The English Woman

by Inch, Jennifer

  “Yes I slept very well. Where can I hire a car from for the day and will it cost very much, only I can’t really afford a lot?”

  “I have a friend who works at a car hire place at the airport. She’ll give you a good rate. I’ll take you there if you like; I’m off duty in a few minutes and I pass near the airport on my way home.”

  “That’s very kind of you. That will be brilliant” Fran responded.

  As they drove towards the airport the receptionist told Fran her name was Lucy, and that she had come from the east coast and didn’t like Albuquerque because there was no water and lots of desert. She had only been in New Mexico for five months and had come there with her fiancé who had moved with his job.

  Lucy introduced Fran to her friend, Karen, at the car rental and she gave her a good daily rate on a Toyota Corolla car. Fran drove out of Albuquerque to Taos via a windy road through the mountains, and as she drove through the Indian Reservation she was amazed to see many of the Indians living in adobe style homes built of mud bricks with small mud ovens outside. Many of the women were selling Indian fried bread on the roadside which they had baked in these ovens. The Indians had acres of land on their Reservation but they could not farm the land because it was not fertile and so they grazed horses and skinny cattle. Their homes and ranches were miles from anywhere. Fran stopped for a drink in Los Alamos which was quite large for a mountain town, and then she carried on her journey to Taos, following the River Grande. High up in the mountains Fran parked to admire the view and got out the car to take a photograph. Suddenly she thought she heard a rattlesnake so dived back into the car, not knowing whether the photo would come out because she had moved so fast! Taos had many adobe style buildings and Fran saw horses tied up to a post outside a shop. Then a man fully dressed as a cowboy passed on horseback with his dog walking alongside. As she was leaving Taos Fran asked a local woman the way to the Indian Pueblo Village. When she arrived at the Village she had to pay $2 for the car and $2 for use of the camera. It was amazing; the Indians still lived as they had for hundreds of years with no electricity in the village and no running water. Some women were dancing while men played the drums and chanted. Fran ate some Indian bread with chilli on and then went into one of the Indian adobe houses, where she bought a bolo tie made by one of the Indians, which she thought Joe would like. From there she drove to Santa Fe which was similar to Taos but newer and larger.

  Fran arrived back in Albuquerque in the evening and looked around the old town but only one shop was open so she went into a restaurant for a meal. In the morning she went back to the old town and looked around the souvenir shops, but the really nice things like Indian rugs were hundreds and thousands of dollars. She took the car back to the airport and had to wait about one hour to check it in, and then Karen arrived and drove her in the car to the bus depot. Karen had been born and lived in Albuquerque all her life and loved it and told Fran she had only seen the ocean once and that was when she went to Florida. Fran supposed she had never seen a lot of water apart from a few manmade lakes and so did not miss it.

  Fran got on the bus headed for Flagstaff. On the way the bus stopped at Fort Courage which was the ‘Home of F Troop’ from the sixties TV series. An official came on board at one point to check if anyone had any fresh food, because they had strict laws about introducing disease into California’s fruit and vegetables.

  Fran sat next to a Hopi Indian who lived on a Reservation in New Mexico. She told him about her friend in Tampa who was an Indian, but she soon realised they were from different tribes. Also on the bus to Flagstaff were two young men from Kent in England, who were about eighteen and were not familiar with the States as it was their first time in the USA. They told Fran that they were really enjoying their trip and said they would like to come again. They had been lucky enough to meet someone on the bus who had lived in Santa Fe and had stayed with them for a few days and these people had taken them around everywhere. Fran arrived in Flagstaff and found that the English guys were checking into the same hotel called the Flamingo.

  "A single room for one night please, and can you tell me where I can find a pay phone?" Fran asked the receptionist.

  "That will be $12.60 for the one night. There is a pay 'phone in the corridor to the right" she replied pointing across the reception area.

  Fran paid for the room and headed to the 'phone. "Hi Joe, it's Fran. I'm in Flagstaff on my way to Chico, after I visit the Grand Canyon tomorrow."

  "Fran, it’s fantastic to hear from you. Since we last spoke on the 'phone I have been worried that you may have changed your mind. Are you okay?" Joe asked excitedly.

  "Yes, I'm fine. Can you meet me at the Chico bus depot the day after tomorrow? It should be about 9 or 10 in the evening. Maybe you could check at the depot what time they will be expecting the Greyhound bus." Fran explained.

  "Yes, I'll do that. Looking forward to seeing you after all this time" Joe said with a smile on his face that Fran couldn't see.

  "It will be fun" Fran said with an impish grin.

  **********

  Fran got the 9 am bus to the Grand Canyon the following morning, together with the two boys from Kent. It was a beautiful May day, the sky was blue and the sun shone, and the Grand Canyon was an amazing sight. As soon as Fran got to the Grand Canyon she spotted a shuttle bus. "Hi is this the free bus that goes to Yaki Look Out Point" she asked the driver.

  "It sure is ma’am" he said with a smile.

  As Fran took her seat one of the two guys in the seat behind leaned over and asked her "are you from England?"

  "Yes, and from your accent I guess you are as well" Fran said laughing.

  "Yes, we're from Liverpool" he said indicating his friend. "We're on an exchange in a college in the States. Part of our course is on the history of the USA, so we've been travelling about the country since August studying."

  "Soon we will be teaching soccer in Pennsylvania as part of the course" the second guy said with a smug look.

  "That's great guys. Hope everything works out well" Fran said. "What is it with me, I'm beginning to feel like a magnet attracting all the English guys that are around" Fran thought, and before they could ask her any questions Fran plugged in her ear piece and listened to her radio.

  Fran got off the bus at Yaki Point and walked to the edge of the Canyon. She was over 7000 feet from the bottom and as she looked down her head began to swim. She took a step back before going forward again and having another look down. It was beautiful, she felt as if she was in another world. "It would be wonderful to be a bird and fly through the Canyon" she thought. Then she could feel the urge to jump coming from within her, "I must get away from the edge" she thought as she stepped back again.

  She knew the urge stemmed from her childhood and the boy David who lived down the street. As well as being crazy with a knife he did other crazy things. Behind where they lived were fields, and beyond the fields was the main railway line from London to the West Country which was used regularly by high speed trains. Fran and David would make sure there were no trains coming, and then dash across the railway line to disused warehouses where they would run across all the roofs, jumping from one roof to another. On one occasion David jumped onto a glass roof and went crashing through. By some miracle his fall was broken by an inner office, but he was wedged in the wooden structure for a while before Fran managed to get him free. After Fran got David out, although he was covered in cuts and bruises, he said that he felt wonderful and all Fran could think was that he really was crazy.

  They also liked to walk along the roofs of the houses that were being built nearby. One day David told Fran to jump off the roof onto a mound of sand below. Fran refused thinking it would be crazy, but before she could move away he pushed her off the roof. Although she hit the ground in seconds she still remembered the feeling that pulsated through her veins. It was a mixture of fear with an adrenaline rush. Luckily she escaped with just a twisted ankle, and she realised jumping off Yaki Point would be a
different outcome.

  Fran then walked the path along the edge of the South Rim back to the Bright Angel Hotel. She went into the restaurant and the waitress took her order of a salad and tea.

  "Would you like an English muffin with your tea?" asked the waitress "we have some freshly made blueberry muffins."

  "I'm from England but I don't know what English muffins are!" Fran exclaimed with a grin.

  The waitress was taken aback. "Oh, you don't?"

  "No, but I'll have one."

  Fran enjoyed her first English muffin which was still warm, and which she found filling. She left the restaurant and went into the reception area where she purchased some postcards. Fran then went into the bar which was very busy, but she found an empty table by the window, where she started to write her postcards while looking out into the Canyon and watching the children feed the squirrels. Whilst she was drinking a man in his sixties and a young guy in his late twenties approached.

  "Are these seats available?" asked the older man.

  Fran looked up from her daydreaming. "Oh yes" she said indicating that they could join her.

  She found it difficult to talk to the older man but the young man was very excitable and easy to talk to. They both worked and lived in the Grand Canyon and the younger man worked in the kitchens and was learning a lot from the Chef there. He had been there a year and wanted to stay for another year.

  "Did you make the English Muffins?" Fran asked. The younger man had to admit that the Chef had made them, and he laughed when Fran told her that although she was from England she had never heard of English Muffins.

  Fran arrived back in Flagstaff after spending the entire journey talking to a cowboy who had just finished working in the Grand Canyon after two years. He was a Wrangler and his job had been to take people on the burros (mules) down into the bottom of the Grand Canyon, stay overnight, sleeping under the stars, and then bring them back up the next day. Previously he had been a Rodeo rider and now he wanted to do something different. All he had was the clothes on his back, a back pack and a saddle.

  Fran looked around the shops and was amazed to see guns on sale in the supermarket in Flagstaff. She then went for a Mexican meal which was very good. When she got back to the bus depot to wait for the 11.50 pm bus, a man dressed in a green Army style jacket about the same age as her sat down on the bench next to her. He didn’t stop talking all the time she waited for the bus. He talked about music and world situations and told Fran his parents were Iranian and that he liked to travel and meet people from all over the world. Although he had only been in Flagstaff a week, he had got a job taking people from the bus depot to the hostel there. He also said that he had a sister in Michigan with her own print shop and that he would ask her if she could help get Fran into the States. He said that he would write to her in two months time but to Fran’s relief her bus arrived before he could get her details. She felt as if her head was going to explode as she sat down in the seat, and was pleased to listen to some soft music on her radio before she drifted off to sleep.

  CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'

  Fran slept on the bus to Barstow, California and in Barstow the bus stopped for forty minutes when she had breakfast. Not long after the bus started on its journey it broke down in the desert because it was losing oil pressure, and to Fran’s bewilderment some of the female passengers got off the bus and did not get back on again. The bus driver spent some time working on the engine, and then to the annoyance of all the passengers he drove the bus back to Barstow and they all had to get onto another bus. The second bus started on the journey again, going through the Mojave Desert passing Edwards Air Force Base and the place where the Columbus shuttle had landed. Joshua trees grew in this desert and Fran remembered reading somewhere that the trees could drop their seeds which could stay there up to 26 years before the right climate came for them to germinate. The nearest Joshua trees were in Jerusalem and they had been called Joshua by the Mormons because it looked like they were stretching their arms out to heaven. Fran passed one of the two richest gold mines in the world and the world’s first borax mine. Then suddenly the scenery changed from a hazy desert to a fertile valley, which went on for hundreds of miles and was full of crops. She also passed through the valley where a lot of cowboy films had been made and where Rocky from the Rockford Files TV programme lived on a ranch. Then the bus stopped at Fresno where it was really hot and Fran walked around the shopping area and had a meal in one of the stores.

  **********

  Due to the change of bus in Barstow, Fran arrived in Chico bus depot later than expected and she was disappointed to see no sign of Joe.

  "Hi are you Fran?" asked a smart older woman with a stern face who Fran thought looked like a retired school teacher. "I'm Joe's Aunt."

  "Oh yes, hello; where's Joe?" questioned Fran.

  "He sends his apologies, but he was unexpectedly asked to fetch his two nieces. Their mother, Joe's sister Sara, has been very ill and has taken a turn for the worse, so because Melissa is only ten and Marcia only eight, they are going to stay at the ranch for a while. I have made a bed up for you; I hope you are okay with that. Sorry, my name is Jessica" she said as she turned and walked off.

  "Oh okay; thanks" said Fran as she hurried after her.

  Jessica drove Fran in her cream Ford Cadillac through the main street of Chico, pointing out the various shops, including her hairdressers and then pulled up at a single storey, wooden house in a typical suburban street.

  "Joe told me that Sara is very ill. What is wrong with her and who is looking after her" Fran asked as she opened the car door.

  "I'm afraid it's cancer my dear and she hasn't got long. Her husband, Glen, is looking after her with the help of a visiting nurse" Jessica said as she locked the car. "He can't cope with the children as well, and he doesn't like them seeing her like this. It means they will miss some school, but my sister whose their grandmother will do all she can" she added. Fran thought she saw tears in Jessica's eyes behind her glasses, and so realised she wasn't as hard as she first thought. The house was dated but comfortable and Fran settled in her room.

  The next morning Fran did some unpacking and washing, and then as it was a beautiful May day she walked into Chico, the shops being only about ten minutes walk away. She went to the post office and posted the postcards that she had written in the Grand Canyon and then looked around the shops. When she returned Jessica had some news.

  "I've heard from Joe. He spent the day with Sara and helped Melissa and Marcia pack and is now on his way back to the ranch. As it will be late when they get back he said he would catch up with you tomorrow" she told Fran.

  Fran had an evening meal with Jessica when she learnt about life in Chico and the ranch before retiring to bed.

  **********

  On Friday morning Jessica had to have her hair done so she dropped Fran off at the University Campus where Joe said he would meet up with her. While Fran waited she looked around an exhibition of Indian artefacts that had been found locally. Seeing all the Indian remains made her think of Chetan and one of his Indian sayings "life is not separate from death. It only looks that way" and she smiled. As Fran walked out of the building into the sunshine she heard her name being called. She looked around and spotted Joe as she squinted in the sunlight.

  "Joe, it really is you" Fran exclaimed. She didn't know how to react but Joe made her emotions come naturally.

  "Hi Fran, you look great" he said as he gave her a bear hug.

  "God Joe, you are just as big and strong as I remember" she gasped as the air was being squeezed out of her.

  "Sorry Fran. I forgot what a frail little thing you are. I'm so use to the big American women" he said laughing as he relaxed his arms. "I can't believe it's been so long, now I've seen you it feels like only yesterday. I haven't forgotten those large beautiful blue eyes and those cute freckles on your nose. How was Florida? You look so brown and your hair has gone a dark blonde, and you still have a great figure!" He added as
he stepped a few paces back and looked her up and down.

  "Stop it Joe, we have so much to catch up on. It's so great to see you at last."

  "Come on let's have lunch. My Chevy is only over there" he said as he walked towards a pick-up truck.

  As Fran walked next to him she suddenly felt awkward when she realised Joe must be feeling very low, and so she put her arm through his and said “Jessica told me about Sara. I am so sorry Joe. It must be very hard for you and your family. I seem to have come at the worse time. I wish I had come before.”

  “Thanks Fran. There’s nothing we can do; it’s just a matter of time. You being here will help me get through this. I’m sorry for you because you are meeting the family when they are going through a bad time.”

  They went for lunch in Lyons and both agreed on clam chowder. They talked for over an hour about what they had been doing since they dated all those years ago, even though they had communicated through letters, and Fran felt relaxed in Joe's company.

  "I'll have to get back to the ranch now because I have lots of jobs to do. Sorry I can't spend more time with you and can't put you up, but we have a full house. As my Aunt Jessica is old and set in her ways, I have arranged for you to stay at my Cousin Stephanie's house in Butte Creek Canyon. You will love it there and Stephanie and her husband, Richard, are good company. They will pick you up from Jessica's this evening and take you to a restaurant where I can meet you for a meal. I hope you are okay with the arrangements" Joe said rushing out the words with a look of embarrassment.

  Fran looked at him a little dumfounded. "Well you seem to have my life well organised" she said, then she smiled when she saw the worried look on his face. "Don't worry, it's fine. I'm grateful to have somewhere to stay" she said laughing.

  Joe looked relieved. "Okay see you this evening. That should cover the bill; I must go." He put a wad of dollar bills on the table as he got up from his chair, and then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "It really is good to see you. I'm looking forward to spending some time with you" he said as he walked out of the restaurant.