“Well, Jeremy gave me three dances tonight and you only got one, second to last as a matter of fact. You won’t make a dime tonight. No one will know you were here. No one will care about your face, or your dancing, or your little tits. No one will care at all about you.”
I held it together and remained silent, staring at the floor. They didn’t have to care about me. I just needed enough time to execute my plan, find a safe place to hide, and stay hidden until Chrome arrived. He said three days. I was hoping he meant he would be back on the third day, not that he would be gone three days and back on the fourth. I was learning nothing was ever cut and dry in a conversation around here. What someone says could have multiple meanings and interpretation was left to the speaker, never the listener.
Jeremy rustled through the door wearing a black button down with flames erupting from the bottom. The shirt was easily three sizes too big and made his acid washed jeans look even more ridiculous. He had a pair of sport sunglasses hanging backwards from his neck and angrily tapped a pen against a clipboard.
“I don’t know what’s so damn exciting back here,” he spat. “But the DJ has been calling Jersey to come to the stage for five minutes. If you four don’t get your shit together, we’re going to have a riot and I will take $200 from each of you for every man that walks out of this club because there are no titties on that stage. Jersey, get out there. Now.” He grabbed her by the arm and forcefully pushed her towards the opening. I watched her heels stick on the edge of the restaurant style rug and for a brief second, I found myself feeling sorry for her. He looked each one of us sternly in the face in what I’m sure he thought was an unspoken threat. As soon as he was out of earshot and back in the noisy club, laughter erupted between the three of us.
“What a douche.” I giggled. “I thought he was so kind the first night I met him.”
“They all do,” Candy said. “If only they knew what an asshole he really was, they wouldn’t have to stay here so long.”
Her words slowly registered and I watched Fudge give her a punch on the shoulder.
“What do you mean they wouldn’t have to stay here so long? Does he do something to keep girls here?”
Candy stammered, “No. No, that’s not what I meant. It’s just, well, girls have options, you know? Girls typically stay here for about two months to pay off their car repairs. It’s good for the club, but they have options. They could hitch a ride with a trucker or buy a bus pass.”
Fudge smiled and nodded her head, but I could see there was more under the surface.
“What do you mean — girls stay here to pay off their repairs? How often does a girl get stuck here, Candy?”
“Well, I mean…” she started, but looked at Fudge for approval.
“Spit it out, Candy. You’re not in trouble.”
“They don’t come here that often. Maybe three girls a year. It’s always the same story. Young girl, crappy car, driving somewhere on a dream. Sometimes they break down on the highway and get towed here, sometimes, like you, they make it here and then their car just gives out.”
“Yeah,” Fudge chimed in. “It’s not like anyone would actually choose to stop here. When a new girl is here, we get a good little boost. But sometimes we wish they knew they didn’t have to stay here so long. Their cars aren’t worth much to begin with. It’s not worth the two months here. If I could buy a bus pass, I would.”
I wanted to let her know that she could, but then it occurred to me that maybe she couldn’t. Maybe she had a family, or a mortgage. Maybe this really was her only option. If she left, would she have any other skills to pay her bills? Would she just end up a stripper at another roadside attraction? Different city, different pole?
“How do I buy a bus ticket?” I asked. I needed to know in case Chrome didn’t show up tomorrow.
“Well, you just go to the WorldMart in the next town over and buy one at the BigBus kiosk. It prints right out. The bus stops by there every other day to go one way and every other other day to go the other way,” Candy explained while Fudge nodded. I couldn’t tell if Fudge’s eyes lit up because they were telling me it was okay to go and leave my car behind or because she was dreaming of a future and an adventure that she could never take.
“Well, good to know,” I said and stood up from my stool, sauntering over to the lockers. “Which one of these belongs to Jersey?” Fudge and Candy fell silent. They closed their mouths, refusing to utter a peep for what may be the first times in their lives. “Fine. I’ll just open each one until I find hers,” I replied to their blank faces and started opening doors. I found a black quilted purse with a broken barrel lock on the front. The cheap black vinyl had the Chanel logo but with G’s instead of C’s. The glittery pleather was scraped and peeling. I knew I hit the jackpot when they both turned their faces. “I take it this is hers. Which one of you ladies is going to rat me out?”
“We won’t,” Candy said sheepishly. “She took your money last night, Blossom. We didn’t say anything. We couldn’t say anything.”
“I know,” I said. “I’m not dancing tonight. I just came to get what’s mine.” I pulled out a neatly folded stack of money, running my thumb over the light green edges and estimated to have found close to $250. The tidy sum was definitely more than I could have made the night before, but I wasn’t here to count pennies and split differences. Next to my getaway fund was a thin tube of shiny pink lip-gloss. “Does Jersey have Herpes? Specifically, Herpes of the mouth?” I asked.
“Not that we’ve ever seen,” Fudge replied with a confused look on her face.
“Great. I really like this lip-gloss and I’m thinking it might be the perfect way to brighten up my big escape.”
The music cut and we heard some of the men hootin’ and hollerin’ out front. I had about twenty seconds left before Jersey made her way back through those beaded curtains and into this jail cell. I closed her purse as quickly as I could and hoped I placed the worn down bag back in her locker properly. The bent metal door shut with a hip bump. I finished tucking the lip-gloss and money inside my purse, which I had kept tightly slung across my body, when Jersey proudly strutted through the doorless frame.
“What are you three lookin’ at?” Jersey sneered.
I didn’t reply; I wasn’t going to waste my breath. Instead, I walked straight up to Jersey’s tall, lanky, and nearly nude body. I planted my feet firmly, thanking my mother for the self-defense lessons when I finally started to grow boobs, and punched her square in the face before turning and running through that beaded curtain for the last time, across that carpet that sucked to your feet, and out those tobacco covered doors.
Chapter Fourteen
Searing pain shot through my left leg, waking me from what felt like a deep sleep. My muscles twitched and contorted, igniting pain receptors in my brain and forcing me awake. I tried to stretch my leg to ease the cramp only to drive my legs harder in to a heavy wall without the slightest inch of give. My legs weren’t fully tucked to my chest but were still tight enough to meet my belly button. I grunted and tried to move my body in any way that would give me more room and some much needed relief.
The darkness of the small room settled in and claustrophobia stole my breath before I remembered where I was and why I was so cramped. I punched Jersey in the face, ran out of the club, around the diner so no one would see me running inside, and through the back door. Norma let me in, laughed at my frantically conveyed story, and agreed to hide me for the night. I could no longer sleep in the back booth, but luckily, she hadn’t ordered paper supplies for the bathrooms in a while and the supply closet cabinet had extra room. She tucked me in for the night with a smile and then securely locked the bottom cabinet doors for safe keeping since her shift was over. She would be going home with the only key. I would be safe, at least for the night.
I had no idea what time it
was, how long I slept, how much more time I had to spend under here, or how much longer until Norma returned at 8 a.m. I rustled around for my purse, relieved to find the small square still tight across my body, and flexed my toes while I counted to ten. I felt the cramp release itself and breathed a deep sigh of relief just in time to hear shouting in the distance.
I couldn’t make out a single word being said but heard three distinct voices. The shouting was getting louder, accompanied by furiously shuffling feet. I strained my ears and held my breath, forcing my hands over my mouth to muffle any escaping sounds, listening as closely as I could.
“I’m telling you, I don’t know where she went. She hadn’t left the club by the time I left last night. I was off shift at 10 p.m.,” I heard Norma say.
This was true, she was off shift at ten, and I know this because I burst through the doors at 10:06 and she started cussing at me before she would listen to my story. In a stupid twist of luck she stayed a few minutes late. Her replacement, some lady named Sandy, burnt her husband’s casserole and had to make him some Hamburger Helper before she came to the diner. She showed up at 10:11 after Norma heard my story, laughed herself silly, and tucked me tightly into the supply closet cabinet with a quick lock.
“Her car is still out front,” I heard another voice say. Jeremy.
Three sets of footsteps shuffled into the supply cabinet. I bit hard into my bottom lip, a metallic liquid slowly creeping to my taste buds and pulled my breath in as tightly as I could for a precaution. I was convinced Jeremy was the devil himself.
“Her car? Come on, Jeremy. Do you think she’d just hop in and drive it away? You and I both know better. That car isn’t going anywhere while she thinks it isn’t going to work. You know what? You should be ashamed of yourself. I’m getting so tired of you.”
“It’s a good thing no one cares about what you think, Norma. You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to chop that car down and sell it for parts.”
“You can’t legally do that, and you know it. For all we know, she’s holed up in town, waiting on money from her parents. She called them yesterday, from right here on my phone, actually.” Norma knew my parents weren’t sending me money. She heard every word I said while pretending to not be listening to one side of the world’s most screwed up conversation between a mother and a daughter.
“She’s got four days. If she isn’t back in four days, she isn’t coming back, and that car was abandoned on my property. I’ll tell anyone who comes looking I had the car towed and I don’t know what happened after she ran out of my club.”
“Once a thief, always a thief,” Norma said with an aggressiveness I didn’t think was possible from our previous conversations. Sure, she could be a little bit brash, but she wasn’t mean.
“That little bitch broke my nose. How am I going to dance with two black eyes? She owes us, most importantly, she owes me.” There it was, the third voice. Jersey. I should have known.
“Jersey, if you want the $10 you would make this week that bad, I’ll pay you myself,” Norma chided. I did my best to stifle the giggle threatening to erupt. I liked Norma. She was my surrogate, small town, uncouth, unsophisticated grandmother and I wanted to take her away with me as my protector. “Listen, the girl is not here. Like I said, she called her parents for money. If I were you, I would drive over to WorldMart and look for her there.”
I heard the shuffling feet leave the supply cabinet and one voice strongly urging the two other voices to get out of the diner and get to the next town as they squabbled over what to do. One set of feet scooted back to the supply closet and a key entered the cabinet lock. I let out a huge sigh of relief and stared into Norma’s face.
“Well, come on now. I bet you have to take a right ol’ piss,” she said.
I laughed in agreeance. “Did they go to town?” I asked and wormed my way out of the cabinet, groaning while my stiff joints tried to loosen up to their natural positions.
“They did. We’ve got about three hours to figure out what to do with you. Did you hear Jersey say you broke her nose? I have to tell you,” she laughed, “it was a definite improvement.”
“I’m not sad about it,” I said. “Not at all. She got what she deserved.” I wished I could have seen her face with a swollen nose and two black eyes. I wondered if you could even see the black eyes through her typical runny eyeliner and smudged dark eyeshadow. “Hey, Norma,” I started. “I heard you say something about my car. What were you saying?”
“Well, honey. Why don’t you go to the bathroom, I’ll cook you some breakfast, and then we’ll talk.”
She put her hand on the small of my back and pushed me out of the supply cabinet with a sigh. Something told me she wouldn’t be telling me good news.
“Norma, you keep changing the subject,” I said with a mouth full of pancakes. I washed down the sticky and sweet maple syrup with a cool glass of milk.
“No I’m not. I just wanted to know if you needed ketchup with your scrambled eggs. That’s a perfectly normal waitress type of question.”
“Yes, and I told you twice that I don’t need ketchup. Now, what was Jeremy saying about my car?” I asked more firmly.
“Well, it’s just…there’s something you should know about Jeremy and your car. He, well…”
She didn’t get to finish her big reveal and was untimely interrupted by the metal bell clanging when someone opened the door. We both jumped sky high, terrified to look up and see the terrible twosome making a beeline for me. There was nowhere I could go except the bathroom. I would have to lock myself behind the door and wait it out. I suppose there were worst places to be locked.
“There y’all are,” a deep, muffled voice called. “Are you waitin’ for me to return?”
“Chrome!” I shouted with a sigh of relief. “Welcome to breakfast. Come! Pull up a stool. By the way, do you like ketchup with your eggs?” I joked, looking at Norma who was twisting her hands nervously.
“No. I love ketchup, hate eggs. You two look like you’ve seen better days.”
I explained the events of the last seventy-two hours since all of my earthly possessions were torched in the parking lot. He gasped when I told him Jersey stole my money and made supportive statements about how those actions were against co-worker code, especially in a small town like this, even if I was just temporary. He laughed when he found out I broke Jersey’s nose and explained how lucky I was I punched her properly and didn’t break my own hand. Sheer dumb luck. And, he looked at me like a pathetic puppy dog when he found out I slept in the supply closet cabinet behind lock and key.
“So, there’s the excitement you missed. And now I need to ask you a question. You said you could take me west with you, yes? I think you said you could take me to Salt Lake City?”
“You have a good memory. I figured you’d forget with everything you’ve been through,” he said.
“Of course not. I’m, well, I’m kind of counting on you to get me out of here. I can help pay for gas,” I offered up eagerly.
Norma and Chrome laughed out loud in earnest. “Sweetheart,” Norma began, “it would be impossible for you to pay for one tank of gas in that big rig of his. I don’t think you know what you’re getting in to with that offer. Luckily, this one here won’t take it.”
“No, no I wont,” Chrome agreed. “I can get you to Salt Lake City. I’m a little worn out though, been driving all night. Mind if I take a break? Do we have time?” He looked towards Norma who turned to the clock and pushed her cheeks out with a rough sigh.
“We have about forty-five minutes, and that might be generous. When they get back, if they don’t have her by the hair, they’re going to be like two bulls fighting over a cow in heat.”
“I don’t think bulls fight over a cow, but what do I know, I’m a truck driver. I suppose she could
hide out in my cab. There’s an upper bunk that’s out of view. They won’t ask about me…they have no right to ask about me. And, if they do, I’ll scare them off. I’m good at that,” Chrome said.
Norma was extra fidgety. I tried to assure her we would be okay. I had a good feeling about Chrome and if I’ve learned anything through this crazy journey so far, it’s been to trust my gut. When I get that deep twist just to the left of my belly button, I would forever know the person was wretched or the situation was fishy. I always thought intuition was for frauds and TV psychics. In my simple life of simple interactions back in the cornfields of Indiana, I didn’t need intuition. The only time my stomach hurt was when the food had turned but Mom fed the slop to us anyway.
“I will be right back. I need to use the restroom. Please don’t take my pancakes away. I’m so hungry. I promise you that I will be eating every single bite.”
“Don’t worry,” Norma chuckled. “I will leave them be. I may even throw another one or two on there for you. Oh, by the way,” she stammered, “do you have your car keys or does Jeremy?”
“I do. I wouldn’t leave them with that jerk. Jersey got in because I forgot to lock the door after stepping over my vomit,” I explained.
“That’s great. Would you mind leaving them? I just want to check something,” she said nervously, looking at Chrome with a grimace.
“There’s nothing left in there Norma, but, well, here you go if it floats your boat,” I replied and I dug the keys from my purse, still tightly worn cross body, and tossed them on the counter.
“Where’d Chrome go?” I asked in a panic. He was no longer in the diner and my heart started to race. “Did he leave me? Norma, please tell me he didn’t sneak out. I couldn’t have been gone more than five minutes. I just wanted to really wash whatever I could wash. I’m sorry to use the bathroom as a washroom again. Please tell me you didn’t let him leave!”
The Wrong Side of Twenty-Five Page 14