Chapter 290: Date With a Farmer's Son

The next morning the day started with me going to the preacher's bike shop. I planned to carry the posters made for me at the the office depot around to the various bike shops in the area. The preacher had the only bike shop of any size in town. Yes, it has mostly used bikes for his core customers, but he was branching out. He would do a special order for the purists. Of course the shop manager would only order it, if one paid in advance completely. The ministry did not tie their money up for anyone. They wouldn't even do it for me.

So I spent the whole damn day putting out the warm up posters. They were hanging in bike and sporting good shops everywhere. I even got one put in the Walmart bike section. It was kind of fun distributing posters in my big ole sweats and knit hat pulled low over the dark glasses. Odds were that no one would have known me anyway, but it seemed kind of like a big adventure.

I know what you are thinking, I was obviously getting bored. You are right, I was bored, but not quite ready to commit murder to get past it. It probably wasn't far down the road though.

"Lois came to see me as I had asked her to the evening before. "Well hello there come on in," I said cheerfully.

"So what is the plan for today?" she asked hopefully.

"Today I'm going to find out what you are good at." I said.

She looked confused. Do you have some kind of test you are going to give me?" she asked.

"Nope we are going to talk all day long. At the end of the the day, I will have an idea what to do for you." I said.

"Don't you just have a friend you can call to get me a job?" she asked.

I saw it, when she looked at me. She was playing me. Why and how I didn't know, but she sure as hell was. The day before she had convinced me that her life was crap. She led me to believe that she was in total despair. Today, it was no longer can you help me please. It was, why can't you to this for me. It doesn't matter, if its the best thing for me. It's what I want right now, and God knows it's all about me.

I was cold when I said, "Show me your fingers."

"What?" she asked beginning to wind up.

"I want to see you hands and then I want to see your toes," I said shortly.

"You think I'm using?" she asked.

"Something has sure as hell come over you. I want to know what it is, yeah." I said.

"I haven't been using, but I don't think I'm ready for any responsibility," she said.

"What if I can get you into a real program, would you be interested?"

"I don't know, if I can do it," she said.

"Have you ever tried it?" I asked.

"No," she replied.

"Then you won't ever know till you try. I'm going to get you in to talk to the man this morning. You two can work out the next step." I didn't have to call the Reverend. I knew one of the worker bees. I called her direct.

"Janet, it's Maxine Stone tell me hon do you have an empty bed?" I asked.

"And if I do?" Janet replied in a squeaky voice.

"I got a lost child in need of help here," I replied.

"Bring her on over, but stop by Helen's and get me a lunch, and then we will call it even. Well even with me bought off, you still have the preacher to worry about."

"Shit he is a pussy cat," I said.

"Of course he is, get your ass on over here."

"I'll be there in twenty minutes or I'll call you." I turned from the phone to Lois. "Okay girl it's on you. This might be your last chance to get clean and turn your life around."

"I don't think I'm strong enough," she said.

"You are strong enough. You might not know it, but you are." I knew I couldn't beg her to do it. It had to be her decision.

"Will you come see me?" she asked in a little girl's voice.

"Of course I will. Just as soon as they say it is okay, you get a phone so you can call to tell me shit I need to do." I laughed after I said it.

I drove her to the bed and breakfast that the Russians were running as a high priced brothel and blackmail spot when I moved home. If she knew the history, she didn't comment. I was glad of that. I had intimate knowledge of it and wished I didn't.

It was hard for me, but I walked down the hall with Lois. I even installed her into a room. I made arrangements to come visit her on the weekend. Then Janet was pushing me out the door. "We don't like for them to have much contact with the outside in the first couple of weeks," she explained.

Since I hadn't really had anything in mind for Lois, I was just as glad to be shed of her till I thought of something. Back in the Downtown House I sat on the second floor in the window and looked out at the cold windy day.

"Holy shit Miss Stone, I had no idea who you were. This is Bill. We met this morning." He said all in one breath.

"Sure Bill how are you?" I asked.

"I'm good, I was calling about the bike things you wanted to talk about. If you would still like to talk? I would be happy to meet you anywhere."

"I appreciate that Bill. Why don't you come by here and we can talk about a dead-o-winter bike race," I suggested.

"I would love to come bye there. Er where is there?" he asked honestly embarrassed. I gave him directions to the Downtown House.

A half hour later he was standing in front of my second story window drinking hot chocolate and looking at the traffic below. "I had no idea how neat this view would be. "It's hypnotic," he said smiling at me.