chapter one- 1999

Chapter 1-1999

The wind blew softly and the sky looked just like the beginning of a “Simpson’s” episode as she stepped off the Greyhound bus in a small mountain town. The main drag looked like it had been there since the old mining days and, judging by the lack of grain in all the wood siding from countless layers of paint, it had. In fact, the smoothing effect of so much paint made the old west style buildings look almost plastic. The downtown portion of this burg occupied a beautiful plateau near the snow line of a 14,000 feet high section of this particular range. The state highway dipped into the middle of town from it’s carved out ledge along the side of the mountain for the full six and a half blocks that was Main Street. The town expanded out three blocks on the cliff side and five blocks into the end of the concave mountainside. Several houses were staggered up the mountain all around.
She figured that there was probably a little money to be made here, and the map didn’t acknowledge another town for at least sixty miles. Her bus ticket was about up, she had bought a number of miles instead of a destination because she didn’t know where she wanted to go. Yes, she decided, this place would do for now, at the very least there would be some excellent hiking.
She was a healthy, thin brunette with almost perfect skin and an attractive tan. She had been meandering around the country now for about three months, and her money was just about out. She still had credit cards of course but those were for emergencies only. Unfortunately, they would let her parents know where she was since her father still got the bills, and she wasn’t ready for that, nope, not yet. She’d taken off after two years of college to see the world while she was still young. Her schooling was just a waste of their money until she could figure out what she wanted to do for a living anyway. Her father would disagree.
She asked the driver for her pack out of the side of the bus and he was visibly disappointed. He had been innocently flirting with her for the last two hundred or so odd miles and the rest of the run just wasn’t going to be the same without her. After he closed and locked the luggage compartment he stuck his hand out for a friendly shake goodbye. She looked at his hand a moment and then pushed it aside to give him a hug instead. He was warm and tall to her and it felt good to touch someone so she pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.
“ Thanks, but that’s really not gonna help. “ he said with a smile.
She giggled out a “ Sorry? “, grabbed her pack, turned and walked towards what looked to be a restaurant down the block across the street.
She’d only kissed him because he had been very sweet and harmless and those were rare qualities in the men that she came across on the road. Still, she knew there was no looking back because he would get the wrong idea and show up in town expecting a date or some such thing and she was not looking for a boyfriend. The bus started to rev up behind her as she reached the quaint little boardwalk that ran across the front of all the shops on Main Street. She smiled to herself as it pulled away and thought maybe if she saw him again…ya, if she saw him again he'd have a shot.
The restaurant had the look of a country store from the outside but was surprisingly large, clean and modern on the in. It was almost one in the afternoon and the place was packed to the rafters with diners, a good sign for her. There wasn’t an empty table in the joint so she had to sit at the end of the counter and shove her pack between the stool and the wall. She waited patiently for service and realized there were only two waitresses and an older, kind looking woman behind the counter. The waitresses were darting back and forth between the tables and the order window for the kitchen with practiced efficiency but were obviously overwhelmed, another promising sign for her.
“What can I getcha’ there darlin’?” the matriarchal older woman startled her since she was inspecting the clientele.
“Oh, sorry. Um…just a couple of eggs scrambled, white toast and coffee if it’s not too much trouble?” she poured on the old charm.
“No problem at all, its what we do ya know?” the woman said with a pleased smile.
“Oh, ya, ha, ha, I just meant I’m not in any kind of hurry.” She was giggling and it was working.
“That’s good, we’re a bit short handed.” The woman was playing right into her hands.

It was four o’clock before the lunch rush died out, impressive for such a small town. The two waitresses were at the other end of the lunch counter, next to the cash register, smoking and trading pile after pile of one’s for twenty’s. The third good sign and to wish for anymore would be plain greedy.
“You either really love our coffee, or you got absotutly nuthin else ta do.” The kind old lady was filling her cup for the tenth time and it was getting hard to hold the paperback she was reading steady.
She decided it was time to make her move, “Actually, I was wondering if you might have a job opening for the next month or so?”
“That all depends on you there I s’pose.” The lady was really eyeballing her now and she was glad she’d taken a little time to build a rapport, though her bladder disagreed.
“I waited tables plenty, back at school. I’m dependable and I really need the cash so I’m willing to pick up any shift at all.” She put on her eager but slightly desperate smile.
“I’m sure ya have, ya do, and well we only got one shift round here, but that aint what I was gettin at.” She was taken off guard by this and began to shift around on the stool, “What I was wonderin’ was what business ya got hangin’ round these parts ta begin with?”
“I’m sorry but I don’t quite understand the question?” she was confused and really needed the restroom now.
“Simple question really, what brought ya to our particular town?” the stern eye contact was beginning to feel intrusive.
“Why, the bus did.” She smiled as big as she could but the joke flopped horribly, “Well, I mean, that is to say I was just passing through on the bus and my miles were about up, and this was the biggest town in the last day or so, and I thought I could, um, you know, make a little money.” She was uncomfortable and her fragile rapport had disintegrated.
“You shoulda’ stayed on yer bus and got yourself some more miles, aint nobody stays in these parts less they got family here.” The lady seemed offended by strangers and the two waitresses were starring down the counter at the scene.
“Well, surely you don’t mean…” she slipped, “sorry, but doesn’t anyone just come for vacation or to go hiking?”
“Aint no one goes hiking on this here mountain and that includes you!”
Now this was getting ridiculous, who did this lady think she was telling people what they could of couldn’t do on the entire mountain? She knew however that she had to make some money of she’d have to hike all the way out of the range and that would be more than she could handle alone. She figured that some bosses were just bad and she could handle it, so she turned the charm back on, “Well, you see I’m out of money and that bus driver was a horror. I believe he would’ve chucked me off in the middle of nowhere and I’m not that good of a hiker yet, so I really had no options.”
“Ooh, you done made a big mistake comin’ up here with no way down missy. I s’pose the Lord wouldn’t forgive me if I sent ya out in them woods. You sure you aint one of them damn reporters or the like?” she was turning moods like a TV with nothing worth watching.
“A reporter? No, definitely not. Like I said, I was just passing through and miscalculated my money is all.” Now she was truly curious.
“Well, next bus won’t hit town fer another week, so I guess I’ll put ya to workin’ so’s you can afford ta be on it. Where you plannin’ on sleepin’?” the motherly personality was back in full swing.
“I have this little tent here with me and I thought I’d just find a quiet…”
“No, no, no, you aint been listnin’ sweetheart. I sure hope you listen better n’ that tomorrow or we’ll have some serious problems. We’re ‘bout to close up here so…”
“At five in the afternoon?”
“Yep. We got a bit of a gentleman’s agreement with the bar at the other end a town, we close ‘fore six and they don’t open till after four. It’s the only way we can both make a livin’, and it keeps the folks sober fer half the day at least. So your goin’ down there…”
“To the bar?” this just kept getting stranger and stranger.
“That’s right. They got a couple rooms upstairs there, and you tell Hank, that’s the bartender, that Ms. Haberdash sent ya and he’ll put ya up for the week. You can settle up with him when that bus comes rollin’ in.”
She thanked the Ms. Haberdash, reluctantly, and walked towards the front door, lifting her pack to her shoulder as the two waitresses shouted after her a sarcastic “Welcome aboard” and a very serious “be here by eight thirty!”. She did not know which one had said which but she knew this job wasn’t going to be nearly as fun as she had hoped. She walked to the bar disappointed but also very intrigued.