Chapter 4
“On the Road Again”
Willie Nelson
~~~
Another Lonely Stretch of Highway,
Closer to Here but Not Far from There,
And Fast Approaching Dawn.
WILLIE NELSON’S NASAL warbling filled the cabin of the big semi. More of a classic rock fan, Jake still found himself singing along. Maybe it was the catchy, easy to remember refrain, or the downhome sound of the tune. Or maybe it just fit his circumstances to a T. Whatever it was, it was irresistible.
As he sang, the sky lightened to a pale gray, washed with the first hints of pink. The fear and confusion of the past week became a distant memory, until even that faded away with the last remnants of the night.
He’d always been a man who favored daybreak over sunset. The first was about fresh, new beginnings, while the gaudy red and gold of the second only reminded him that he was saying goodbye to yet another day. At forty-one, each of those days had been precious to him, but they’d slipped by faster and faster with every passing year, some overflowing with good memories, others weighed down by tragic ones, but all disappearing into yesterday with terrifying speed.
When the radio went to a commercial break, Jake turned it off. He chose to replay his encounter with Azrael instead, still amazed at the circumstances in which he found himself. After all, how many people are yanked right out of the line outside the Pearly Gates, and sent directly back to earth, complete with brand new powers and a mission to perform? Apparently, none. Until now.
A staggering thought, indeed.
If Azrael could be believed—and surely the angel didn’t include lying in his astounding repertoire—this was a whole new concept. The angel had decided having emissaries here on earth to watch for lost souls was an idea whose time had come. If Jake hadn’t leapt into the river that very day, to save a woman he’d never laid eyes on before, he wouldn’t have been waiting in line to find out where he would spend eternity at that precise moment.
He smiled, pondering the serendipity of it all. The world always turned on those split-second decisions, didn’t it? Those small, seemingly unimportant moments that had such far-reaching consequences. Left or right? Keep trying or quit? This or that, now or later, paper or plastic?
It astounded him how random his personal moment of truth had turned out to be. Drive on by, or jump in the cold, dark river? Instead of moving on to the next life, whichever one he’d earned, he’d become part of something bigger than he’d ever even imagined. He’d been given the chance to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives, and that seemed wondrous beyond words.
Now, all he had to do was find more people who needed help.
~~~
At a Red Formica Table in a Dreary Truck Stop Diner,
Halfway Through the Long Side of Georgia,
And Waiting for the Midnight Hour.
THE COLD EGG yolk congealed and smeared across Jake’s plate was far less tempting than it had been thirty minutes ago, when the over-medium eggs still nestled next to four crisp rashers of bacon, and two slices of buttery toast. He’d had an appetite when he asked for the late-night breakfast, a staple at all truck stop diners, but it had disappeared within minutes of placing his order. By the time the food arrived, Jake did little more than push it this way and that on the plate, while he downed three scalding cups of strong, black coffee.
Azrael had warned him to take care of his body in his normal, reasonably healthy manner—translation, remember to eat, drink, and maintain personal hygiene. He tried to do at least that much, but the last two days had made Jake rethink his initial enthusiasm for this mission he’d accepted. A dull gray pall was creeping over the edges of his awareness, coloring everything around him.
The long hours on the highway, cruising in and out of truck stops and rest areas from Florida into central Georgia, had netted him nothing lately. Not a lost or imperiled soul had he seen. Apparently, he sucked at this.
When he’d first hit the road in a state of ignorance that turned out not to be quite as blissful as it might have been, he’d spotted two runaways in trouble right off the bat. And not long after that, he’d picked up Hunter, a poster boy for lost souls, if there ever was one. But now that he understood what he’d been asked to do, he couldn’t spot a lost dog, much less a person in need of help. What was up with that?
Was he missing obvious clues? Not paying enough attention? He didn’t think so. He’d certainly been trying. He’d stared at a woman in one diner hard enough that she stormed out in a huff, but not before reporting him to the manager as “some sort of pervert.” Geez, that had been mortifying, and he’d had to talk fast to escape without getting into real trouble. Obviously, he needed to practice being a bit more subtle, along with more observant.
The only other patron in the diner tonight was a youngish girl, sitting in the back corner with a book in front of her. He’d watched her when he first arrived and seen nothing unusual about her, except that she was by herself at a truck stop. At midnight. But that, in itself, wasn’t enough of a reason for him to intrude on her privacy. Now and then, he glanced in her direction, hoping for a sign she needed help, and then realized what he was doing. He gave himself a mental smack. He wasn’t supposed to go around wishing misery on people, whether it made his life more purposeful or not.
No, he wasn’t handling his new responsibilities well at all. Disheartened and red-faced, he felt he owed the young lady an apology, but after what happened with the last woman, he supposed telling this one he was sorry for something she didn’t even know he’d been thinking might not be such a good idea.
He stole a quick glance her way again, and stopped, cup midway to his mouth. A waitress was standing at her booth, hands on hips, while the girl stared at her empty cup, shaking her head. After a few minutes, the waitress threw up her hands, and stomped away, calling over her shoulder, “Five more minutes. That’s it.”
As soon as she was alone again, the girl pulled a cell phone out of her purse, but after staring at it in silence, laid it next to her cup, then put her head in her hands. Jake felt her pain clear across the room, but he remained seated, watching as inconspicuously as he could. Not all troubles were the same, and he wanted to be sure what was going on before he stepped in.
She was young, all right—late teens, at the most—and the dark circles under her eyes seemed obvious now, though he hadn’t noticed them earlier. She fidgeted, chewing on her fingernail and darting quick glances out the window. Had something the waitress said to her made her that nervous, or had she just been good at hiding it earlier?
The waitress returned, apron gone, and her purse over her shoulder. “Last chance,” she called to the girl, who refused to look up. “Okay, hon. Your funeral.”
The woman walked out the door, and the girl grabbed her phone again, scrolled down a bit, and then sat, finger poised over the screen. The door to the kitchen banged open, and a greasy-looking guy in a dirty apron strolled through, leering at the girl.
“He ain’t comin’ back, you know. He’s moved on. Found hisself someone else to drag around. Seen his type here before, doin’ business in the far end of the lot. You ain’t the first to get left behind by his kind. You’re just lucky he left you in one piece.”
She muttered something Jake couldn’t hear, but the man was having none of it. “You keep tellin’ yerself that all you want, but you ain’t foolin’ nobody. You gotta sell, if you wanna ride the circuit with the likes of him. Either dope or sex. You gotta sell. So, the way I see it is, you got two choices, here. You owe me for that meal you ate, an’ Darlene said you ain’t got no money. I’ll take drugs—or you. Or I’ll toss you outside and lock the door, and see if you make it ‘til morning. So which is it, cutie? Dope or sex, I don’t much care.”
“How much is her bill?”
The man jumped away from the table, bug-eyed and sputtering. “Where the hell’d you come from?”
“Been sitting right over there, listening to this whole conversation. Tell me what she owes. I’ll settle her bill, and pretend I didn’t hear any of it.”
The guy looked Jake up and down, then shook his head in disgust. “She ain’t worth it. Ten bucks’ll do.”
Jake slapped the money down on the table and gave the girl his most reassuring smile. “Come on. Let’s get outta here.”
Tears pooled in her eyes, but she slid out of the booth and followed Jake out the front door. They stood in the parking lot, not speaking as the diner lights winked out, and the cook climbed into his beater of a car, screeching off into the night.
Shivering, she took a deep breath and plunged in. “What do I have to do to pay you back?”
Jake shook his head. “You don’t have to pay me back, but I’m not leaving you here alone. These places aren’t safe after the lights go out.”
“Well, I’m sure not getting in that truck with you.”
“Good. You shouldn’t be climbing into trucks with men you don’t know. Here’s a better idea. Why don’t you use that phone of yours to call the one person in the world who loves you more than anyone else does? I have a feeling you’ve been wanting to do that all evening.”
Jake strolled over to lean against the fender of his truck, giving her some privacy. She hesitated a minute, then made the call. After a tearful conversation, the girl disconnected, then sank down onto the curb.
He took a seat beside her. “Well?”
“She’s coming.”
“Your mom?”
“Yes. She thought she’d never see me again. She said . . . she said she was afraid I might even be dead. And now, she’s coming to get me.”
Her voice broke on a sob, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she cried. When she hiccupped her way to a stop, he gave her his handkerchief. “You did the right thing. I don’t know what happened to make you leave, but it can’t be worse than being abandoned at a dirty truck stop in the middle of nowhere, faced with an impossible choice like that cook gave you.”
“The funny thing is, I can’t even remember what that last fight was about. Except that I was tired of being told what I could and couldn’t do all the time. And who I could see. Mom didn’t like my boyfriend. Said he was too old, and she didn’t trust him.”
A long sigh slid out of her. “She was right, of course. But I thought he was hot, and I got tired of sneaking out to see him. I didn’t know about the drug dealing until after I ran away with him, but it wouldn’t have mattered, anyway. He said he loved me. Said the drugs were just something temporary, until he could find a job somewhere.”
Quiet for a moment, she stared off into the night, then continued. “Didn’t turn out like that. First, he made me help him sell them, and then he started pushing me to . . . to . . .”
“To sell yourself as well?”
“Yes.” Her voice was very small. “I told him no, over and over, but he kept saying I would do it if I loved him. When he figured out I wasn’t going to change my mind, he pulled in here and practically shoved me out the door. He told me to wait in the diner, and said he’d be back after he saw a guy about more product. I knew that was a lie. He was never coming back for me.”
They talked for another two hours, before a dark sedan pulled into the lot, and a frantic woman jumped out, racing toward them with her arms opened wide. Mother and daughter clung to each other, sobbing too hard to speak. Once Jake was sure things were okay between the two of them, he headed back to his truck, but not before the girl thanked him and promised to remember all the things they’d talked about.
“Just remember the part about loving yourself and trusting your own judgement. Listen to your conscience, but listen to your mother once in a while, too. Sometimes moms really do know best.”
As he climbed into the cab, the woman approached as well, still blotting tears from her eyes. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping my daughter, and for staying with her until I got here. You’ve been an angel.”
A slow smile spread across Jake’s face. “I’m happy I was able to help, ma’am, but take it from me—I’m definitely no angel.”
~~~
THE SEDAN LEFT the exit ramp and merged with highway traffic. Jake watched the red gleam of the taillights until he could no longer distinguish which car held the girl whose life he’d changed tonight. Though he’d never know what choices she would have made had he not paid her bill, none of her options had been good ones. Now, back in her mother’s care, hopefully she’d study all her choices, and make better decisions in the months and years ahead.
Had her soul been in genuine peril? He wasn’t sure of that, but he would never have left her in that diner with that wretched man, whether her soul was in danger or not. He doubted he’d ever learn if she sorted out her life, but he’d done the best he could for her, and for now, that was enough. It would have to be.
He started up the semi, rumbled down the exit road and onto the highway, and left the truck stop behind. Ready for his next opportunity to make a difference, Jake clicked on the radio just in time to hear the Eagles admonishing him not to let the sound of his own wheels drive him crazy.
It sounded like a good plan.
The Write Stuff 