by Joy Redmond
“Come on in. We’ve got four hours to load and pack and get out of here!” Her voice quivered from nerves. “My husband will be home by one o’clock.”
The man looked at her with wide eyes. “You runnin’ away from a mean husband?”
“Yes, I am. And if we don’t hurry, mean husband will catch us and we might all get shot!”
The man turned and motioned to the other two men. “C’mon, boys. We gots to get dis woman outta here, fast!” He looked back at Mandy. “You jest tell us what to pack and load and if’n he does come home, we knows how do deal wit his kind. Don’t ya worry dat purty lil’ head.”
Mandy pointed to all the furniture she wanted loaded. “I’ll take boxes and pack things in the kitchen.” She called out, “Abbie, after you get your car full, go to my closet, grab clothes, hangers and all, my shoes, and purses, and when my car is full we’ll box what’s left and put it on the truck.”
At five minutes to twelve, the truck was loaded, the cars were loaded and Mandy blew a big sigh. “We did it with one hour to spare! Thanks, guys,” she said, then reached into her purse and pulled out a twenty. “Here. Buy you a couple six packs. Good job.”
“You welcome, ma’am. De truck will be in Chattanooga dis Wednesday. We won’t have a driver who can git der fore den.”
“That’s fine,” Mandy said
She pulled the front door closed. “Abbie, I’ll lead the way, you stay close and if we get separated, I’ll pull over and wait for you to catch up.”
“I’ll stay on your tail,” Abbie said, and ran to her car.
Mandy slid under the steering wheel and yelled, “And we’re off!”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Mandy had driven forty miles and her insides and hands were still trembling. She spied a Huddle House. She decided she needed more coffee and a few minutes to get her nerves under control. She put on her blinkers and pulled into the parking lot. She glanced in her rearview mirror. Abbie was behind her.
They went inside, slid into a booth, smiled at each other, and Abbie said, “Mom, we got away!”
Mandy smiled. “We did indeed!” Then her smile metamorphosed into a frightful grimace. “Dear God! I forgot to get my black purse from under the bed. All our money and important papers are in it. I’ve got to go back.”
Abbie’s face turned as white as chalk. “It’s twelve-forty, Mom. You don’t have time to go back. Just leave it!”
“I can’t leave it! Our lives are in it! You stay here. If I don’t return within an hour, you go on to Uncle Don’s, tell him the story and he’ll know what to do.” Mandy shot out of the booth and ran out to the parking lot. She opened the car door, slid behind the steering wheel, and just as she was about to stick the key into the ignition, Abbie yanked open the passenger door and got into my car. “Get out. Wait here!” Mandy yelled.
“You’re not going by yourself!” Abbie adamantly stated.
“I don’t have time to argue! Buckle up. I’ve got three-hundred and fifty horses under the hood and I’m going to turn them all loose.” She pulled out of the parking lot and when she made her way back out to I-75, she put the pedal to the metal.
She made it back to the house at twelve fifty-seven. She pulled into the driveway, threw the car into park, then jumped out as if she were a pilot ejecting from a downing plane.
She ran through the house, dropped on her knees and reached under the bed. No purse. “Shit!” she cried. She ran back to the car and slid under the steering wheel. “It’s not there. Gill must have found it. I don’t know what we’re going to do. Our whole lives are in that purse!”
“Just go, Mom! Go!”
Mandy backed out of the driveway, her hands trembling and filled to the brim with anger. She glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It was one o’clock on the nose. She sped up the street and when she came to the entrance of the sub-division, she took a right.
“Mom, you’re going the wrong way! Get it together or we’ll never get out of this town.”
“I know a back road that will take us back to I-75. I don’t dare drive up the street that Gill will be traveling on. The last thing we need is to meet him.”
Abbie merely bowed her head and sighed.
Finally, they made it back to the Huddle House. Mandy was gasping for air, but she didn’t feel as if oxygen was filling her lungs and she was having chest pains. “I need to go inside and get some water.”
Abbie was ashen as she patted her mother’s arm. “Do you have your Valium?” Mandy could only nod, yes. “Then come on. We’ll get you a glass of water and you get a couple down before you have a heart attack or a nervous breakdown.”
Abbie led Mandy, as if her mother was a child, and they went inside and slid into a booth. As Mandy fumbled through her purse, trying to find her valium, IT tapped her on the back of the head. “I know. I’m stupid. Leave me alone,” she said as she brushed the back of her head.
She was tapped more three times, harder and harder. Mandy threw her hands in the air. “What!” It was then Mandy realized she was receiving a message by telepathy. She wasn’t sure she understood correctly, but she said, “Honey, my knees are too weak to walk. Please go out and look under the driver’s seat of my car.”
“What’s under there?” Abbie asked.
“I’m not sure. Just go look. Okay?”
Abbie rolled her eyes and headed outside.
Mandy kept her head tucked, too scared to turn around, too scared of what Abbie was going to find.
Abbie came back inside, and placed the black purse in front of her mother.
Mandy stared at it for a second as she caught her breath and breathed in deeply. The pains in her chest disappeared as she looked at the purse. “I wasn’t sure if I was receiving a message or if my mind was playing tricks on me.” Mandy felt a gentle pat on her shoulder, and again a thought ran through her head like a gentle whisper, I was trying to tell you, but you were too hysterical to listen.
Mandy looked at Abbie and wiped her tears. “I have no memory of taking the black purse from under my bed or taking it to my car. Did IT carry it out for me? I’ll never know.”
“I don’t know. Stranger things have happened. All that matters is we have the purse, the money, and we escaped, twice,” Abbie said. “And I’m hungry. Since we have money is it okay if I get something to eat? I’m starving.”
“Order anything you want, honey. I’ll just drink coffee—” she stopped talking when she realized she was receiving another message. “Abbie, I’m getting a strong feeling. We need to get off of I-75 and take old highway 41.”
“Why would we do that?” Abbie asked, and her eyes were saying, Mom has completely cracked up.
“When Gill comes home and finds all our things gone, he might decide to track us. We’ll stay on highway 41 until right before we reach Atlanta. Then we’ll get back on I-75 and we’ll be safe.”
Abbie shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll be behind you,” she said, eyeing a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich on the menu. Then she dropped the menu and burst out laughing.
"What the hell is so funny?"
"Mom, you've got black mascara rubbed all around your eyes and you're shaking like a leaf." She laughed harder.
"And that's funny?"
"It sure is. You look like a big raccoon with palsy!"
Mandy burst out laughing, too. "And where's a camera when you need one, huh?"
She continued laughing as she pictured herself as Abbie saw her.
After Abbie had eaten and Mandy had tanked on coffee, they hit the road.
It was March 1st, a beautiful day with sunshine, and Mandy rolled down the car windows and enjoyed inhaling the fresh air and feeling the wind blow through her hair. She felt alive and vibrant.
As the hours went by, Mandy recapped the many happenings in the past eight years. Some were showing love, some were playing pranks, and some were warnings. The memory of the single rose that was lying on the table top on the back porch shortly after she moved to
Tennessee came to mind. The beautiful bloom meant that love was coming my way. And the thorns meant I was going to marry a prick, she thought. Well, it’s all over but the shouting. I’ll do that once I get back to the mountains.
Five hours later, they arrived in Chattanooga. Don and Anne were waiting in the front yard as Mandy and Abbie pulled into the driveway. They all hugged, then went inside where they were met by a kitten. Don said, “This is our grandbaby. His name is Chewy.”
Abbie picked up Chewy, and the cat lifted its paw and stroked her hair. “He likes me! He’s the same size as Fluffy was when he came to us in Florida. I’m so happy to have a kitten again.”
“I’m happy to be back in the mountains,” Mandy said. “Now, if we can find work, we’ll find us a place of our own and we’ll have a new life.” She glanced at Don. “I know you told me so. Trust me, I’ve paid a high price for that mistake.”
The moving van arrived on Wednesday, and Don told the driver to pull around to the back of the house, then go through the basement door and unload. When the truck was empty, the driver handed Mandy the bill. She looked at the figure and thought she might pee in her panties. The price was almost half of what she had saved and stashed. “Will cash work?” she asked, as she opened the black purse and counted the money.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll write you a receipt,” the driver said, carefully recounting the money.
Mandy and Abbie settled in, and Abbie went to work at Ruby Falls a week after they arrived.
Mandy made the rounds to hospitals, doctor’s offices and clinics. Two weeks passed, but she wasn’t called to come in for an interview. As time went on and she had no success in finding work, the spirits kept her calm, letting her know there was a reason.
One morning, everybody had gone to work and Mandy was in the laundry room when Chewy jumped up in the window sill. “You like to lie in the sun, don’t you?” she said as she stroked his head. She put the clothes in the washing machine and noticed that Chewy was asleep. She went back into the kitchen, closing the wooden door behind her.
She was unloading the dishwasher when she felt something bush against her leg. She jumped and looked down. Chewy was rubbing his head against her and purring. “How did you get through a closed door?” She walked back to the door, pulled on the doorknob, making sure the latch had caught when she shut it. The door didn’t open. “I do think you are Fluffy reincarnated. He could pull some awesome stunts.”
The phone rang and Mandy hung the tea towel on the oven rack. “Chewy, that phone rings non-stop. My brother needs to get an answering machine. I can’t get anything done because I spend my whole day answering the phone and writing down names, numbers, and messages from parishioners. She picked up the phone. “Reverend Randall’s residence.”
“Mandy?”
Goosebumps rose on Mandy’s arms as she recognized Gill’s voice. “What?”
“I just wanted to tell you that I love you. Please come back and give me a second chance. I can’t live without you. I knew you were at one of your brothers, and I figured it would be Don, since he’s the closest to Kentucky. I’d like to come see you. If we’re face to face, I think you’ll still see and feel our love for each other.”
“No way, Gill! Never! Get that thought out of your head. It doesn’t surprise me that you figured out where I am. But let me warn you. Don isn’t the warrior that Lee is, but he’ll protect his sister. If you’re ever stupid enough to show up here, he and Mr. Glock will meet you at the door!”
“I wouldn’t harm you. All I want is to see you and talk to you,” Gill said, and he sounded as if he were a child begging for his mommy.
“I said, no! And don’t call me again!” Mandy hung up the phone.
For the next three weeks, Gill called every day, several times a day, begging and promising Mandy the moon if she’d come back to him, and he cried like a baby by the time Mandy hung up on him. The beginning of the forth week, the phone rang, and Mandy was sure who it was and she didn’t want to answer, but she couldn’t take the chance that it was a parishioner needing Don’s services.”
Hesitantly, she answered. Gill’s voice was as cheerful as she had ever heard when he asked how she was doing. “I’m doing fine. I’d be doing better if you’d stop pestering me. I give you the same answer every time. I—”
Before Mandy finished her sentence, Gill said, “I didn’t call to ask you to come back to me. I called to tell you that Susan and I are back together and we want to get married. If I send you divorce papers will you sign them?”
“I’ll be overjoyed to sign divorce papers.” Mandy laughed. “It only took you three weeks to figure out you can live without me. Happy trails!” Mandy said, and hung up the phone.
A week later, the divorce papers arrived. Mandy carefully read them, glad to see that Gill had made sure that she would be rid of his name and she would take back the name of Abbie’s daddy. “I’ve never been so happy to sign a piece of paper in my life,” she said to Chewy. Chewy meowed as if he understood.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Mandy kept an eye on the mail and finally, one morning an envelope arrived addressed to her. She quickly ripped it open. It was her final divorce decree. Another ten-ton elephant lifted from Mandy’s heart. “Free of another asshole,” she said. “And as God is my witness, it’ll be the last.” She skipped across the yard, feeling like a playful child.
Later that afternoon, Mandy glanced out the window when she heard a car pull into the driveway. “Abbie, Anne is home. We need to help her bring in the groceries.”
Mandy and Abbie carried in several paper sacks filled to the brim and sat them on the kitchen table. “Anne, I didn’t know anybody still used paper bags, but I’m glad. I hate those plastic things,” Mandy said.
Anne said, “I save the paper bags. They come in handy for many things. After you empty them, fold them and stick them in the crack between the fridge and counter.”
Mandy and Abbie unloaded the groceries, carefully folded the sacks and put them up, while Anne readied herself for prayer meeting. Don was already at the church. Mandy and Abbie loved Wednesday nights because they could watch the TV programs they liked.
Abbie stretched out on the couch and Mandy was relaxed in the recliner, trying to find the remote when she heard a rustling sound. “Do you hear that, Abbie? Chewy is in a paper sack having fun.”
Abbie laughed. “I hear him. I think he crawled into the sack and can’t find his way out.”
“I’ll go get him.” She pushed her body out of the recliner, and just as she took a step, Chewy meowed and ran across the floor. “I’m sorry, Chewy. I didn’t mean to step on your tail.” She paused. “He couldn’t have gotten out of a sack and into the living room that quickly. And he was asleep when I stepped on him. What the heck!”
She and Abbie went into the kitchen, flipped on the ceiling light, and they didn’t see a paper sack. They searched the entire kitchen. All the sacks were stuck between the fridge and counter top. “I didn’t think we left any out, but that was definitely the sound of a paper sack.”
“I know. Nothing else makes that sound. Now, explain that one.”
“There is no explanation – just as the many other happenings. It’s just another prank from a spirit who has fun playing with our heads.”
Abbie laughed. “After all these years, we should be used to it, but I’m still amazed and amused when it happens. Come on. Let’s watch a program before Uncle Don and Aunt Anne come home.”
Mandy was in a dither as time when on and she hadn’t found a job. She stroked Chewy’s head. “What little money I’ve got isn’t going to last much longer. Car payments, insurance payments, and my personal items are eating me up. But the spirits keep telling me this is how it’s supposed to be for the time being. But why?”
Two weeks later, Don was out of town, and the three women laughed and told tales about him. He was an amusing character. Anne went to bed by 10 o’clock, and Mandy and Abbie stayed up until midnight before they
retired for the night. Mandy could hear Abbie breathing deeply in a sound sleep by the time her head hit her pillow. As usual, Mandy tossed and turned and she didn’t realize she had fallen asleep until she was startled by a loud banging on the front door.
“What the heck,” she said as she glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was 2 am. Before she could swing her feet out of bed, the banging was louder and she was sure that somebody was trying to break down the door. She hurried out of the bedroom and as she entered the dining room, she saw a figure of a tall, slim man, his hand in the air, ready to hit the door again. She backed up three steps, reached up on top of the china cabinet, and grabbed the gun. She glanced down and switched off the safety latch, glanced back toward the door—and the man was gone.
“Where did you go?” she said, as she hurried into the living room. She looked out the window of the door, turning her head in both directions, but she didn’t see the man.
Clutching the gun, she unlocked and opened the door, then stepped out on the porch, looking in all directions. Nobody was in sight. “There’s no way you could have disappeared in three seconds. If you’re still out here—” She stopped in mid-sentence as she looked straight ahead and saw her Iroc sitting crossways in the middle of the street. “Shit!” she yelled, and ran back inside.
She grabbed her purse and as she fumbled to find her keys she yelled, “Abbie, get up. Somebody tried to steal my car. I’ve got to get it out of the street before somebody careens around the corner and smashes it to a pancake.”
She grabbed her key chain and ran back outside, Abbie on her heels. Anne came running downstairs and joined them. Mandy handed the gun to Anne. I’ve got to get the car. You stand guard and if somebody comes around the corner of the house, shoot them!”
Mandy ran down the driveway, hoping she could get into the car and get it out of the street without being run over. She opened the door and slid under the steering wheel. “Holy shit!” she cried, as she saw wires hanging from under the dash board. She inserted the key, and turned it, but the motor wouldn’t turn over.