Monday, June 28, 2010

All For Love

One night as I sat down to write another beginning came into mind. I'm doing good at all the beginnings, now all I have to do is decide which one to work on and finish. Or maybe the best thing to do is to work on each of them. What are some of your ideas? Here is the first chapter of my newest creation.

All For Love
One day in early spring Joan Ratcliff went for a walk along the beach. She took off her shoes and let the sand ooze between her toes. Her life was in shambles and she didn’t know where to turn. Her fiancĂ© had left her and all she had were memories and a little life growing inside her. Her parents were separated and she couldn’t talk to either of them. Neither of them knew they would be a grandparent within the year.
Somewhere deep in her soul Joan knew she wanted to keep this child but how could she raise a child on her own when she didn’t even have a job? High school graduation had equipped her for an office job but the market was slim and she had not been able to find a job yet. Her parents wouldn’t support her and the child. Tom didn’t know about the child but he had left her so he didn’t need to know.
It would be easy to just walk out into the waves and let nature do the rest. She shed her beach coat and walked into the waves. The icy water sent her to her knees. What was she doing? This wasn’t the answer, but she didn’t know what the answer was. As she looked out over the breakers she had a glimpse of a cabin in the woods. Her uncle had a cabin up in Flagstaff Arizona. He hadn’t used it in years and if she remembered right she still knew where the key was. The thought of leaving California and living alone in a cabin in the woods made her stomach turn over but that was better than what she had been anticipating.
She left the beach and headed for home. Her mom was asleep on the couch with a bottle still in her outstretched hand. A cigarette was smoking in the ashtray. Joan carefully removed the bottle and the ashtray and put out the cigarette. She swore her child would never come home to find her like this. She didn’t blame her dad for leaving, but he wasn’t much better than her mother. If it wouldn’t have been for the alcohol she figured they would still be together.
Joan took the money she had meant for college and packed her bags. Her mother wouldn’t wake up until well after she was gone. That was a good thing. She wrote a quick note telling her not to worry but that she would be away for a long time. It was time for her to grow up now and move out on her own. She would keep in touch when she could. She laid it on her pillow figuring someday her mom would check in on her. Hopefully someday she would get it together.
The drive to Flagstaff would take about 10 hours. Joan stopped at the bank and drew out the last money she had in there. She would need everything she had to make it through her stay at her uncle’s cabin. If she was careful she could make it all the way there and not have to stop too much along the way. Joan thought about calling her uncle but decided it was best if nobody knew where she was.
The sun was shining bright in a cloudless sky but Joan knew that in the mountains the weather condition can change any time. It was spring and not yet monsoon season but this winter had been wetter than normal. Usually the sky could be overcast and you wouldn’t get a drop of rain, but lately there could be a cloud as small as a hand and within an hour in could be pouring. That was one time you didn’t want to be in the mountains.
Joan looked for the truck stops along the way. There was safety in numbers and the food was always more than you could eat for a reasonable price. The truck drivers were always ready to open the door for her and grace her with their smiles. Other days she may have enjoyed that, but today men were the farthest thing from her mind. She would live her life as far away from them as she could. She didn’t need them. Whatever she had to do she could do by herself.
The farther she drove into Arizona the hotter it got. Her air conditioner was blowing air but it didn’t seem to be cooling the car off. Joan rolled down her window to get some air and noticed the difference in the atmosphere. Smog was so much a part of her life in California that she was surprised to breathe the fresh air, even if it was warm air. She stopped at a couple of scenic overviews and took a lot of pictures. They would chart the beginning of life on her own.
The sun was going down when she arrived in Flagstaff. She still had another 45 minutes to go to where the cabin was located but she thought she better stop and get some food and necessary items to take with her at the trading post. A couple of Native Americans were chatting behind the counter when she came in and both of them ignored her. She could smell something cooking in the backroom and her stomach started doing the rumba. There were no bathrooms that she could see. Joan ran out of the door and spotted a glorified outhouse. She made it, but the smell in there was her undoing.
After what seemed like an hour the nausea left her and she was able to clean herself up by the small mirror above the sink. She looked terrible but nobody would notice anyway. Joan pulled a tongue at the image in the mirror and splashed water on her face. It was funny that people called this morning sickness. For her it was morning, noon, and night sickness. Number one on her list needed to be crackers so she could keep things down better.
The sun was nowhere in sight when she walked out into the night. There was no light in the trading post either. They must have closed up for the night. That wasn’t a good thing. She heard a noise behind her and she turned quickly to see what it was. All she could see was the end of a cigarette.
“Are you all right Ms?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“You were in there a long time. I was getting worried about you.”
“Just a little on the queasy side, I’ll be all right.”
“Which way are you headed? The roads north of here are getting treacherous.
“I appreciate your concern, but I can make it.” Joan walked back to her car and rummaged through the cooler to try and find something that she could eat. Her stomach was empty after getting rid of everything she had eaten during the day. She found an apple to nibble on. That should carry me over until I get there, she thought. When she got there the cupboards would be bare though. Joan looked back toward the outhouse and saw that the glow of the cigarette had not moved.
She decided to backtrack a bit and drive into town a ways. There should be something open at this time of night. That would bring her to the cabin later than she had intended, but at least she would have food and things to sustain her through the next week. The drive into town took longer than she thought with all the road construction and uneven lanes. She was glad to see a Fry’s sign ahead. She pulled into the parking lot just as the first torrent of rain hit her car.
Joan thought about sitting in her car and waiting for the rain to stop but with the way her luck was running they would close the store before she got in there. She’d just have to get wet and pick up an umbrella when she got in the store. She locked the door and ran for the store. The sign said they were open until midnight. That was good, even if she got late to the cabin at least she’d get her shopping done.
Candles, matches, and a flashlight were thrown in with the groceries. She wasn’t going to take any chances. Toilet paper, she couldn’t forget that item. Four boxes of crackers were added to the already growing cart. When she got to the cabin she would have to unload all of that stuff too. She sure hoped the rain would be over by then. Joan tried to remember what the terrain was like around that cabin but she couldn’t be sure. She’d just have to take her chances.
There was a drizzle in the air when Joan walked out to her car. After piling everything in the trunk she grabbed a box of crackers and a coke and got behind the wheel. She spread out her map to make sure she knew where she was going and circled the turn off to her uncle’s cabin. It shouldn’t be too hard to get to. It would be another hour probably but that would still get her there before 11:00.
As Joan pulled out of the parking spot she spotted someone standing in the shadows of the building. All she could make out clearly was the glow of a cigarette tip. She shook her head. Now don’t go getting paranoid, she chided herself. Yet, she couldn’t help wondering if it was the same man. She turned on the radio to drown out her suspicious thoughts. The news caster was just telling about an escaped convict from the Tucson Correctional Facility. She flipped the dial until she found a country oldies station and then headed for her uncle’s cabin.
The drive was slow and treacherous. The guy with the cigarette was right. The wind was so strong it felt like the car was going to blow off the road. There was a car following her so she knew that at least the road was still being traveled on. Up ahead she could see the tail lights of another vehicle. That helped her tell when a bend was coming in the road. A coyote crossed the road in front of her and she had to slam on the brakes to keep from hitting him. She relaxed her grip on the wheel. It sure would be good to get to the cabin. Judging by the time and the miles on the odometer she figured the turn off would be coming up soon.
Straining her eyes against the wind and the rain she scanned the woods to the right. Then she spotted it. She couldn’t believe they still had that old bucking bronco sign up there. It was faded and hardly readable, but pointed the way to the cafĂ© just the same. She wondered if it still existed yet. If it did you would have thought the least they could do is paint the sign. Maybe she could do it. She had never painted a sign before but it couldn’t be that much different than a canvas.
As she turned onto the road the car behind her turned too. Joan couldn’t remember too many neighbors up this way but it had been many years and there were sure to be more people living up there now. She stifled a yawn. Only ten more minutes to go and she’d be there. Then she’d have to carry everything in the house and make sure the electricity was working and the water was running. The thought of scorpions crossed her mind but she chased that thought away. No scorpions, anything but scorpions. What about snakes? She never heard her uncle talk about snakes either so those were out too. Snakes were not good house partners.
Joan was glad to see her uncle’s mailbox. He always went all out and built a barn around his mailbox. It was on a wooden pole that swung out of the way when the snow plows came along. That was the big difference up here in Flagstaff; you still got a lot of snow. She’d deal with that when the time came. As she pulled into the driveway she looked back. The car that had been following her stopped. All she could see was the glow of a cigarette. Then it slowly drove ahead. She shivered. Something did not feel right about this whole business.
The lights worked, the water worked, and there were no snakes or scorpions in the cabin that she could see. The rain stopped as she carried in the last bag of groceries from the car. Perfect timing she thought. It waits till I’ve driven all the way here and then it stops. It could have stayed away until I got here. She made sure the door was locked and then she ran water for her bath.
Joan slid under the bubbles and lit a candle so she could read one of the books she had brought along. It felt so good to get rid of the chill of the last couple hours. She’d just read for a little while and just relax and then she would crawl in bed for the night. It had been a long day. Her eyes were getting heavy when suddenly there was such a racket in the kitchen that it made her throw her book clear across the room. It hit the vanity mirror and ended up in the sink. Joan’s heart was beating like a drum and she wasn’t sure if she should get out of the water or hide beneath it.

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