Dorothy Garlock - [Route 66]

by Hopes Highway

“The Mr. Payne who gave us the fish?”

  “Yeah. He’d rather fish than eat. I appreciate the attention you and Mrs. Putman gave Anna Marie tonight.”

  “Like tying ribbons on her braids?”

  He chuckled. “She’s a fussy little punkin. Wants to look pretty. Did you want to look pretty when you were a little girl?”

  “It’s been so long since I was a little girl, I’ve forgotten. Anna Marie is smart and sweet. It’s a shame she lost her mother.”

  “Yeah? It’s more of a shame she lost her father.”

  They neared the truck, and he turned toward his camp. “Good night, Margie.”

  “Goodnight, Mr. Hoyt.”

  Margie climbed into the truck, unrolled her pallet, undressed and lay down, but it was a long time before she went to sleep.

  Chapter 5

  ALVIN CAME TO THE CAMP as Margie was pouring water on the breakfast fire. He had what appeared to be a map in his hand.

  “Mornin’. It looks like it’ll be a fine day.”

  “Yes, it does.”

  He then went to the side of the truck where Elmer was putting away his tools.

  “I figure that if we get on down through Tulsa to Sapulpa, it’ll be a long enough day. What do you think?”

  “Fine with me, but what about Foley?”

  “If his radiator lasts until Tulsa, he can get it fixed there.”

  “How long would we have to wait for him?”

  “As long as it takes. The agreement we made when we started was that we’d stay together. He’d have to wait for one of us if something went wrong. There are four of us now. I’m glad we ran into Hoyt. It would take a brave or a foolish bunch to mess with us now.”

  “I don’t know. Something about that fellow rubs me the wrong way,” Elmer said.

  On the other side of the truck, Margie became alert at the mention of Brady Hoyt’s name. She had been looking off toward the Putman camp watching Rusty shave and wondering how in the world he could use a straight-edge razor without being able to see.

  “What do you mean?” Alvin asked.

  “He came out of nowhere. We don’t know him.”

  “I’d met you only a few times when we decided to hook up and make this trip together.”

  “That’s different. I knew about you for several years. Being in the ice business, you’d probably heard about me.”

  “Why didn’t you say you were leery of Hoyt last night? The three of us discussed it and agreed to ask him to join us.”

  “Don’t you think it’s strange that a man would travel with a female kid that ain’t his? It don’t appear to me to be somethin’ a feller on the up-and-up would do. He could be a-kidnapping that kid.”

  “Tarnation, Elmer. Andy Payne said he’d known Hoyt for years. Knew his family.”

  “Another thing. How do we know that fellow was Andy Payne? ’Cause he said so?”

  “Why would he lie?” Alvin stepped back and looked at Elmer like he’d not seen him before. “He didn’t come right out and say he was Andy Payne, the man who won the Bunion Derby. Rusty recognized the name and asked him if he was the racer. He and Rusty talked about stuff that only the real Andy Payne would know.”

  Elmer ignored Alvin’s logic. His stubbornness began to irritate Alvin.

  “Times are hard all over, Alvin. I don’t need to tell you that. Boxcars are full of hoboes riding the rails looking for work. There’s fellers out there that’d cut your throat for a dollar.”

  “I know that, Elmer. I’m glad to have another man with us,” Alvin insisted. “I hope Hoyt stays with us all the way to California.”

  “If the kid gets sick, it’ll slow us down.”

  “If that happens, we’ll handle it when the time comes. A bank here in Oklahoma is robbed almost every day,” Alvin argued. “Bootleggers are running up and down the highway day and night, hijacking cars and trucks. Alone in a campground, we would be sitting ducks. Our trucks, with their heavy springs for hauling ice, would be perfect for hauling booze.”

  “You don’t think the three of us and the Luker boy could hold off a bunch of cowardly bootleggers?”

  “I wouldn’t call them cowardly. I’d call them dangerous crooks. We’ve got to keep together for the sake of our families.”

  “How many more are you going to want to take in?”

  “Christ, Elmer! Don’t put this on me. You could have had your say last night.” Alvin folded the map and put it in his pocket. “We should stop and noon before we get to Tulsa. Do you want to take the lead?”

  “No. You’re doing fine. I’ll look for you along the way.”

  “If something happens that we get separated, the next campground is west of Sapulpa after we cross the Rock Creek. The bridge has a brick deck. Turn off at the next road on your left. There’s a place where we can camp, or so the man who drew me the map said. He didn’t swear to it.” Plainly irritated with Elmer, Alvin went on to speak to the Lukers.

  Margie filled her fruit jar with water and got into the truck. Not a word had passed between her and her father since the afternoon before when he called her mother a whore. This morning he appeared when breakfast was ready, picked up his coffee mug, his plate of raw-fried potatoes and the last of the white bread she had toasted on the grill, and went to sit in his usual place on the running board of the truck.

  Margie had been frying the potatoes when she saw Brady and Anna Marie going to the Putman camp. A few minutes later Grace and Anna Marie had gone to the woods. How much easier it would have been for Brady, Margie thought, if Anna Marie had been a little boy. It must be difficult for a five-year-old girl just to tell her uncle she needed to go to the outhouse or the woods.

  Later Margie had heard talk and laughter coming from the Putmans’ camp, and she envied the family’s closeness. To go to California had been her dream; but the first attempt had ended in disaster, and now this second attempt to get there was total misery—not the hardship of the trip, but being with a father who hated her and hated having her along.

  Now, as they followed the Putmans out of the campground, Brady was tossing a ball to Anna Marie. They were waiting to follow the Lukers, who were packing up to leave. They’re always lagging behind, Margie thought, and wondered how long it would take Brady Hoyt to get tired of waiting for them.

  By midmorning, after weaving slowly through the construction workers on the highway, they drove into Clare-more, the home of the famed cowboy actor Will Rogers. Margie was well aware that he didn’t live here but in California, where he made movies. She would like to see the big house where he was born and spent his childhood, she thought wistfully, but she doubted that she’d get the chance.

  Elmer stopped at a gas station. After filling the gas tank, the attendant brought out a rubber hose and filled the water keg in the back of the truck. After he had paid the attendant, Elmer drove to a grocery store. He didn’t say a word to Margie when he left to go inside. He returned with a paper sack, put it in the back of the truck and continued down the street to an ice dock.

  Margie had debated about letting him know that they were out of ice, but she decided not to break her silence until he did. He took a pair of ice tongs from the long box attached to the side of the truck where he kept his tools and disappeared inside the icehouse. Margie got out of the truck, let down the tailgate and put down the box they used for a step. She got back into the truck telling herself she had done that to keep him from setting the block of ice on the ground and getting it dirty.

  On the way out of town they passed two motor inns and a souvenir shop with a sign proclaiming it an Indian trading post. Margie remembered that when she passed through Claremore the year before with Ernie Harding, a man at a gas station told her that Claremore had been a busy Indian trading center back in the olden days and had been named for an Osage chief. He said that Will Rogers’s home was between Claremore and Oologah, but that Will claimed Claremore as his home because nobody but an Indian could pronounce “Oologah.”

  Sh
e smiled thinking about it and remembered that Will Rogers had said that he had never met a man he didn’t like. He must be a terribly nice man because she had met plenty of men she didn’t like. Ernie Harding, the man who had stolen her money, for one. And, in spite of the guilty feeling about it, her father was another.

  A few miles out of Claremore they stopped behind the Putmans, who had pulled off the highway and onto a space on the inside of a curve. It was flat and grassy with timber to one side. Elmer took off immediately for the patch of brush and scrub oak.

  Margie had laid out the cold fish and corn bread on the tailgate when the Lukers arrived, and behind them Brady’s black sedan.

  “Margie! Margie!” Anna Marie called as she ran toward her. Then when she reached her: “Go to the woods with me … please. I gotta go … bad.”

  “Sure, honey.” Margie flipped a cloth over the food on the tailgate to protect it from flies and took the child’s hand. The two of them ran for the small patch of woods. They didn’t speak until Anna Marie had hiked up her dress and Margie had unbuttoned the back flap of her drawers.

  The child looked up at Margie with tear-filled eyes. “I had to go so bad—”

  “Your uncle would have stopped.”

  “I didn’t want to tell him. I miss Granny Maude.”

  “I bet she misses you too.”

  “Daddy took me to Granny Maude when … he had to work.” Anna Marie choked back a sob. “I … don’t have any … paper.”

  “I have some right here in my pocket. Do you want me to help you?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” More sobs. “I’m … nasty …”

  Margie knelt down. “You’re just a little nasty, honey. When we get back to the truck, we’ll get inside and I’ll wash you with a wet cloth.” She wiped the tears from Anna Marie’s face with the edge of her skirt.

  Brady was waiting by the truck. “I was worried when you took off like that, Punkie.” His eyes flicked to Margie, then back to his niece. He knelt down, studied her face, and saw evidence of tears. “Are you all right?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  He stood and took her hand. “Mrs. Putman has a treat for you.”

  “I can’t go … yet.” The child looked pleadingly at Margie.

  “I’ve something to show her in the truck. I’ll bring her over in a few minutes.” Margie held Brady’s eyes with hers before taking Anna Marie’s hand. “Come on, honey.” She climbed into the truck and turned to help Anna Marie get in. Brady was there and lifted the child up. Their eyes caught again and held, then he nodded and walked away.

  Anna Marie was in a much better mood when she and Margie walked over to where the Putmans were parked. Grace came to meet them with a big smile of welcome.

  “There’s my pretty girl.” She grabbed Anna Marie and gave her a hug, then said, “Hello, Margie. How are you standing the trip so far?”

  “So far, all right.”

  “I’m enjoying every bit of it. I always did like to see new things. I chatter about everything to Rusty. We’re about to drive Alvin wild. When he gets tired of us, he sings and drowns us out,” she said with a giggle.

  Lucky you, Margie thought, then said, “See you tonight, Grace.”

  Margie was aware that Brady was squatted on the ground beside Rusty, and Blackie lay sprawled on his belly close by. Margie could feel Brady’s eyes on her. She had taken less than a dozen steps back toward the truck when he appeared beside her.

  “Margie, wait a minute. What was that all about?”

  “She had to go to the outhouse,” Margie said without looking at him.

  “Good Lord. I thought she was hurting someplace.”

  “She was.”

  “Why didn’t she tell me? I would have found a place to stop.”

  “She was embarrassed. She … had a little accident.”

  “Good Lord. Poor kid. I don’t know much about taking care of kids—never been around ’em, especially little girls.”

  “You’d better learn fast. It’s a long way to California.”

  Elmer appeared from around the back of the truck and stood quietly watching them.

  “Thanks, Margie.” Brady tipped his hat and turned back toward the Putmans.

  When they pulled onto the road again, Anna Marie was sitting between Alvin and Grace, and Rusty was riding with Brady.

  “Did you see that?” Sugar Luker, waiting in the car for Jody and Foley to tie the tarp down over their two-wheel trailer, spoke over her shoulder to Mona when the Putmans passed. “The little girl is riding with the Putmans. Well, well. It looks like the blind dolt is going to ride with Brady.”

  “Don’t call him that!” Mona said sharply.

  “I’ll call him whatever I want, Miss Ugly Muffin, and you’d better not talk to me in that tone of voice if you know what’s good for you.”

  “Yeah, I suppose you’ll tattle to Daddy.”

  “Now what’s goin’ on?” Foley slid in under the wheel, and Sugar moved to the middle of the seat to sit close to him.

  “Nothin’ important, darlin’. I was just remarking that the little girl is riding with the Putmans and their son is riding with Mr. Hoyt. Mona is having one of her grouchy spells. If you say one little thing to her, she blows up.”

  “She called Rusty a dolt. I told her not to call him that just because he’s blind.”

  “I said colt.” Sugar moved her hand up on the inside of her husband’s thigh.

  “You did not! You said dolt. You know you did. You’re just trying to make me out a liar.” Mona shook off her brother’s warning hand.

  “That’s enough, Mona,” Foley said sharply. He started the car and pulled out onto the highway. “I’m glad Brady knew about plugging holes in radiators. I hope it holds. I don’t want to have to put in a new one.”

  “Did he say what he’s going to do when he gets to California?” Sugar asked.

  “Turn around and come back as far as Colorado. He’s got some ranchland out there.”

  “Then what’s he doing here?”

  “He came to take his brother’s little girl to her aunt somewhere in California.”

  “Couldn’t he afford to take the train?”

  “I didn’t ask him. We’re going to have to break camp earlier in the morning from now on. And pack up faster.” Foley looked in the mirror on the side of the car to see what was behind him. “If Hoyt is going to follow us, he isn’t going to want to wait for us every morning.”

  “Tell that to Jody and Mona. Before we started I told you that I’d never camped out in my life and didn’t know the first thing about cooking over a campfire. I wanted to go on the train. Remember?” she said with a pout in her voice.

  “I know that. The train costs more. We’ve got to have enough money to start a business in California. This is the cheapest way for us to get there.”

  “You’re right. You always are, darlin’.” She squeezed his thigh. “I’ll do the best I can.”

  “That’s all I ask, honey.”

  “We should offer to let Brady’s niece ride with us part of the time. Jody could ride with Brady.”

  “She’d ride with him if given half a chance,” Mona mouthed to her brother.

  “Mona would give her eyeteeth to ride with him,” Sugar said to Foley in a low, confidential tone. “But, darling, we must be careful with our young lady. I think he’s a little too old and too experienced for her. A footloose man will take advantage of a green girl if he gets a chance.”

  “I think you’re jumping the gun, but if it will make you any happier, I’ll keep an eye on her.”

  In the backseat Mona clenched her hands into fists. Her face was set in hard, angry lines. She rolled angry eyes toward her brother. He shook his head, silently asking her not to let Sugar goad her into another set-to that would just upset their father.

  When Foley pulled over and stopped to check the radiator, Brady pulled in behind them. Foley had already lifted the hood by the time Brady got out. The stop also gave Blackie a chance to
get out and sniff around.

  “Lost any water?” Brady asked.

  “Not a drop,” Foley said, grinning.

  “Then it looks like it’ll hold. Save your tinfoil, though, just in case.”

  With the hood up so that the men couldn’t see inside the car, Sugar turned and thumbed her nose at Mona.

  “You’re a bitch!” Mona said softly.

  “Yes, I am,” Sugar agreed with a wide, pleased smile. “And it’s a hell of a lot of fun!”

  Brady was enjoying Rusty’s company. The miles flew by while they discussed everything from music to politics. Rusty was well informed.

  “I’m not sure Roosevelt’s New Deal is going to get the country back on its feet. I think what will do it will be the jobs created by making war supplies for England and France. That Hitler fellow has got absolute power in Germany now. He says he’s going to purify Germany both ethnically and politically. What that means, I think, is that he wants to get rid of everyone who isn’t a German. I’d bet my bottom dollar that he’s gettin’ ready to start a shootin’ war.”

  “I’ve been kind of out of touch with what’s going on for several months now,” Brady admitted.

  “I listened to all the news broadcasts when we were home. I’m missing it on this trip.”

  “Have you thought of getting a battery-powered radio?”

  “They’re big, bulky and expensive. I told Pa not to bother. I’ll catch up when we get to where we’re going.”

  “And where is that?”

  “A town just south of Bakersfield. Pa, Mr. Kinnard and Foley Luker plan to start up an ice business. Out there ice sells year-round. In Missouri there’s a lull during the winter months. Folks don’t use much ice when it freezes every night.”

  “How long has Alvin known Mr. Kinnard?”

  “He doesn’t really know him. They met because they were in the same business and hitched up this plan with Foley Luker. Foley wasn’t married then.”

  “He’s hooked now.” Brady followed his remark with a snorting sound.

  “Ma gave me her version of his new wife.” Rusty chuckled. “My mother can be a bit catty at times. She’s got definite opinions on some things. I don’t think she was far off the mark about Mrs. Luker. I asked Margie, and she said almost the same, only in a softer way.”