Chapter Three: Where To Run
Because it was nearing five o'clock, Willie Fae had to leave Daisy to her own devices, and return Mason's truck. She wasn't too thrilled about making the trip without windshield wipers. If she'd had a piece of string she could've tied it to them and manually cleared the windshield- but she didn't. She had to drive slow to make it back, but she did make it to the auction barn before quitting time, although it was close.
She parked the truck behind the barn where it had been and walked to the front. Mason was waiting on her. Apparently she was a moment or two late.
"Was it serious?" he asked.
"Nope." she answered, and handed him his truck keys. "You wanna go on back?"
"Might as well," he agreed.
"Have fun with your windshield." she chuckled as she followed him back to his truck, hurrying from the front office door to the pickup door because of how fast the rain was coming down."What's wrong with the windshield?" Mason asked.
"Your windshield wipers ain't wiping."
"Did you check and see if a fuse blew?"
"No, I was kinda busy." Willie Fae returned as she slammed the truck door.
"Well, I don't have a spare fuse with me anyway. We'll make it back and then I'll look at it when the rain stops." Mason said.
They drove back to Mrs. Lester's, albeit slowly, and Mason parked his truck outside the back door where they made a run for the house.
Mrs. Lester served dinner at six because most of the people who stopped at her motel got off of their jobs at five or five-thirty. Everyone had the choice of eating downstairs in the dining room or upstairs in their own rooms. Willie Fae was one of the few who always took the option of her own room.
She went upstairs with a tray and sat down on her bed. Tomorrow was the day she'd planned to leave. She hadn't said a formal goodbye to Daisy, but maybe it would be better to just get ready to leave. She'd work her last day, and then pack up and leave.
She got most of her tings around ahead of time, laid out her clothes for the next day, and went out to the barn to check on her horse. She hadn't been exercising Kentucky Belle much and that was about to change. She would be losing her free truck transportation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's not a normal sight, in Valedale, to see someone using horse transportation. He knew that, which was quite convenient- he could ask anyone and they would certainly remember and be able to tell him all about what they'd seen.
He wasn't going to stay in the only overnight stop in town, because he knew his "friend" would be staying there. It wouldn't do any good to confront her.
He scanned the bulletin board where people posted wanted ads and such. His eyes landed on one that read
"In need of someone to care for my horses while I am away for three weeks. Call me at the number below if interested. Ask for Todd."
Aha. That sounded just like a job she'd take... he had her pinned down now. It was only a matter of time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kentucky Belle followed the bidding of her mistress, trotting towards Valedale. Willie Fae was eager to pick up the job she'd seen on the bulletin board.
She called the number from a pay phone outside the drug store, and got the job. All she had to do was work and care for two horses, for three weeks. Three weeks was a bit longer than usually liked to stop, but it was good pay, and she couldn't see passing it up. The next day, she'd start her job and the man, Todd, could start on his trip.
She got a place to stay at the boarding house. It really was a boarding house this time, and not just the name. Meals were provided so she didn't have to eat out. Her horse could stay in a fenced in pasture behind the place- Valedale was a small town, and the lady lived and worked there. She kept her horses there as well, and many people who didn't have room for their horses kept them there. Juneau had faithfully followed Kentucky Belle and Willie Fae, and had set up shop for himself on the front porch. Ms. Valerie, who owned the house with her daughter, thought he was the nicest dog, and welcomed his mascot like presence on her front porch for the next few weeks.
She started the job in the morning. She got up early and took her horse (and coincidentally her dog) and rode to the place where she was supposed to meet Todd. He was a short guy with blond hair, and he was very much appreciative of her taking the job. He showed her to the horse pasture.
"They're in there. That one's Rosalinda, and that one's Siroco. They just need some light exercise and standard looking after till I get back."
Willie Fae nodded. "How do you feed 'em?"
He took her over to the barn, which was near the horse pasture and the corrals, and showed her about that and also showed her where he kept everything. He explained about how he owned a lot of land out back of the pasture and there was plenty of property to ride on.
"I don't live out here," he said as they came out of the barn, "But there's a trailer over there I use sometimes. It's hooked up to water and electric so if you need to stop for a bit sometime, you can stop in there."
"Yep." Willie Fae saw the little peach trailer parked a few yards away.
"Anything else?"
"Don't think so."
"In that case good luck and thanks again!" Todd went off to his truck and drove away.
Willie Fae looked down at Juneau. "Well pooch, welcome to the new routine." She went out to the horse pasture and brought in Rosalinda. It wouldn't take long to take care of the horses. She led the horse to a post just inside the edge of the barn, and started by checking her over from one end to the other. Finding no scrapes or cuts, she groomed the horse in full- curry come, mane and tail brushed, hard brush, soft brush- and then she disappeared into the part of the barn where the tack was and tacked up Rosalinda. She checked the girth one last time before mounting the horse and directing her to the other side of the horse pasture.
It was mostly flat out there. You had to get over a very slight hill, through a belt of cottonwood trees, before you hit flat land, but once you did there wasn't any hills in sight. She spent an hour or so with Rosalinda, before coming back to the barn and letting her take a short drink, removing the tack, and sponging away the saddle marks. She brought Siroco and did the same for him. It took her about three or four hours in all, but she certainly didn't dislike the work.
Next she found herself looking at Kentucky Belle. The mustang was set loose in the horse pasture. She hadn't had the ability to go on a long ride, in the middle of nowhere, for some time. Now was as good a time as any.
The mustang had, at one time, been a free roaming horse. Herds of wild mustangs did still exist, and in '73, when she was going on sixteen, a program started where you could adopt a wild mustang and train it, and if you did a good job after a year, you got to keep the horse.
This was where Kentucky Belle came from. In fact Willie Fae's father was the one who did it. He got two of them- one of them he kept, the other one sort of gravitated to become her horse. That was about the only thing good that she could recall which had come out of her father, come to think of it.
She led Kentuck into the edge of the barn after turning Siroco lose, gave her a quick brushing and tacked her up, and took her out to the flat area behind the horse pasture.
She brought Kentuck back in let her cool down, while she sat on the top rail of the fence. Juneau, who'd simply followed her to and fro the entire day, came to her. As usual his only interest was attention from her.
"Well pooch, you ready to get back and eat lunch?"
The dog looked at her as if to say, 'I'd rather you get me a nice hamburger than table scraps, but I guess it'll do.'
She grinned at him, gave him a pat on the head, and pushed herself off the fence. She re-tightened the girth of Kentucky's saddle, mounted the horse, and set out at a trot. Juneau followed her closely.
Ms. Valerie's house was on the very edge of town. You didn't even have to enter town to get there, and there was a block and a half between Ms. Valerie's front porch and the nearest store building or city block.
Mrs. Valerie was much less nosy than Mrs. Lester had been, which Willie Fae welcomed- but if only she could see Mrs. Lester now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So, what else do you know about her motives?" asked a man.
Mrs. Lester smiled and then let the smile melt away as she began to think. "I really don't know that she has any motives. She seems to motivated by something I suppose but heaven only knows what it could be."
"And do you know how much she weighs?"
Mrs, Lester was a little surprised by such a question but answered, "I'd guess a little over a 110 pounds..."
"Wrong." The man said a little harshly, but he stopped himself and smiled. "I mean to say, that she's 115. That question was only to test your judgment."
"Oh, I see," laughed Mrs. Lester. "My, aren't you a shrewd man!"
Although Mrs. Lester was a widow, she wasn't beyond picking up a handsome man, and she couldn't help but give this one a try.
"Yes, I suppose I am." He said slowly. "I suppose I am."
He stood up and made a bow to her. "Thank you for as lovely evening, Marge." He kissed her hand, and disappeared off the porch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Willie Fae wasn't sure what she should do with her time. The job paid her enough but it gave her a lot of free time, which wasn't something she was used to having- usually she worked jobs that required her to spend most of her day at them.
She didn't really have any hobbies. She was just sitting on the porch, trying to decide what she should be doing, when Miss Valerie walked out on the porch.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
Willie Fae looked up at her in surprise. "Nothin'."
"Well, why aren't you doing something?" Miss Valerie asked.
"What should I be doin'?" She asked.
"Well, if you need something to do, you could always help me." She smiled and held out her hand. "Call me Valerie, please. I don't like the formal address."
"Okay. What do you want me to do?" Willie Fae shook hands with her, and stood up.
"You could help me by mowing the grass."
Willie Fae didn't enjoy mowing grass, but it was better than doing nothing.
"Or-" Valerie paused. "Or, I know what you could do that'd be much better."
"Such as?"
"Well, I have an errand that needs running so why don't you do that?"
"Okay." Willie Fae agreed.
Valerie led her into the house. "I've got some letters that need mailing, and I would mail them myself, but I've got a cake in the oven and I have to fold the clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer or I'll end up having to iron them."
Willie Fae nodded and took the letters.
"They're actually bills, but I do have one letter in there. The bills are important so make sure they get mailed. I hope you don't mind me turning you into an errand girl," she added with a laugh.
"It's better than doin' nothin'." Wille Fae walked outside. The post office wasn't far from there, so she walked instead of riding.
Entering the post office, she pushed the envelopes into the metal slot in the wall, and turned to leave.
"Pardon, miss."
The voice was familiar. Friendly, too, but almost deceivingly so.
She glanced behind her. There was a man back there who was just closing the little door on his Post Office Box. Was he the one who'd.... no.
"I don't suppose you have time to chat?"
She whirled back around to the door and found herself face to face with a man. This one appeared to be the one she was looking for- or rather, the one who was looking for her. Yes, it had to be, because he was the same guy who...
"I don't have time to talk to you. And I never will." She added, and shoving him roughly aside she marched out of the post office.
He hurried after her, ignoring the fact that she'd just let the door slam in his face. "Hey, hey, calm down ma'am... we can just have a nice, friendly discussion like the civilized people we are, huh?"
She stopped walking but she didn't look at him or turn around. "About what?"
"About where you were on a certain evening, in... 1975, I believe." He returned in a smooth voice. Many women would have found him handsome. Willie Fae found him sickening.
"Yeah. Please go take a flying leap." She had a sort of pent up anger in her tone and she stormed quickly away from him. He marched after her. He wasn't giving up. He not only was determined to get her to look at him, (just for spite really,) but his client wouldn't be happy if this whole race-and-chase game went on much longer. It was time to dole out the justice- if one could call it that.
"Hey, where are you going? This isn't any joke. I need your help here."
"I already gave you a perfect suggestion for what to do with yourself. If you don't like it, it ain't my problem." She retorted evenly.
There was a small crowd of people around a man up ahead, and the man was showing off a new car of his to his friends and neighbors. Luckily his driveway was small and the friends ended up on the sidewalk. Willie Fae plunged into the midst of them and hurry off on the other side, whilst her stalker got caught up between a couple of dogs that had just come running up and a few people asking his opinion on the car, Willie Fae cut through someone's backyard to get to Miss Valerie's as fast as she could.
When she came inside, Miss Valerie asked if she'd gotten them all mailed. She gave a simple Yes'm- she occasionally tried to be polite- and disappeared upstairs to her room. She had to find a way to stick out the duration of her job and not be chased by that annoying man. She could handle him across country, or state, or county, but in one village, it was impossible. She didn't have anywhere to go.... which was a good question, come to think of it. Where to run?
She parked the truck behind the barn where it had been and walked to the front. Mason was waiting on her. Apparently she was a moment or two late.
"Was it serious?" he asked.
"Nope." she answered, and handed him his truck keys. "You wanna go on back?"
"Might as well," he agreed.
"Have fun with your windshield." she chuckled as she followed him back to his truck, hurrying from the front office door to the pickup door because of how fast the rain was coming down."What's wrong with the windshield?" Mason asked.
"Your windshield wipers ain't wiping."
"Did you check and see if a fuse blew?"
"No, I was kinda busy." Willie Fae returned as she slammed the truck door.
"Well, I don't have a spare fuse with me anyway. We'll make it back and then I'll look at it when the rain stops." Mason said.
They drove back to Mrs. Lester's, albeit slowly, and Mason parked his truck outside the back door where they made a run for the house.
Mrs. Lester served dinner at six because most of the people who stopped at her motel got off of their jobs at five or five-thirty. Everyone had the choice of eating downstairs in the dining room or upstairs in their own rooms. Willie Fae was one of the few who always took the option of her own room.
She went upstairs with a tray and sat down on her bed. Tomorrow was the day she'd planned to leave. She hadn't said a formal goodbye to Daisy, but maybe it would be better to just get ready to leave. She'd work her last day, and then pack up and leave.
She got most of her tings around ahead of time, laid out her clothes for the next day, and went out to the barn to check on her horse. She hadn't been exercising Kentucky Belle much and that was about to change. She would be losing her free truck transportation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's not a normal sight, in Valedale, to see someone using horse transportation. He knew that, which was quite convenient- he could ask anyone and they would certainly remember and be able to tell him all about what they'd seen.
He wasn't going to stay in the only overnight stop in town, because he knew his "friend" would be staying there. It wouldn't do any good to confront her.
He scanned the bulletin board where people posted wanted ads and such. His eyes landed on one that read
"In need of someone to care for my horses while I am away for three weeks. Call me at the number below if interested. Ask for Todd."
Aha. That sounded just like a job she'd take... he had her pinned down now. It was only a matter of time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kentucky Belle followed the bidding of her mistress, trotting towards Valedale. Willie Fae was eager to pick up the job she'd seen on the bulletin board.
She called the number from a pay phone outside the drug store, and got the job. All she had to do was work and care for two horses, for three weeks. Three weeks was a bit longer than usually liked to stop, but it was good pay, and she couldn't see passing it up. The next day, she'd start her job and the man, Todd, could start on his trip.
She got a place to stay at the boarding house. It really was a boarding house this time, and not just the name. Meals were provided so she didn't have to eat out. Her horse could stay in a fenced in pasture behind the place- Valedale was a small town, and the lady lived and worked there. She kept her horses there as well, and many people who didn't have room for their horses kept them there. Juneau had faithfully followed Kentucky Belle and Willie Fae, and had set up shop for himself on the front porch. Ms. Valerie, who owned the house with her daughter, thought he was the nicest dog, and welcomed his mascot like presence on her front porch for the next few weeks.
She started the job in the morning. She got up early and took her horse (and coincidentally her dog) and rode to the place where she was supposed to meet Todd. He was a short guy with blond hair, and he was very much appreciative of her taking the job. He showed her to the horse pasture.
"They're in there. That one's Rosalinda, and that one's Siroco. They just need some light exercise and standard looking after till I get back."
Willie Fae nodded. "How do you feed 'em?"
He took her over to the barn, which was near the horse pasture and the corrals, and showed her about that and also showed her where he kept everything. He explained about how he owned a lot of land out back of the pasture and there was plenty of property to ride on.
"I don't live out here," he said as they came out of the barn, "But there's a trailer over there I use sometimes. It's hooked up to water and electric so if you need to stop for a bit sometime, you can stop in there."
"Yep." Willie Fae saw the little peach trailer parked a few yards away.
"Anything else?"
"Don't think so."
"In that case good luck and thanks again!" Todd went off to his truck and drove away.
Willie Fae looked down at Juneau. "Well pooch, welcome to the new routine." She went out to the horse pasture and brought in Rosalinda. It wouldn't take long to take care of the horses. She led the horse to a post just inside the edge of the barn, and started by checking her over from one end to the other. Finding no scrapes or cuts, she groomed the horse in full- curry come, mane and tail brushed, hard brush, soft brush- and then she disappeared into the part of the barn where the tack was and tacked up Rosalinda. She checked the girth one last time before mounting the horse and directing her to the other side of the horse pasture.
It was mostly flat out there. You had to get over a very slight hill, through a belt of cottonwood trees, before you hit flat land, but once you did there wasn't any hills in sight. She spent an hour or so with Rosalinda, before coming back to the barn and letting her take a short drink, removing the tack, and sponging away the saddle marks. She brought Siroco and did the same for him. It took her about three or four hours in all, but she certainly didn't dislike the work.
Next she found herself looking at Kentucky Belle. The mustang was set loose in the horse pasture. She hadn't had the ability to go on a long ride, in the middle of nowhere, for some time. Now was as good a time as any.
The mustang had, at one time, been a free roaming horse. Herds of wild mustangs did still exist, and in '73, when she was going on sixteen, a program started where you could adopt a wild mustang and train it, and if you did a good job after a year, you got to keep the horse.
This was where Kentucky Belle came from. In fact Willie Fae's father was the one who did it. He got two of them- one of them he kept, the other one sort of gravitated to become her horse. That was about the only thing good that she could recall which had come out of her father, come to think of it.
She led Kentuck into the edge of the barn after turning Siroco lose, gave her a quick brushing and tacked her up, and took her out to the flat area behind the horse pasture.
She brought Kentuck back in let her cool down, while she sat on the top rail of the fence. Juneau, who'd simply followed her to and fro the entire day, came to her. As usual his only interest was attention from her.
"Well pooch, you ready to get back and eat lunch?"
The dog looked at her as if to say, 'I'd rather you get me a nice hamburger than table scraps, but I guess it'll do.'
She grinned at him, gave him a pat on the head, and pushed herself off the fence. She re-tightened the girth of Kentucky's saddle, mounted the horse, and set out at a trot. Juneau followed her closely.
Ms. Valerie's house was on the very edge of town. You didn't even have to enter town to get there, and there was a block and a half between Ms. Valerie's front porch and the nearest store building or city block.
Mrs. Valerie was much less nosy than Mrs. Lester had been, which Willie Fae welcomed- but if only she could see Mrs. Lester now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So, what else do you know about her motives?" asked a man.
Mrs. Lester smiled and then let the smile melt away as she began to think. "I really don't know that she has any motives. She seems to motivated by something I suppose but heaven only knows what it could be."
"And do you know how much she weighs?"
Mrs, Lester was a little surprised by such a question but answered, "I'd guess a little over a 110 pounds..."
"Wrong." The man said a little harshly, but he stopped himself and smiled. "I mean to say, that she's 115. That question was only to test your judgment."
"Oh, I see," laughed Mrs. Lester. "My, aren't you a shrewd man!"
Although Mrs. Lester was a widow, she wasn't beyond picking up a handsome man, and she couldn't help but give this one a try.
"Yes, I suppose I am." He said slowly. "I suppose I am."
He stood up and made a bow to her. "Thank you for as lovely evening, Marge." He kissed her hand, and disappeared off the porch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Willie Fae wasn't sure what she should do with her time. The job paid her enough but it gave her a lot of free time, which wasn't something she was used to having- usually she worked jobs that required her to spend most of her day at them.
She didn't really have any hobbies. She was just sitting on the porch, trying to decide what she should be doing, when Miss Valerie walked out on the porch.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
Willie Fae looked up at her in surprise. "Nothin'."
"Well, why aren't you doing something?" Miss Valerie asked.
"What should I be doin'?" She asked.
"Well, if you need something to do, you could always help me." She smiled and held out her hand. "Call me Valerie, please. I don't like the formal address."
"Okay. What do you want me to do?" Willie Fae shook hands with her, and stood up.
"You could help me by mowing the grass."
Willie Fae didn't enjoy mowing grass, but it was better than doing nothing.
"Or-" Valerie paused. "Or, I know what you could do that'd be much better."
"Such as?"
"Well, I have an errand that needs running so why don't you do that?"
"Okay." Willie Fae agreed.
Valerie led her into the house. "I've got some letters that need mailing, and I would mail them myself, but I've got a cake in the oven and I have to fold the clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer or I'll end up having to iron them."
Willie Fae nodded and took the letters.
"They're actually bills, but I do have one letter in there. The bills are important so make sure they get mailed. I hope you don't mind me turning you into an errand girl," she added with a laugh.
"It's better than doin' nothin'." Wille Fae walked outside. The post office wasn't far from there, so she walked instead of riding.
Entering the post office, she pushed the envelopes into the metal slot in the wall, and turned to leave.
"Pardon, miss."
The voice was familiar. Friendly, too, but almost deceivingly so.
She glanced behind her. There was a man back there who was just closing the little door on his Post Office Box. Was he the one who'd.... no.
"I don't suppose you have time to chat?"
She whirled back around to the door and found herself face to face with a man. This one appeared to be the one she was looking for- or rather, the one who was looking for her. Yes, it had to be, because he was the same guy who...
"I don't have time to talk to you. And I never will." She added, and shoving him roughly aside she marched out of the post office.
He hurried after her, ignoring the fact that she'd just let the door slam in his face. "Hey, hey, calm down ma'am... we can just have a nice, friendly discussion like the civilized people we are, huh?"
She stopped walking but she didn't look at him or turn around. "About what?"
"About where you were on a certain evening, in... 1975, I believe." He returned in a smooth voice. Many women would have found him handsome. Willie Fae found him sickening.
"Yeah. Please go take a flying leap." She had a sort of pent up anger in her tone and she stormed quickly away from him. He marched after her. He wasn't giving up. He not only was determined to get her to look at him, (just for spite really,) but his client wouldn't be happy if this whole race-and-chase game went on much longer. It was time to dole out the justice- if one could call it that.
"Hey, where are you going? This isn't any joke. I need your help here."
"I already gave you a perfect suggestion for what to do with yourself. If you don't like it, it ain't my problem." She retorted evenly.
There was a small crowd of people around a man up ahead, and the man was showing off a new car of his to his friends and neighbors. Luckily his driveway was small and the friends ended up on the sidewalk. Willie Fae plunged into the midst of them and hurry off on the other side, whilst her stalker got caught up between a couple of dogs that had just come running up and a few people asking his opinion on the car, Willie Fae cut through someone's backyard to get to Miss Valerie's as fast as she could.
When she came inside, Miss Valerie asked if she'd gotten them all mailed. She gave a simple Yes'm- she occasionally tried to be polite- and disappeared upstairs to her room. She had to find a way to stick out the duration of her job and not be chased by that annoying man. She could handle him across country, or state, or county, but in one village, it was impossible. She didn't have anywhere to go.... which was a good question, come to think of it. Where to run?