Dorothy Garlock - [Route 66] (8 page)

Anna Marie was in a much better mood when she and Margie walked over to where the Putmans were parked. Grace came to meet them with a big smile of welcome.

“There’s my pretty girl.” She grabbed Anna Marie and gave her a hug, then said, “Hello, Margie. How are you standing the trip so far?”

“So far, all right.”

“I’m enjoying every bit of it. I always did like to see new things. I chatter about everything to Rusty. We’re about to drive Alvin wild. When he gets tired of us, he sings and drowns us out,” she said with a giggle.

Lucky you, Margie thought, then said, “See you tonight, Grace.”

Margie was aware that Brady was squatted on the ground beside Rusty, and Blackie lay sprawled on his belly close by. Margie could feel Brady’s eyes on her. She had taken less than a dozen steps back toward the truck when he appeared beside her.

“Margie, wait a minute. What was that all about?”

“She had to go to the outhouse,” Margie said without looking at him.

“Good Lord. I thought she was hurting someplace.”

“She was.”

“Why didn’t she tell me? I would have found a place to stop.”

“She was embarrassed. She … had a little accident.”

“Good Lord. Poor kid. I don’t know much about taking care of kids—never been around ’em, especially little girls.”

“You’d better learn fast. It’s a long way to California.”

Elmer appeared from around the back of the truck and stood quietly watching them.

“Thanks, Margie.” Brady tipped his hat and turned back toward the Putmans.

When they pulled onto the road again, Anna Marie was sitting between Alvin and Grace, and Rusty was riding with Brady.

“Did you see that?” Sugar Luker, waiting in the car for Jody and Foley to tie the tarp down over their two-wheel trailer, spoke over her shoulder to Mona when the Putmans passed. “The little girl is riding with the Putmans. Well, well. It looks like the blind dolt is going to ride with Brady.”

“Don’t call him that!” Mona said sharply.

“I’ll call him whatever I want, Miss Ugly Muffin, and you’d better not talk to me in that tone of voice if you know what’s good for you.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’ll tattle to Daddy.”

“Now what’s goin’ on?” Foley slid in under the wheel, and Sugar moved to the middle of the seat to sit close to him.

“Nothin’ important, darlin’. I was just remarking that the little girl is riding with the Putmans and their son is riding with Mr. Hoyt. Mona is having one of her grouchy spells. If you say one little thing to her, she blows up.”

“She called Rusty a dolt. I told her not to call him that just because he’s blind.”

“I said colt.” Sugar moved her hand up on the inside of her husband’s thigh.

“You did not! You said dolt. You know you did. You’re just trying to make me out a liar.” Mona shook off her brother’s warning hand.

“That’s enough, Mona,” Foley said sharply. He started the car and pulled out onto the highway. “I’m glad Brady knew about plugging holes in radiators. I hope it holds. I don’t want to have to put in a new one.”

“Did he say what he’s going to do when he gets to California?” Sugar asked.

“Turn around and come back as far as Colorado. He’s got some ranchland out there.”

“Then what’s he doing here?”

“He came to take his brother’s little girl to her aunt somewhere in California.”

“Couldn’t he afford to take the train?”

“I didn’t ask him. We’re going to have to break camp earlier in the morning from now on. And pack up faster.” Foley looked in the mirror on the side of the car to see what was behind him. “If Hoyt is going to follow us, he isn’t going to want to wait for us every morning.”

“Tell that to Jody and Mona. Before we started I told you that I’d never camped out in my life and didn’t know the first thing about cooking over a campfire. I wanted to go on the train. Remember?” she said with a pout in her voice.

“I know that. The train costs more. We’ve got to have enough money to start a business in California. This is the cheapest way for us to get there.”

“You’re right. You always are, darlin’.” She squeezed his thigh. “I’ll do the best I can.”

“That’s all I ask, honey.”

“We should offer to let Brady’s niece ride with us part of the time. Jody could ride with Brady.”

“She’d ride with him if given half a chance,” Mona mouthed to her brother.

“Mona would give her eyeteeth to ride with him,” Sugar said to Foley in a low, confidential tone. “But, darling, we must be careful with our young lady. I think he’s a little too old and too experienced for her. A footloose man will take advantage of a
green
girl if he gets a chance.”

“I think you’re jumping the gun, but if it will make you any happier, I’ll keep an eye on her.”

In the backseat Mona clenched her hands into fists. Her face was set in hard, angry lines. She rolled angry eyes toward her brother. He shook his head, silently asking her not to let Sugar goad her into another set-to that would just upset their father.

When Foley pulled over and stopped to check the radiator, Brady pulled in behind them. Foley had already lifted the hood by the time Brady got out. The stop also gave Blackie a chance to get out and sniff around.

“Lost any water?” Brady asked.

“Not a drop,” Foley said, grinning.

“Then it looks like it’ll hold. Save your tinfoil, though, just in case.”

With the hood up so that the men couldn’t see inside the car, Sugar turned and thumbed her nose at Mona.

“You’re a bitch!” Mona said softly.

“Yes, I am,” Sugar agreed with a wide, pleased smile. “And it’s a hell of a lot of fun!”

Brady was enjoying Rusty’s company. The miles flew by while they discussed everything from music to politics. Rusty was well informed.

“I’m not sure Roosevelt’s New Deal is going to get the country back on its feet. I think what will do it will be the jobs created by making war supplies for England and France. That Hitler fellow has got absolute power in Germany now. He says he’s going to purify Germany both ethnically and politically. What that means, I think, is that he wants to get rid of everyone who isn’t a German. I’d bet my bottom dollar that he’s gettin’ ready to start a shootin’ war.”

“I’ve been kind of out of touch with what’s going on for several months now,” Brady admitted.

“I listened to all the news broadcasts when we were home. I’m missing it on this trip.”

“Have you thought of getting a battery-powered radio?”

“They’re big, bulky and expensive. I told Pa not to bother. I’ll catch up when we get to where we’re going.”

“And where is that?”

“A town just south of Bakersfield. Pa, Mr. Kinnard and Foley Luker plan to start up an ice business. Out there ice sells year-round. In Missouri there’s a lull during the winter months. Folks don’t use much ice when it freezes every night.”

“How long has Alvin known Mr. Kinnard?”

“He doesn’t really know him. They met because they were in the same business and hitched up this plan with Foley Luker. Foley wasn’t married then.”

“He’s hooked now.” Brady followed his remark with a snorting sound.

“Ma gave me her version of his new wife.” Rusty chuckled. “My mother can be a bit catty at times. She’s got definite opinions on some things. I don’t think she was far off the mark about Mrs. Luker. I asked Margie, and she said almost the same, only in a softer way.”

“Luker seems to be a pretty levelheaded guy except where she’s concerned. A woman who’d flirt with another man behind her husband’s back isn’t worth shootin’, to my way of thinkin’.”

“She flirt with you, did she?”

Brady nodded, then realized Rusty couldn’t see him. “Yeah,” he said. “And with Andy Payne too. Andy said that she reminded him of a black widow spider. She scared the crap out of him. He couldn’t get away from her fast enough.”

“She’s sure to give Mr. Luker trouble.” Rusty reached back to scratch Blackie, who was lying on a crate behind the front seat. “He doesn’t know it now, or maybe he doesn’t care, but he’ll lose his kids over her if he doesn’t change his ways soon. Neither one of them will put up with her much longer.”

“Mona is a pretty girl.”

“Is she?”

Brady glanced over and saw the interest on Rusty’s face. “Yeah. Pretty brown hair that hangs a little down on her shoulders. Big brown eyes. Curves in all the right places. Sixteen or seventeen, I’d guess. If I was ten years younger, I’d set my cap for her.” He continued to glance at Rusty and caught his smile.

“How old are you, Brady? Do you mind my asking?”

“Naw, I don’t mind. I’m twenty-nine.”

“I’m twenty-two. I’ve been blind for twelve years.”

“You’ve not let it stop you.”

“It’s stopped me on this trip. At home I knew my way around. I could go to town, to the barbershop, the post office and the grocery store. When we settle, it’ll take me a while to learn my way around again, but I can do it.”

“Alvin told me that you write songs. I’d like to hear some of them sometime. I listen to
Grand Ole Opry
from Nashville every chance I get, but I’ve never met a songwriter.”

“You just haven’t been in the right places. Before we get to California you’ll be wanting to slam my guitar against a tree trunk.” Rusty chuckled. “My folks think I can get a job singing on the radio. You know the old saying, a mother’s love is blind? Well, in this case it’s also deaf.”

Brady laughed. He was surprised at how easy it was to visit with a blind person. He found himself describing things he had barely noticed before.

“We’re crossing the Arkansas. I’m surprised they don’t have a toll on this bridge. The river is wide at this point, but there’s not much water down there.”

Later he said, “Almost every other building is empty in these little towns we’ve been going through. There’s a dirt road a little way over from the highway. I’m seeing several wagons. We just passed one piled high with household furniture and with a cow tied on behind. The folks must be moving on. I wonder how they got across the river. Maybe they came down from the north.

“I was damn lucky.” Brady maneuvered the car around a stripped-down Model T that was barely moving. “I worked over near Rainwater and Ponca City when the oil first came in. They were paying good wages, and I saved enough to get a little start or I’d be riding the rails looking for a job.”

“Pa said you’re a rancher.”

“Yeah. Me and another fellow have a little ranch in Colorado. My partner is Cherokee. There isn’t anything about a horse, wild or tame, that he doesn’t know about. He graduated from the Cherokee Seminary down at Tahlequah and is smart enough to do anything he sets his mind to. But all he wants to do is raise horses, which is fine with me. I met him through his sister and her husband while I was in Rainwater. Radna and Randolph Bluefeather are an unforgettable pair. Sometime I’ll tell you about them—that is, if you’re not already tired of hearing my voice. I don’t know when I’ve talked this much.”

“I appreciate every word. You paint a good picture. I’ve been able to see in my mind what you’ve been telling me.”

“It looks like this is where we’ll stop for the night.” Brady followed the Lukers off the highway. “I bought a hunk of meat back there at the store. Do you reckon your mother would make us a stew?”

Chapter 6

T
HE SUN WAS DROPPING BEHIND
the western horizon when Elmer followed Alvin into the camping area west of Sapulpa. A rattletrap car, the two front doors missing, was already there, and three men were sitting or squatting on the grass nearby. Alvin drove to the far side of the area before stopping, leaving room for Elmer, Foley and Brady to pull in behind him.

Elmer stopped a good fifty feet behind Alvin, got out and stood watching Alvin motion for him to move closer. When he made no move to get back into the truck, Alvin came to speak to him.

“I think we should be closer tonight, Elmer. There’s three men over there, and it looks to me like they’re boozin’ it up.”

“They’re not camping. They’ll move on out pretty soon.”

On hearing Elmer’s curt words, Alvin opened his mouth, closed it, glanced at the three men on the other side of the campground, then spoke with exaggerated calm.

“Well, I just thought I’d mention it.”

Margie got out of the truck. Elmer Kinnard was stubborn as a mule! Frustration rolled through her. During the hours she had been cooped up in the truck with him he had not said one word. She had made up her mind during the afternoon that she would endure whatever she had to endure because every day brought her closer to California.

But how long would Alvin put up with Elmer being so obstinate?
Her fear was that the others would cut them loose and leave her alone with him. Oh, Lord! What would she do?

She would sacrifice her pride and beg Brady Hoyt to take her with him and Anna Marie, if it came to that.

Margie had tried to look at one of her movie magazines during the afternoon, but the jolting in the truck gave her a headache, and she had to lay it aside and sit silently watching the landscape go by. It had been a long, cheerless afternoon, and she was glad it was time to stop for the night.

Desperately needing a little conversation, and caring not a whit if Elmer liked it or not, Margie headed for the Putman truck to speak to Grace and Anna Marie.

“Margie, guess what?” Anna Marie, clinging tightly to Grace’s hand, called as she approached.

“What? Tell me quick.” Margie hadn’t spoken a word since noon, and her voice seemed rough to her when she answered the child.

“Aunt Grace is teaching me the ABC song.”

“Forevermore! I’ll have to hear it,” Margie exclaimed. “Your uncle will be surprised.”

“We were just talking about that, wasn’t we, Annie?” Grace cupped the child’s head and held it to her side. “When I told her that our son’s name was Russell Allen, but we call him Rusty, she decided that she’d like to be called Annie.”

“Oh, but Anna Marie is such a pretty name.”

“You can still call me Anna Marie, Margie.”

“I think I will, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind. I like to ride with Aunt Grace. Can I ride with you sometime?”