Chapter 2

There was a rapping, more like a tapping. It went tap, tap on my trailer door. I opened it. A blond head, almost buried under a pile of clothes stood there. I reached down and removed a handful from her.

“Samantha!” I exclaimed. “Your Julie’s sister?”

“Well, I’m not her brother! Hey, wait; you’re the cart man, aren’t you?”

She smiled. She must have known who I was; she had seen me pushing the cart back and forth from my trailer earlier.

Julie came nearer with a ‘Shhh’ and finger to her lips.

I whispered, “Samantha is your sister?”

She whispered back, “Well, she’s not my brother, is she? Now be quiet or you’ll awaken Sleeping Beauty. I don’t think Princess has had many chances to sleep for quite a while. I think once you fed her, that...”

“Speaking of food, Julie told me she ordered enough food to feed an army, a small one anyway and this shopping trip meant my dinner! So, buster, food!”

I waved my dining partners forward to the table. We all turned and laughed a bit when we heard snoring coming from the back. “I don’t think we are in danger of waking Sleeping Beauty up, do you?”

Sam just sat back at the table and watched two ravenous females devour enough food for an army. He got a wing and two fries, and found out he was lucky to get even that.

“I’d hate to see the two of you, if you were ever really hungry?”

“Hey, were growing girls! It’s been a hectic day, and we need some nourishment.”

“‘Kay, like I said, I would hate to see you really hungry. You don’t suppose that place is still open and would deliver more food? I would hate to have you both with nothing to eat, and when Princess wakes, I promised to warm some up for her.”

It is now after midnight. If I remember, I think they stay open until one, but I’m not sure if they still deliver. I’ll call and check. She started to look for a phone. Julie handed her Sam’s cell, the number to the place still on ‘last call.’

“Ugh, huh, yep, anything is fine. There are four of us and one, no make that two were talking about if any horses were around so it won’t go to waste. Thank you. They stopped delivery but Tim was still there. He said they had a lot of stuff already cooked. He would bring some on his way home. No charge, they let the staff take it home at night or throw it out. He said something about they had ribs left too.”

“I don’t suppose you would be magnanimous enough to leave me a bone to taste, would you?”

“Well, that depends! If Tim brings enough food, and if Princess does not eat too much when she gets up, and if you take us all out for breakfast in the morning ... then there’s a good chance you can have a whole rib with maybe just a small bite or two out of it.”

“In the morning? What would your husband say? Not that I mind three beautiful girls christening the trailer, but I don’t want anyone getting into trouble.”

Samantha looked at Julie. Julie just shrugged her shoulders.

“There is no husband, not really. The guy I have been living with left me. The rent is up next week, and Julie has been trying to help me find a place to stay. We just, I just did not want anyone at work to say or do anything if they found out we were alone. So, no problem, it is just hard to find someone who is just a nice guy. I’m sorry if I, no we were taking advantage of you.”

“Hell, if this is taking advantage, I’m available 24/7! It’s not hard to be nice around three pretty girls and get to possibly even taste a rib ... someday.”

The laughs, mingled with a few tears were broken up with a knock on the door and the back bedroom door opening about the same time. The food was here, and Princess was up.

I handed Julie a $20 to give to Tim for bringing more food and turned back to the figure in the hallway. There stood a taller girl than I remembered with long, very long shiny jet-black hair falling down her back. Her face and head were held up high as she wore a robe that dragged two feet across the floor. God, she could have posed for a camera! She was beautiful! My words from before seemed almost prophetic.

“Hello, Princess, welcome. We don’t have to re-heat food, we have some Tim just brought. So sit down and eat up. I think you know Julie from before. The other girl is Samantha, her sister, and I am Sam, your humble and obedient servant.”

She said not a word but I detected the hint of a smile on her face. For all she had been through, she was some kid. I would have been a lot more wary of strangers than she seemed to be. Maybe the presence of the girls did that. She was not alone with me. Samantha brought the food to the table, Julie followed and they started unpacking the six bags. Sure enough, it seemed to be enough food to feed an army ... a small one, anyway. Soup, some salad, chicken, ribs, pasta, bread sticks, two kinds of dressing, three small rolls, four cupcakes, and that piece of heaven: a pie, an apple pie!

I went to the small fridge, brought out a quart of milk, a quart of juice and two glasses from an overhead bin and placed them on the table. I was going to sit down, and then made a sweeping motion with my hand for Princess to join the still ravenous girls at the table. I took a seat on the sofa. My bed for the night unless Samantha and Julie could not fit in the bed in back.

I watched Princess move. She was keeping an eye on me. The smell of food got to her, finally. I now watched as the three girls ate amounts of food that would have put that ‘small army’ to shame. Julie got up and brought me the remnants of a well-chewed rib. She laughed as I held it up. Samantha stuck another paper plate in my hands loaded with food. This was now my repast and I began to eat. I might have outdone my girls. Did I say ‘my girls?’

How, in such a short time could I be attached to them? I knew how. They were nice to me. Whatever they all had been through, it had not affected nor influenced how they treated and accepted me. I turned my attention to the ton of food on my plate. If I ate like this every night, I would gain a hundred pounds!

Three plates later, we heard the first words spoken by Princess.

“This is good.”

If leftover food was good to her, there was little doubt in my mind she must have had it pretty rough. Julie had related her story and I had verification in my own mind she was not just saying that. The girl had been through Hell.

I smelled coffee! Coffee in a trailer. I had not seen anyone get up. Julie brought me a Styrofoam cup and a piece of pie saying Tim had brought some drinks too.

God bless you, Tim! The terrible trio was now huddled together. It was either they were plotting something or were in a Rugby Scrum. I heard.

“We decided to switch rooms. Julie and I will take her room, Princess will take Julie’s and you get the sofa. ‘Kay?”

What could I say? It seemed fair if you did not consider it was my damn trailer. However, the presence of three attractive females rather made that a moot point. I just nodded my head. My guess was Samantha was joining our band of merry misfits, me included.

Before I could say a word, further all three were up clearing the table, throwing things in bags, placing containers in the fridge then taking things outside. Julie and Princess went back to the bedrooms. Julie came back, threw a pillow at me, opened up a cabinet, and started to shoo me off the sofa to make up a place for me to sleep, blankets included. How did she know where things were? I didn’t, and it was my trailer!

I sat back down when she finished. Samantha opened the door, came in, and closed and locked the door.

“Where are the camera controls? I don’t want that creep coming around our trailer.”

‘Our trailer?’ I thought.

It never got further than that thought. Julie bent down and kissed me on the forehead, saying good night and thank you, as she left for the back. Samantha finished up, did the same thing. I was starting to get a little misty now. I heard the patter of bare feet as Princess ran up, kissed me on the chin and said thank you before running back.

‘Now what’, I thought. I never had much of a family now... ? Now what... ? was all I could think of. Sleep came, I don’t know when but Damn, I was still confused when I smelled coffee again, real fresh coffee, this time. Someone was actually up and making coffee. I did not want this dream to end.

I wondered if there was a way to keep all of them. I did not want them ever to leave me.

Today was the day I had a lot planned, at least for Julie and Princess. The news about Samantha though would make things simpler in a way. I could give money to Samantha and Julie both, tax-free up to $12,000 a year. It should be enough for an apartment and to start college. I would also get them started with a little something today, too. Princess would be another kind of problem. One perhaps more difficult to solve. She had shown some acceptance of me but would it be enough for her to go with me to find a place where she would be alright? I was not sure. It was Friday, banks were open late today, at least out here they were. I needed to take my girls out for food, shopping at the mall, and to get something set up at a bank for them. There I go, referring to them as ‘my girls’, Hell, I was only a few years older...