Chapter 14: Sweet little Marcy and Bad Ash

Keith Boyd-
Fred Boyd his brother.
Alice Boyd his sister in law.
Nephew John 15
Niece Gabby 13
Jo Anne Wall old girl friend
Windy Wall her ex husband.
Lewis and Ellie Keith’s in laws.
Sarah Marsh retro hippie
General Briggs rd
Doris owner of the consignment shop.
Jo Anne Joyner Wall : Keith’s first girlfriend. Three girls 16 13 10
oldest daughter ginger
Mr Jessup buyer of Keith’s scooter.
Rebecca Avondale deacon and keith’s client.
Marsha stylist to Rebecca
Gulfcrest hotel/casino
Elanor, Mark and Simon family being stalked
Sylvia Amos sheriff’s detective.
Willow goth chick. Computer nerd
Abdi arab family victim of arson.
Ginger Moss Willow’s mother
Mr Serpico client in motel.
Liam Amos hunter.
Jasper Amos Liam’s son
Jerry Geyser first separated man to stay in cabin/tent.
Lou Anne Mason justice dept
Jill one of the federal cops.
Ashley Marcy’s friend.
Nurse Jane at hospital in grenada
Rodney Markham and Marcus Wilbert Deacon’s attackers.

Then next morning I awoke with the sun. I loaded my scooter, then headed out. No one had to tell me the cops would want to talk to me. I wanted to give the whole thing time to shake out before I gave a statement, so I left for places unknown. I I knew it would cost me a large premium to buy American, but I had no choice. The overall price would work out to more since I had to buy thirty six volt lithium batteries in order to have a hundred mile range. I called a private postal store in Pine Bluff Arkansas to arrange for a package pick up from then. Then I bought all the batteries at once from an online shopping site. I ordered them on line, but had them shipped to the private postal pickup store across the river in Pine Bluff. I knew the odds were on my side with that transaction. There would be a bank trail for sure, but it was for use to pay off my Pay Pal account. The one I used to pay for purchases for the Gatehouse and the shop. By the time the cops got onto me, I would have left Arkansas for more places unknown.

I could make no more than one hundred miles a day on my three wheeler. That speed kept me off major highways which made my trips even longer. I could make no more fourty five miles on the fifty amp hour lithium batteries I had in my possession when I left Grenada Mississippi. I had to find a way to make them do.

The new lithium batteries were going to be very expensive, but it was an important part of staying on the run. I bought two fifty hour lithium batteries. They joined the twenty and thirty amp hour batteries I had. I decided to toss the Lead Acid batteries when they ran down. They were the ones I had brought from home. I had planed to use them as an emergency backup to get me to a charger. However their weight now made them a liability.

On the way to pine bluff, I bought a heavy duty extension cord so I could charge the batteries all at once and in about an hour. I figured I could find someplace to do it along the way. I had to stop several times to charge the batteries I had on hand, so it took me two days to make Pine Bluff. The batteries were due to arrive in two more days, so I checked into a cheap motel.

I managed to find one that would take cash. I still had my ‘go bag’ stash so I was good for cash for a while at least. I figured I was still good for a few more days on the bank card before the cops could get a warrant to gain access to my account. Then a while longer to get into the Pay Pal account files. By then I should be long gone.

“Is Hondo alright?” I asked Alice when she answered the phone late that afternoon.

“He is fine, how are you. We have been in contact with the Grenada Sheriff’s office. You do know they want to talk to you.”

“I hadn’t heard that. I’ll try to find time to call them. Tell John if he wants to run the Plantation he can have all the money he makes,” I said. “If not let it lay fallow. Have Willow change the phone number on the website to his cell, if he wants it. Tell her she owes me that much at least. I got to go. Keep track of what you spend on Hondo and I reimburse you when I get back.”

“When is that going to be?” Alice asked.

“In a couple of weeks. I haven’t had a vacation in the two and a half years I’ve been here, I’m due,” I said.

“Of course you are hon. Just take care,” she said.

“Always,” I said as I broke the connection. I looked around at the cheap motel. “With a little luck one night is all I’ll have to stay here,” I said aloud.

I figured the longest I had to stay lost would be a month. I needed a way to find out when the coast was clear. I wasn’t sure the cops had a warrant to get my cell phone records yet, but I had been on cell phone security since I went on the run. For that reason I waited until I had the new scooter batteries on my trailer before I replaced the battery in the new burner phone. I called Marcy since she couldn’t be compelled to tell anything.

“So Marcy, hows your dad?” I asked.

“He is fine. Someone took care of his problem before he got out of the hospital yesterday. The local sheriffs are looking for the person, but they don’t have anything so far,” she said.

“Any good suspects?” I asked.

“No, but of course they are looking into dad’s friends,” She said. “They are having trouble finding a couple of them.”

“I’ve got to go, but I’ll call to check on your dad in a couple of days. Give Ash my love,” I said before I hung up the phone and removed the battery. I left the parking lot immediately. After a quick stop at a dollar store. I drove to the nearest small town. Somewhere between Glenlake Arkansas and Grady I found an abandoned convenience store. I unrolled the sleeping bag from my trailer and spent the night behind the store.

The next morning I had breakfast at the Wishing Well diner. The owner let me plug my batteries into her outside outlet for an addition two dollar charge. The food was fine and the charge was appreciated, so I left Grady in a good mood.

I rode for three hours without seeing any traffic to amount to anything. Then I hit some kind of festival in a small community. I stopped and looked at a small community Rodeo designed for kids to participate. No one over eighteen could sign up. I bought a very ordinary hot dog, but proceeds went to the 4H club. I left after an hour and kept going until I entered Louisiana. That night I got as far as Bastrop Louisiana. I met some very nice people in Bastrop. I had a late dinner after checking into a tradesman motel. They allowed cash payments, so I checked in then went to Sam’s Southern Eatery after a long shower.

I spent the next night in a campground that was part of a state park. I even got the ranger to let me charge my batteries. The scooter was such a novelty that everyone bent over backwards to help me. I really did appreciate it.

I decided when this whole thing ended, I would make the trip again. The next trip would feature a sign on the trailer promoting the scooters and pusher trailers. Maybe even the hunt club, if I could squeeze it all on the trailer sized sign.

I wandered around the back roads of Arkansas and Louisiana for five more days. I met a lot of nice people and enjoyed my time on the road, but I was thrilled when I check in with Marcy and got the text message. ‘Come home all is forgiven’ I left the next morning. It took two days and four hours but I was home in time for lunch.

It looked as though John had decided not get involved with the Gatehouse plantation. I was glad to see Hondo. He didn’t jump on me and give me kisses but he didn’t growl at me either.

“Come in the house boy and I’ll give you breakfast,” I said it as I dialed Alice. I left her a message ‘I’m home’.

I prepared breakfast for me and Hondo. I knew it was lunch time but an egg on his kibble made it breakfast. I took a look around the place after I ate the eggs and sausage. I had to thaw the sausage first since Alice had thrown everything out of the dorm refrigerator. It had been a good call frankly. Since I found a couple of questionable things in the larger refrigerator in the Circus Tent.

When dinner time came, I hadn’t done one thing other than try to wrap my head around the present condition of Gatehouse plantation. I had a campground, where no one seemed interested in using, and two products no one seemed to have any interest in buying. Yes, that realization put me in a big ass funk.

That always comes at the end of any operation. I had learned over the year that the best way to get past it was just get back into a routine. There had been a routine before Marcy’s called, so I just had to get back into it. I also had to accept that I wasn’t going to be rich or change the world.

First I went back to work on scooters. I had plenty of them built, I just needed to find a way to sell them. Alice brought the Crawdad festival to my attention. It was a gathering of people to celebrate summer. Lots of crawdad dishes and lots of beer. It didn’t exactly sound like the place for me, but what the hell. It did give me just enough time to make the arrangements. The arrangements started with deciding to buy a trailer big enough for all of my finished scooters, and a couple of pusher trailers. It also had to be small enough to pull behind a pickup truck. Finding a pickup truck with a trailer hitch wasn’t going to be hard at all. My nephew John had one.

Fortunately my nephews pickup was sitting in his yard at home. It was broke down. I called John that very night. I had already made the decision to go to the festival.

“John, I think we can work out something,” I said. “I need a pickup truck and a driver. You need work done on your pickup and a summer job. So I propose I repair your truck. In exchange you sign a contract to be on call to drive me and my product anyplace I need to go. I’ll pay all the expenses.”

“Really,” he said. “That would be great.”

“Not as great as it sounds, If I need you to take me somewhere, even if you have a date, my needs come first, period.” I said. “The contract between us runs for two years. At the end of that time we can go our separate ways or renegotiate a new contract. The truck belongs to you, but the trailer belongs to me.”

“Can I talk it over with my dad before I agree to anything,” he said.

“Sure do it tonight because I have some other people I need to talk to. That is if you are not interested,” I said.

When John called back, he said his dad advised against it. I felt bad, but I didn’t ask why. I just immediately switched to plan B.

Plan B was Willow Moss my computer nerd. Almost all our work was done my email and phone. It was more her mother that I didn’t want to have any contact with ... It was against my better judgment, but I made the call to Willow’s cell phone.

“So Willow what are your plans for the summer,” I asked.

“I plan to do work to keep my clients happy. What about you?” she asked.

“My plan is to set up a display at several festivals. Would you be interested in being my driver?” I asked. “If you need to be somewhere, you can drop me and the equipment. Then drive the truck home, just come back for me. Most of the festivals are one day shows. I’m not expecting to sell anything. I just want to get some exposure.”

“A hundred a day, plus expenses and you have a deal,” she said.

“Well I want you to make me a poster board with pictures of the hunt camp, the new push trailers I have there, and even Jasper and his bore hunts. I want to cover everything in the display,” I said.

“Okay I’ll begin work right away,” she said.

“Whip me up a contract covering what we just talked about and I’ll run it past Marcy,” I said.

That is how a week later I ended up posing with Jasper Amos and his dogs. Willow showed up after me, so I was shocked. I hadn’t seen her in six months. The change in her was amazing. She had lost almost half her body weight. She looked very nice. Her skin was a little saggy, but she still looked a 1000% better.

“Wow, you are beautiful,” I said.

“Not yet, but I’m working on it,” she replied with a great big smile. She was still almost thirty years younger than me, but I could appreciate what she was going through with out being a pervert.

“When did you get the scooter,” I asked.

“I got it last month, and I want to thank you,” she said.

“Why?” I asked.

“It was the fact that you have managed to use yours for over two years. I would never have tried it had it not been for that,” she said.

“Well be careful on that thing. They can be super dangerous.” I said.

“Everybody lectures me about that,” she said.

“That’s because it is the truth,” I said. After she finished the picture, she left for the plantation.

I cornered Jasper. “It we continue this arrangement, I might wind up sending you customers who don’t stay at my cabins, so I need to collect for the hunt from then then pay you myself. It will give you the ability to accept credit cards. So give me a discounted price for taking the hunters on a day’s hunt.”

“I can get a hundred a day for me and the dogs,” he advised me.

“Yeah but we are potentially talking ten hunts a season. So how about ninety bucks each for the first five, then eighty each for all after five?” I proposed.