A Time of Anarchy- Mayan's Story

by Roberta Kagan

  “What do you think?” May asked as they passed the sign. “I love folk music.”

  “That’s all you had to say, sweetheart. If this is where you want to go, I think it’s fine. You know how much I like to see you smile,” Cricket said, touching her cheek.

  She knew he preferred hard rock music.

  They entered a large, dark room. The cement floors were covered with sawdust. On the stage a man in his early twenties sat playing a guitar. His long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and his voice was filled with emotion as he softly sang, “If I were a carpenter and you were a lady/Would you marry me anyway/ Would you have my baby?”

  May and Cricket sat at a booth that was made up of a wooden bench and a wooden table. On the table previous customers had carved their names and various philosophical statements.

  “I’ll be right back,” May said, and she got up to go to the bathroom.

  Cricket took a pocket knife from his pocket and began to carve. He took great care to make a perfect heart. Inside he wrote “May and Cricket forever.” He was so engrossed in the carving that he did not notice the man who watched May as she entered the ladies’ room.

  As May came out, the man approached her. “Hi, remember me?” Glen Birdsong asked.

  Once again, she was stunned by the man’s resemblance to Cricket. “I thought you were my boyfriend when we met at the motel. You look so much like him; it’s crazy,” she laughed.

  “I’d like to be your boyfriend,” Glen said, half joking, half serious.

  “Well, I’d better get back to my table.” A chill ran down her spine, and May suddenly felt ill at ease. Like a bolt of lightning, the face of the man who raped her shot through her mind. She felt her body actually quiver as she hurried back to the table. When she sat down, her knees were still shaking. There was no logical reason for her to feel that way.

  “Did the waitress come over yet?” May asked, shaking off the strange sensations.

  “Yeah, I ordered you a Coke, okay?” As Cricket looked up, he saw Glen standing across the room, watching them.

  “Yep, a Coke is fine.”

  Cricket handed May the menu. She glanced over, it taking a moment to decide. When she put the menu down, the waitress walked over and took their order.

  The acoustic guitar music was sweet and the words were touching.

  From across the room, Glen watched the couple. He hid in a dark corner so that Cricket would not see him. The girl was not really his type; he usually liked blondes, even though his mother and his wife took a bath in a bottle of bleach. They thought it made them look less native. Stupid bitches. But this little brunette tantalized him. With her long, straight black hair and petite body, she was interesting. All women were interesting in a way. Oh well, he’d have to forgo this one tonight. She was with a man who could pass for his twin, and quite frankly, it just wasn’t worth the effort. There were a million women out on the road; if not her, then he’d find another.

  Glen scanned the bar. A woman sat alone. Her long, straight blonde hair appealed to him. He would go over and talk to her.

  Cricket never let on to May, but he kept Glen within his sights. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Glen watching May. Cricket didn’t trust him. Glen kept watch on Cricket and May for several minutes. Then, it seemed as if Glen gave up on them. Instead, he looked around, scanning the bar area. For a while Glen just stood watching the women sitting on the bar stools leaning against the back wall, with his arms crossed over his chest. Every nerve in Cricket’s body was on edge, and he was glad that May was watching the musician.

  Finally Glen began to stir. He was a predator, slow and easy, as he sauntered over to a girl at the bar. Cricket could see how smoothly Glen’s body moved as he began a conversation with her. Glen leaned his elbow on the bar and lit the woman’s cigarette. Flirtatiously, she flipped her long blonde hair back. The two laughed about something, and as they did Glen slipped his arm around the woman’s shoulder. Cricket watched the seduction. When the bartender came over, Glen took money out of his pocket and paid for a round of drinks.

  The woman crossed her long legs toward Glen, and at that moment Cricket decided that this was a sure thing for Glen. Before May and Cricket finished dinner, Glen left the bar with his arm around his new sexual conquest. Cricket was glad to see him go; at least he’d lost interest in May, and that was a good thing.

  Chapter 51

  When May and Cricket got back to the hotel room, he realized that he’d forgotten his cigarettes at the bar.

  “Hey sweetheart, I left my smokes at the bar. I’m going to go back and get them. I’ll be right back. Take a shower and get ready for bed. It’s been a long day for you.”

  “Okay. Hurry.”

  “Honey, please don’t let anyone in the room. And promise me you won’t go out. It’s dark outside, and it’s late. Please?”

  “Yes, Cricket, I promise.” She shook her head; she hated the control thing. She’d worked too hard to break away from her parents and Red. It would be a shame if Cricket started behaving the same way; it would ruin everything.

  Chapter 52

  It was almost an hour before Cricket returned. May began to worry. He’d been gone a long time. This was unlike him. She paced the small room, continually looking out the window, until she saw the headlights of his car coming up the road.

  He walked into the room and tossed a brand new package of cigarettes on the table.

  “I went back to the bar, but somebody snatched my cigs, so I had to drive until I found a store that was still open. Sorry I was gone so long.”

  She noticed that his hand was bleeding. “Cricket, you’re bleeding.”

  “Yeah, I know. I cut my hand.” He took a washcloth from the bathroom and wrapped it around his palm.

  “On what?” She asked.

  “Oh, the knob fell off the window crank in the car. When I tried to open the window, the metal cut my hand.”

  “Come here; let me clean it for you.”

  She gently washed the wound with soap and water. He watched her as she carefully wrapped a washcloth around his hand. “I love you, May. You take such good care of me. Nobody ever took care of me, not in my whole life, especially when I was a kid and I really needed someone. I mean, Red tried, in the only way he knew how. If some kid beat me up, he was right there to kick his ass. But as far as the loving part, Red wasn’t good at that; he was too rough. And he was always hiding his feelings. Not like you… You really take care of me.”

  She smiled. “Of course I do. We take care of each other, right?”

  “Yes, now and forever…for the rest of our lives. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

  Gently, he took her face in his hands. Their eyes locked as he slowly moved close to her. When their lips met, a shiver of passion ran through both of them like a lightning bolt. At first the kiss was tender, but then it grew hungry with passion. He swept her into his arms and carried her to the bed, forgetting the towel on his hand, which had fallen to the ground. The bleeding had slowed, but drops of blood still dripped onto the sheets. Cricket lay beside May, slowly kissing her and savoring the sweetness of her lips.

  She sighed as he gently unbuttoned her blouse. Her body arched toward him with need. He licked her skin, basking in the taste and scent of her. Her hair fell upon his face like a waterfall of black silk. With loving hands, he moved the soft tresses out of the way as he revealed her small breasts. His mouth encircled the erect nipples, and he softly sucked until she moved beneath him, aching to feel him inside of her. With his hands he caressed her womanhood, making sure she was ready for him.

  Then his lips found their way to her woman lips, and he kissed them with all of the love he felt for this remarkable girl. Her body yearned for him as he slowly entered her. She wrapped her thighs around him and held him close to her until neither of them could remain still. Then they moved together as one until they reached the climax of their love.

  Spent, Cricket lay beside May,
smoothing her hair.

  “We are going to be so happy together,” she said. “We might have to work at it to get it right, but we’ll work together.” She was more confident than usual, enjoying the afterglow of their love.

  “Yes, unless something gets in the way.”

  “Cricket, don’t think like that. I don’t want anything to get in the way,” she said, pushing thoughts of his controlling behavior out of her mind.

  “I can’t help it. I’m a worrier. I just want everything to be right in our lives.”

  “Well, don’t be a worrier.”

  “I guess it stems from my time in ‘Nam.”

  “That’s in the past…right?”

  “Yes,” he said, but he still remembered.

  Chapter 53

  The phone rang and Detective Shanahan lifted the receiver. “Homicide and Sex Crimes Division; Mike Shanahan here,” he said, just as a disheveled young woman entered the San Francisco police station. Her clothing was torn and bloody. A deep, angry scratch had scabbed over, marring the left side of her face. The heel on her high heel was broken off, and so she walked with a limp.

  It had been a long night and Mike Shanahan and his partner Fred were exhausted. They had less than a half hour to go before the end of their shift. The last thing Mike wanted to see was this. If he was the one to take the case, he’d be there until morning working on the documentation. Shit! He wanted to go home to bed!

  The woman walked up to the front desk where Bonnie, the new dispatcher, sat in front of a switchboard.

  “I need to see a police officer right away.” The woman’s voice cracked with tears. “I just escaped from the Route 66 Killer.”

  Shanahan jumped to his feet. “Mike Shanahan here,” he said to the woman. “Come in.” He led the woman into his office. This could be the break in the case he’d been waiting for. All of a sudden, he was wide awake.

  “Please sit down.” Shanahan felt sorry for the girl. She was younger than he realized when she’d been standing at the desk. Her blonde hair was matted, and her face was streaked with dirt and tears. From across the room, Mike saw his partner. Their eyes met, and Mike motioned to Fred to come into the office.

  After Fred came in, Mike offered the girl a glass of water. She accepted, and Fred left for the kitchen to bring it back to her.

  When Fred returned, a knowing look passed between him and Mike. They were on the brink of a career-changing moment.

  Gently Mike asked the girl, “What’s your name?”

  “Brenda Jenkins.”

  “Hi, Brenda. I’m Mike Shanahan, and this is my partner Fred Wilson. Can you tell us what happened?”

  She nodded, taking a sip of water. “Well I was out on 66, hitchhiking. This guy picked me up. He was really nice at first, but then…” She broke into tears.

  The officers waited until Brenda composed herself. “Go on, what happened next?”

  “Well, he said he had a little rum and Coke and would I like to get drunk? So, I said yeah; that sounded good.”

  The policemen looked at each other briefly.

  “Then we pulled off the road. It was a pretty deserted area. At first we just drank and talked; then we started to fool around. I wasn’t fighting him or nothing. But he started to get violent and mean. Started to call me ‘mom.’ I was so scared. He was slapping me in the face and tearing at my clothes. After he pushed me down into the seat hard and pulled out a knife and some duct tape from the back of the truck, I knew I was in trouble. He grabbed me and I tore his shirt. I was kicking and scratching. In fact, I think I bit his hand.

  Then he got real mad and hit me in the face. I passed out for a few minutes. When I woke up, I was alone. I looked around, but I didn’t see him. I don’t know where he went or why. But at that point I knew that if I didn’t jump out of that truck and run, I wasn’t gonna get another chance. So I did, and I ran as fast as I could toward the street. When I looked around, he was behind me, but lucky for me a car was going by and picked me up before he could get to me.”

  “Did you get his name?”

  “No, but I can describe him for you.”

  “That would be helpful. Let me get an artist who can help you draw a composite picture for the news. That will help the public to help us find him.”

  Chapter 54

  “There’s gold in them there hills…” Cricket repeated the old quote, making May giggle as they crossed the border into the state of California. For centuries, people had come to this golden land of opportunity in search of a new and better life. Now Cricket and May would join them in their quest. The sun blessed the mountains with a golden hue, which was magnificent against the backdrop of a vivid crystal-blue sky. For May, it was even more beautiful than she’d ever imagined it would be. Her heart swelled, and she took Cricket’s hand and squeezed it.

  “I can’t believe we’re really here. I’ve dreamed about California for years. And it’s even prettier than I thought it would be. Look at the mountains, Cricket.”

  “I’m glad you’re happy, Baby. I want you to be happy.”

  “I am. I really am.” And she was.

  The car windows were open wide, and a cool breeze off the Pacific Ocean drifted through the automobile. It was almost like being in a dream, until the song on the radio was interrupted by the broadcaster.

  “We interrupt this program to bring you an update on the Route 66 Killer,” the male radio announcer said in a stern and serious tone. “As most of you know, the Route 66 Killer has been stalking and murdering women on the world-famous highway for the last two years. And now it is believed that there has finally been a break in the case. Last night, for the first time since the killings began, a potential victim escaped - a twenty-year-old female. The police have been working with the young woman in order to produce a composite sketch of the suspect.

  From what we know thus far, the killer is a white male in his early twenties with dark hair and eyes. It is believed that he is of American Indian descent, and very attractive. He is about six feet tall and well proportioned. The victim’s identity has not been revealed in order to protect her privacy. However, following the questioning of some of the business owners located on 66, the police have discovered that the murderer might be traveling with a young, dark-haired female. Everyone is hopeful that this will help us to find and stop this horrific criminal in his tracks. We all want to see the end of this reign of terror. As always, your friends at 101.4 will keep you informed of the latest developments in the case.”

  For a single moment the radio was silent, as if in honor of the victims who died at the hand of the Route 66 Killer.

  Then the music began again. May felt a chill as she glanced over at the window crank. The knob was not missing as Cricket had said that it was. When he came in bleeding, he’d told her that was how he cut himself. Now she looked at his hand and remembered that he was gone for over an hour the previous night. She felt her heart pound hard against her chest, and with it came a wave of dizziness and nausea. How could she doubt him? She loved him. He loved her. And he was all that she had. Before Cricket, her life had been empty. He was the first person who really loved her.

  If she gave this strange feeling even a momentary thought, was she not betraying him? Well, no matter. Whatever he might have done, if he had even done anything at all, she would stand by him. She would forgive him, no matter what. Her heartbeat slowed back to normal. Cricket could never have committed those crimes. She knew him too well, didn’t she? He was always so tender and loving toward her. But what if he had lapses from ‘Nam? What if he did things he didn’t even realize he did?

  May had read about that sort of thing. She gazed out the window, unseeing. Her body trembled involuntarily. No matter, she told herself, those other girls were not her responsibility. Nobody worried about her; nobody but Cricket. She must stay focused on her own needs and protect the only person who’d ever really loved her. But try as she might, she couldn’t get the description of the murderer out of her mind.r />
  “Did you hear that broadcast?” Cricket said interrupting her thoughts. “I told you to be careful while we were on the highway. You just never know who you are talking to. Now that you heard it on the radio, you can see that I’m not being overly cautious. Please, May, be careful.”

  She turned her head toward him. Cricket’s brow was furrowed with worry and he looked genuinely concerned about her. Wasn’t that all that mattered?

  Chapter 55

  The ocean sparkled like blue topaz in the bright morning light. Across the water, the rays of the sun looked like a sprinkling of diamonds as May and Cricket drove up the coast from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The golden mountains stood majestically against the azure sky. And a sense of well being came over May. Somehow, someway, from this day on, everything in her life would be all right.

  They arrived to find the streets of downtown San Francisco bursting with people. Along the sidewalks, musicians wearing tie-dyed shirts and old torn jeans played guitars or harmonicas. Strangers harmonized with each other. In the corner, a man leaned against the wall of a building smoking dope. Head shops everywhere sold anti-war posters and marijuana pipes. There were coffee houses and organic restaurants. Women wearing long, full skirts with bare feet walked along the sidewalk. Some carried babies. It was as if San Francisco were a place separate from the rest of the world. This was the center of the hippie or flower-child movement, although most hippies hated both terms, refusing to be defined.

  “Would you look at this place…” Cricket said. He slowed the car to gape at the spectacular scenery.

  “I’m so excited to be here.”

  “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

  “Me either.”

  He turned and smiled at her. Then he took her hand and put it to his lips, kissing it gently. “You know that I want to marry you as soon as we can.”