By the time we got done had our after feast smoke and returned to the jail, it was almost 10:00 am. Crap, not much time left.
Gordon, Jenny and I spent much of the time I had left outside smoking, more of a nervous activity more than any-thing. Jenny and I were holding hands when I asked, “So what happens to us”? She gave me a sly grin, “Nothing hap-pens to us, we’re good, this is just a temporary inconvenience until this whole mess is figured out, and then we will be back together”. That was the sound of confidence that I truly needed to hear. “Just one question though, you’re here at the Hospital, and I can’t come back, so how do we get back to-gether”? “Silly, I can work at any Hospital, it doesn’t have
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to be here”, as she planted a romantic type of kiss that you might see in the movies. I was good, for now at least.
The Sheriff came out and stated, “Time to roll folks, it seems that we have the damn media to contend with.
Gordon, you go with Billy and gather his things and load up in the car”. Damn, this was getting too real too quick. Jenny and I hugged each other so tight, but it felt so damn good. I tried to go inside and get my stuff, but Jenny wasn’t ready for that yet. She held on tight but finally gave in knowing that it had to end; for now at least.
We loaded in the car, Gordon up front and Jenny and I in the back. It was only about five miles away to get to the outskirts of town, so Jenny and I made the most of our time by holding each other with an occasional misty eyed kiss. Gordon got nervous and lit a smoke in the car, ‘hey you can’t, oh what the hell just open the damn window Gordon”, the Sheriff caved. We were rounding the bend about to turn left on highway 101 when the caravan of vehicles started to come into view. I saw a group of regular cars at first, then the news vans were scattered along the side of the road. Holy crap, there were all three of the Portland news vans parked a couple from Seattle and then for dessert the CNN van. Jenny and I looked at each other in amazement. There were town folks scattered in between all of the news vans poking their head out at any passing car. As we started passing the news vans, some of the people were pointing at our car and started hollering something. They appeared to be severely pissed. The Sheriff was slowing down as we approached the end of town and as he was pulling off to the side of the road, a mob started to close in on the car.
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“This is the end of the line Billy, say your good byes now while I get out and move some of these morons away”. Gordon reached over from the front and shook my hand and said, “Thanks for everything, and be careful”. He turned back quick so I wouldn’t notice the tears coming down his face. I looked at Jenny where her tears were already flowing as were mine. We kissed, we hugged and she said, “Remember this is only a glitch, we’ll be together again soon”, she barely got that last part out as she started crying. All I was able to get out was, “Until we meet again”, and I gave her a final kiss and opened the car door and grabbed my backpack.
As I was putting the backpack around my shoulders she popped her head out of the car, “Friday, Friday will be our day to talk, and every evening before you go to sleep you hit the app button on the phone so I’ll know you’re okay”. “Friday it is, sweetie”. She smiled at my reply as I caught up with the Sheriff at the front of the car.
I didn’t notice at first but I could hear people hollering in the background, “kill him sheriff, kill him, he don’t deserve to walk, he deserves to die”. Damn, suddenly I felt like the Frankenstein monster, the only thing missing was the flam-ing torches. Some other chants began to rise as the Sheriff had his twelve gauge at his side, but quickly turned to the crowd and raised it at them; suddenly there was silence.
“Here’s how this is going to go Billy, you heard the crowd and the local politicians are out here as well. When we get to the edge I’m going to point my shotgun at you and order you to leave town, just loud enough for these fuck monkeys to hear. Don’t worry it’s not loaded. As much as I want to shake your hand, I can’t in front of this crowd, but I can
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say thank you and please be careful. There are some smaller towns down the road a piece. One more thing, you might want to put some of that money in your back pack in case something happens”.
“Thanks Sheriff I will, and as much as I want to give you a hug, I better not with this crowd and all”. He smiled as we marched to the town line. We stopped and the Sheriff as promised pointed his twelve gauge at me and ordered me to leave town and not come back. He finished with a wink
as the crowd erupted with approval from his decree. I started walking but turned for just a second to give a nod to Gordon and blow a kiss to Jenny. They both waved as I started my journey. The crowd and the news vans began to leave as I got farther down the road; I glanced back a couple of times to make sure no one was going to come after me.
They didn’t as I continued to walk in solitude. The road looked long and lonely. I missed Jenny already. I guess what I should concentrate on was how I was going to get to Round Mountain, Nevada. I check the inside of my jacket pocket and found the paper with Jenny’s phone number and the flash drive. I would need that to help on my journey.
I got far enough down the road to stop on the side of the road which had a small view of the Pacific. I lit up and sat down on a pile of rocks so I could enjoy the view. This was going to suck but I needed to find out why these people were after me; plus I shouldn’t be hard to find with all the media attention back there. They might as well have hung a sign around my neck that said ‘Here I Am’.
I put out my smoke, took a final look at the view and started on my way. It was going to be lonely trip but I had
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business to take care of so that I could be back with Jenny again. I turned towards town which you could no longer see and said, “See you soon Sweetie”. I touched my front pocket of my jacket and felt the phone she gave me. It was a comfort to know that it was there. I turned back to the road and start-
ed walking; I guess I better get used to it. Don’t know how long it will take; but as they say, ‘keep on trucking’, so I did.
The End of part 1
11/29/2014
C. G. Roberts
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The Road to Round Mountain: The Betrayal by Page 25