Maggie saw the exit for highway 181 and pulled the car off Interstate 80, stopped at the stop sign, then made a right turn and headed south down the two-lane state highway. It was going to be a long, lonely drive but she figured that the isolated road with its lack of hustle and bustle would give her time to think about the decisions she needed to make in the next day or two. She was headed to Wichita, Kansas to visit her mother in the nursing home and most probably for the last time. The doctors told her over the phone that her mother had taken a turn for the worse and because she was still listed as a full-code every attempt would be made to save her life should something untoward happen. Still, he told her, this was a poor choice for her mother's quality of life and that she needed to be reclassified as a no-code and when the time came to just let her peacefully slip away. Easy for him to say she thought, she wasn't his mother.

Maggie had been driving for almost 45 minutes and had only seen one other car on the road and it was headed north. She looked at the wildflowers growing along the side of the road and thought back on her life and times, some good and some bad. Just then the car shuddered and shook and Maggie, pulled out of her thoughts and back into the reality of driving, looked at the dash but there weren't any red lights on, still... then it shuddered again and she pulled off onto the shoulder and then the damn thing just died. She sat there a minute thinking about what to do then she tried the starter. It ground a lot but didn't catch. Well isn't this swell, a million miles from nowhere and the car goes belly-up! Maggie looked at her watch and saw that it was almost four in the afternoon and figured that it would be dark in a couple of hours and she didn't really want to be alone in her car on an isolated road after dark. She knew there wasn't anything behind her, at least for almost 50 miles so she opened the door and stood on the seat and looked south. She thought she could just make out some buildings farther down the road and decided to walk thinking that she could be there before dark and maybe someone would be able to help her. She grabbed her purse, locked the car and started down the road.

Maggie wasn't sure how far she had walked when the first raindrop hit her face. She looked up into the sky and cursed her luck. Faster and harder the rain came down until she wasn't any better off than a drowned cat. She knew she was crying but with the cold rain on her face she couldn't even feel the tears. She kept walking, the rain pounding her face, then she heard a low rumbling and she turned and looked back up the road and saw a pickup truck, it's headlights on high beam traveling towards her. Maggie moved into the road and waved her arms and hoped that the driver would stop. The truck pulled up along side her and the door swung open and without a hesitation Maggie climbed inside and closed the door. The driver was a young man, maybe in his early twenties and he was staring at her with his mouth open.

"What in the hell are you doing out here lady?"

"Well that was my car you passed a few miles back. It died and I figured I could walk to those buildings I saw in the distance." She pointed up ahead. He was still staring at her rain soaked body then he reached over into the back seat and pulled out a towel and handed it to her and she was grateful.

"Well ma'am that Tyson's Corner up ahead. There's a small garage, café and a motel of sorts. I'll drop you there." He held out his hand. "I'm Tim, Tim Walters."

Maggie shook his hand. "Maggie Simpson."

"Pleased to meet you Maggie Simpson."

Maggie used the towel to dry off her face and hair then she looked down and realized why the Tim had been staring at her. With all the rain her blouse had become almost transparent and even though she was wearing a bra, it too was plainly visible, as were her dark areolas and nipples. Oh my God she thought as she draped the towel across her chest for some modesty. She shivered then asked, "Uh Tim, could you turn up the heat a little I'm kinda cold."

"Sure. I'm sorry I should have thought about that myself."

As they drove Maggie looked across at Tim. He looked to be maybe 25, was tall and was wearing a cowboy hat and boots, snap-button long sleeved shirt and Levi's. Just a typical rancher she thought. "So, where are you headed Tim?"

"Great Bend. My boss sent me to pick up some parts for his tractor. You?"

"Wichita. Going to see my mom."

They arrived at Tyson's Corner just after dark. Tim pulled his truck up next to the door to the café/motel/garage and Maggie opened the door, turned and smiled at Tim. "Look Tim, thanks I really appreciate the ride, and I appreciate being saved especially by a good looking young man."

"Uh if you don't mind Maggie I'll just stay to make sure everything is alright." He opened his door and got out and walked inside the building with Maggie. Inside the office sitting on an old chair and staring at a black and white television was a boy of about 17. He was skinny kid with greasy hair, a ruddy complexion and deep set dark and brooding eyes and to Maggie he had the look of a serial killer.

"Help you two?" The boy asked without looking up at Maggie or Tim.

Maggie took a step forward. "Uh, is the mechanic still here?"

The boy turned his head and saw Maggie and her wet blouse and his eyes beady focused in on her breasts and his eyes sparkled for the first time. "Mechanic? Oh I get it you mean old man Henry at the garage, nope. Won't be back before morning."

Great she thought. "Well then do you have a room available?"

"Uh sure, got just one left. Cabin 3 just behind the garage. That's $35 bucks."

"Alright." Maggie looked in her purse and realized that she only had about sixty dollars in cash and she didn't want to spend over half on the room. "Ah do you take credit cards?"

The boy looked at her, his head askew. "Sure lady where do you think you are, out in the sticks?"

Maggie shook her head, handed him her American Express card and filled out the registration form he had shoved at her. The boy ran the card through the machine and handed her a receipt and a key with a plastic handle with the number 3 scotch taped to it. "Excuse me," Maggie asked, "is the café still open?"

"Sure lady, we'll be open for another hour and then again for breakfast."

Maggie and Tim got back into the truck and he drove around behind the garage. There were five separate clapboard cabins that looked like they had been built in the early 1930's and hadn't been update since World War Two. She noticed that two of the five units had their door boarded shut. Great, the Bates Motel with separate cabins, she thought. Tim parked in front of number 3 and they got out and ran through the drizzle to the door. Maggie opened the door and she and Tim went inside and stared at the place.

It was a pretty spartan setting with two double beds and a nightstand in between them, a desk with a straight back hair with a broken leg and an old television screwed to a built-in counter with a lounge chair that had seen better days. She walked across to the bathroom and looked inside. There was a white porcelain sink with rust stains where the faucet was leaking, a shower and a stack of towels. She shivered at the thought of being alone in the room and she turned and walked over the heater/air-conditioner and turned the knob to heat and waited. Nothing. She shook the unit and again, nothing.

Tim looked at the place and couldn't believe that people actually had the balls to rent rooms like this. "Look Maggie are you sure you want to stay here the night?"

She had tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Christ no Tim but what choice do I have? Look I hate to ask you this but would you mind staying at least until I get something to eat and then get locked in for the night? I mean I don't want to sound like an old woman but that boy gives me the creeps." Maggie's clothes were still sopping wet and she was shivering from the cold.

He hated to leave her alone yet what could he do? "Look Maggie why don't you let me loan you a shirt out of the back of my truck then at least you'll have something dry on top."

"Oh God Tim that would be great, thanks."

A few minutes later Tim returned with a snap button long sleeved shirt similar to the one he was wearing and handed it to her. Maggie walked into the bathroom and closed the door and unbuttoned her blouse and took it off then removed her bra and grabbed a towel and dried off her neck, chest and breasts then put on Tim's shirt. It was way too big but at least it was dry and warm. She rolled up the sleeves and snapped the buttons it and walked back out into the bedroom. She knew that without a bra her breasts were swaying but there wasn't anything she could do about that.

Tim looked up as she came out of the bathroom and watched as she hung up her blouse and bra on the chair to air dry. He could see her breasts swaying back and forth seductively and he smiled to himself, not too damned bad for an older woman. "That shirt never looked that good on me Maggie."

"She blushed knowing exactly why he was making the comment. "Yea, we'll let's go get some food before they close the kitchen."

They closed the cabin door, took a deep breath then raced through the drizzle across the gravel parking lot until they were under the overhand of the garage then they walked to the front of the building and went inside and across the room to the café. Tim saw that the boy was watching Maggie's ass all the way across the room until she disappeared into the café. To call the place a greasy spoon much less a café would have been a compliment. There was a single long counter with stools screwed into the floor and a kitchen behind the counter. There were no tables and no decorations unless you counted several posters on the wall that were advertising a circus and dated 1973. An old woman came through the café-style doors from the kitchen and walked over to them.

"What a ya have?" She asked with a gravelly voice.

They looked through the menu and decided on scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and black coffee based on the fact that most places couldn't screw up a simple order like that. They also asked for two beers to take back to the room and their choices seemed to be Bud or Millers so they settled for two bottles of Millers. When the lady brought their food Maggie asked about the heater in her cabin.

"Oh yea, they don't work yet. Well see it's like this, the owner says it's not really winter yet so the heat stays off. There is a master switch somewhere around here but damned if I know where it is. Guess you'll have to do without tonight, but I could get you folks some more blankets."

"Oh well thanks that would be nice." Maggie replied.

Thirty minutes later the woman announced that they were closing and Maggie asked for the blankets and the check. She took a twenty from her purse and paid the bill for both of their meals. Tim protested but Maggie insisted, laughing and telling him it was worth it because he had rescued her from a fate worse than death. They took the blankets and beers from the woman then they both laughed as they ran back to the cabin.

Once inside and with the door shut Maggie suddenly wondered where Tim was going to stay for the night. She wondered if he was thinking that because of him being a Good Samaritan she would share her bed. In the next instant, almost like he reading her mind, she had an answer.

"Look Maggie this has been fun but I can't leave you here alone for the night so I think I'm going to stay. I just don't like the looks of that kid."

"Uh well Tim I don't think that you should..."

Tim blushed. "Oh God! I'm sorry Maggie I didn't mean in the room, with you. I meant outside in my truck."

Suddenly she felt like such an ass. Here was the man that had saved her from the rainstorm, taken her to this place and hadn't been anything but a gentleman the whole time and she was worried about him being in the same room with her. "In your truck, you've got to be kidding Tim? You can't stay out there in the cold."

"No really it's alright; I've got my roll in the shell, besides that's what I normally do. I don't have the money to waste on motels, even one as bad as this one."

Maggie had a change of heart. She just couldn't ask the man who had rescued her from the rain-drenched road to sleep in the back of a freezing cold truck. "Look Tim, the room has two beds so why not help yourself to one and at least you'll be a little warmer than in the back of your truck."

"I don't know Maggie I..."

Maggie giggled. "Well I have to tell you Tim this is the first time I've ever offered to share a motel room with a man and I'm being turned down. You sure know how to bruise a woman's ego."

"Look Maggie I appreciate the offer, I really do but there are two problems with my staying in here with you."

"And what would those be Tim?"

"Well first off I can see you're wearing a wedding ring so I know that you're married and it certainly isn't to me! I just don't want to cause any trouble with another man's wife, I'm sorry Maggie."

She looked down at her hand and at the wedding ring and smiled. "My God but you are such a gentleman! First off Tim, I'm not married, at least not anymore, my husband died over five years ago. And secondly, I didn't ask you too sleep in my bed just in my room."

Tim's faced reddened at being chastised. "Oh, well in that case I accept your kind offer."

"Good now if you could let me borrow an old t-shirt for the night I would be grateful, oh and when you get you bag out of the truck go ahead and lock the door while I take a shower then you can have the bathroom."