as he shook his head with embarrassment at his ear
lier assumption. After a few minutes his indignation appeared to fade as he chewed on his bottom lip, seemingly deep in thought.
It wasn't noise this time but silence that woke Shona again that night. Still dark out, the truck was now parked in the middle of nowhere, with no sign of civilization or any kind of landmark. She turned her head left in the hope of gleaning an explanation from the driver, but as she did so her eyes widened with revulsion, the dim light of the cab revealing a sight that turned her stomach.
"What the hell y'doin'?" Shona stared in horror.
The driver had fixed his black beady eyes on her, his body reclined into a more comfortable position. His pants were wide open, exposing his fat, hairy thighs. The cab window had misted up from his hot breath as he steadily rocked his hand backward and forward inside his stained underwear.
"There's one way you could earn your ride," he drawled.
Shona kept her eyes on the driver as she tried to plan her next move.
"I'm sorry. I don't want that." Holding her left hand up, she reached down to the footwell with the other, feeling around for the strap of her satchel.
"Come over here, help me out, darlin'. You're a real pretty girl and I've had a long journey." His eyes rolled back in his head.
Scrabbling along the surface of the door, Shona's shaking fingers finally located the metal handle. At that same moment, the driver lunged towards her and dug his dirty nails into her neck, forcing her downwards onto him. Gagging from the stench of his body odor, she struggled with all her might to keep her face out of his lap as he squeezed her throat tightly. She spread her arms out wide, her right hand gripping the dashboard, her left clinging desperately onto the seat next to him as she fought to stop him entering her mouth.