Chapter 106: Naked in Nacogdoches

Tuesday, April 10, 1984

The phone in my room rang at one-fifteen in the morning. I know that because the first thing I did was look at the alarm clock.

The second thing was to answer it. Regardless of the ring code, I was already awake and could perhaps save Angie from being awakened, too.

“Hello?” I said, or mumbled, into the phone.

“Steve?! Steve! Help! I need help!”

It took me a second to figure out that it was Cammie on the other end. Her voice was a worrisome mix of whispering and urgency.

“Cammie?”

“Thank God I got you!” she said, half-crying.

“What do you need?” I said, fully awake now.

“I ... I need you to come get me,” she said.

“Where are you?”

“I’m right next to a little park in Nacogdoches. I wasn’t even sure, but I saw a sign a bit ago...”

She sniffled suddenly, then continued. “Sorry ... I ... it took me a ... a long time to find some change to make a call. Thank God I could remember your number!”

“Cammie, what’s happening?”

I already knew, or I was pretty sure I knew, but I needed her to confirm it.

“They...” she said, sniffling harder. “Dad ... it’s ... they know! They ... they’re taking me to a place ... I don’t know where it is, but it’s around here, and they’re spending the night here s ... so we’d arrive in daylight tomorrow, except that I climbed out the bathroom window and I lost my towel so I’m naked and it’s cold and I’m really scared right now...”

I could hear her starting to lose it, and cut in, saying, “I’ll be there as fast as I possibly can. Is there somewhere safe that you can hide?”

“Y ... yeah. Until morning, I think. There’s a picnic area, with a shelter — the bathrooms are locked, unfortunately — but I could see anyone coming and get away, I think ... and ... fuck, this is ... I haven’t...”

“Cammie, I’m throwing on some clothes. I’ll bring what I can for you.”

“Blanket sounds great right now,” she said, sniffling. “I’d ... I just ... if the police see me, I’m fucking naked, plus they’ll take me back...”

“Just hide. That’s ... like ... three hours. I don’t know if you’ll be able to see a clock...”

“I’ll do what I can. Just hurry!”

“On the road within ten minutes, I think. Just need to steal some of Angie’s clothes...”

“Borrow,” I heard from the door.

“And a blanket and all that.”

“Thank you! Hurry!”

She gave me the best directions she could. They seemed likely to work.

“Love you, Cammie. I’ll do everything I can, no matter what.”

She sniffled again, then said, “I know you will! Hurry! I mean, be safe, but hurry!”

“When I get there, I’ll blink a flashlight three times near the shelter so you know it’s me.”

“I like that! See you really soon, I hope!”

I hung up and started throwing on clothes and grabbing things.

Angie said, “Her parents found out. Right?”

“Right. And she got out of the motel ... naked, apparently ... and is hiding out.”

“Naked! That takes guts!”

“Or desperation,” I said. “More likely that, I think.”

“We’re different sizes, but I’ve got a few things that’ll definitely work,” Angie said. “Plus, I’ll grab one of your big coats. Too much for the weather, but it’ll cover her.”

“I need one or two outfits where she can go into a business or motel and not raise eyebrows. Shoes are gonna suck...”

“Eh. I’ve got some flip-flops that’ll be a bit big for her, and some clogs that should work.”

“Can you round stuff up? I’m going to write Mom and Dad a note,” I said.

“I can tell them...”

“This should come from me. Won’t take long.”

“Makes sense, I agree,” she said, then headed back to her room.

I wrote a quick note which just said that a friend was in real trouble, that I needed to help her, and that I would miss at least part of school. I left it up to Mom whether to call in an excuse or something. Most likely she would, but I wasn’t going to ask her to lie for me. Of course, she could always phrase it so that it wasn’t quite a lie — that’s how I would do it.

They’d excuse it, one way or another, simply because they would, but also because I’d go to Principal Riggs directly and explain the situation without mincing words, and I knew him well enough to know he’d bend whichever rules needed bending. The odds were extremely high that both Cammie and I would need some rules bent before this was over.

By the time I had the note written, Angie had a bundle of clothes along with a blanket and a sheet. When she saw that I was moving a chair to my closet, she hesitated, then nodded.

“Toss me your keys,” she said. “I’ll put this in your car.”

“PJs?” I said.

“Eh. The neighbors can watch if they’re up. I’m totally covered.”

She was, too.

I tossed her the keys and she headed off. I pulled out ten thousand dollars, in twenties, fifties, and hundreds (which made a fairly sizable bundle, but not too bad) and put it in a small briefcase. Most likely I wouldn’t need anywhere near that much, but a few thousand was almost certain, and who knew if I’d need more than that? I might be hiring a second attorney for myself within a few hours if things went wrong.

By the time I went outside, the blanket and sheet were in the passenger seat, with the rest in the back seat. I put the briefcase in the trunk, where it wouldn’t be obvious if I was stopped, and gave Angie a hug.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Go get her,” she said.

“Going. You know she’s not coming back here,” I said.

“Yeah. Fucking laws. You’ve got a plan, and that’s what I care about. Don’t tell me.”

“I won’t, and thanks.”

“Go!” she said.

Even having done this whole living thing before, some things have no precedent. Many, perhaps, but driving hours in the wee hours of the morning to rescue a naked girl hiding in a public park was definitely unprecedented for me. I suspect very few people have ever done it, and I’m sure that’s all to the good.

It was probably a blessing that I’d seen Cammie naked before, so we could stick to ‘embarrassed’ and not ‘totally mortified’ when I inevitably saw her this time.

The drive itself was one of those things I expected that I’d forget immediately. I was paying enough attention to the road to avoid trouble, but my thoughts were a thousand miles away, gaming out scenarios on how to handle things. Assuming I could find Cammie at all, which was hardly guaranteed, I might have to play keep-away for nearly two weeks until she was safe. That was, by itself, easy enough to do.

Technically, I’d be a criminal myself, but the odds of prosecution were scant. Also, technically, Cammie wasn’t a ‘runaway’, not under state law, and I didn’t know that her parents wanted her back, so anything I did before that wasn’t exactly a crime. If we had to sort any of that out, I’d be surprised, but it’d be quite the saga, because I’d make sure it was ‘news.’

The harder part would be after that, if it took until she was eighteen. Two weeks of missing school with a very strange excuse is a pain in the ass. Texas law made it worse: even after turning eighteen, parents are still entitled to make school decisions. We might have to fight the system just to keep Cammie enrolled, much less staying on track to graduate. If she didn’t graduate, she might be okay with summer school — and she might not. A&M might not pull her scholarship, but they might, too. And so on and so forth.

I had contacts, and I would use as many as necessary to get through this, but it started with her parents. If they could be made to see reason, we’d get through this. If they couldn’t, this could wind up in court even after Cammie was eighteen, and some of the answers might not be good.

I made it to Nacogdoches right around four-thirty, which felt like I’d done pretty well with the driving. Following Cammie’s directions got me fairly near the Stephen F. Austin State University campus, where there were several plausible parks. The second one met her description. I parked and then flashed my flashlight three times at a spot about ten feet from the shelter.

“Cammie?” I called.

“Steve? Steve! Oh my God!”

“Coming with a blanket! Stay put!”

I brought the blanket over and we managed to get Cammie wrapped in it without me seeing anything. Then she hugged me, nearly knocking me over and almost losing the blanket.

“I have never been so happy to see anyone ever!”

“C’mon. Let’s get out of here.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!”

I got her into the passenger seat, and was getting in myself when I saw a police car coming the other way. Fortunately, it just went on past. If I’d been that police officer, I would have found someone parking here at four-thirty to be a mite suspicious, but that’s me.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Cammie said, hugging me again.

“You knew I’d always help if I possibly could,” I said.

“I’m worried about Mel,” she said as she buckled her seat belt awkwardly around the blanket. “I couldn’t get her on the phone, and ... well ... the secret’s out.”

“She’s not getting shipped off, though.”

“I’m ... I’m nearly certain. I really ... I never...”

She suddenly burst into tears, tried to hug me, then released the seat belt and flung herself back into my arms.

“I never ... really ... I didn’t think they’d really do it ... I didn’t ... I was terrified of it but they knew that and ... and I begged them, the whole drive ... and Dad threatened to hit me if I kept talking ... the whole ‘spare the rod, spoil the child’ fucking bullshit, all that ... that he should have hit me all along and I wouldn’t be wicked.”

I hugged her and held her, stroking her back through the blanket, until she calmed down.

“Fuck them!” she said. “I am ... I just...”

“Yeah,” I said.

Then she sniffled again. “It’s ... the ... the worst part is I get it. They’re fucking wrong, but they’re scared that I’m going to hell. I get it. But this won’t save me, if I am. This’ll just make this life hell, too. If I’m going to hell, I’ve already got my ticket booked.”

“I refuse to believe for a second that you’re going to hell.”

She shrugged. “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The sinners are a whole fucking lot more fun.”

I chuckled softly, then said, “Okay. Let’s blow this joint.”

She buckled up again.

“Do you know where you were staying?”

“Some cheap motel on the main drag. I don’t know. I’d recognize it, I think.”

When I pulled out, I headed that way.

“Why are you asking?” she said.

“I want to see if their car is there.”

“Why? I don’t want to go anywhere near them!”

“Because if they’re not there, they could be anywhere. If they’re there, they’ll be behind us the whole way.”

“Oh! Okay ... yeah ... good point. I like that.”

We drove around for just a few minutes before Cammie yelled, “There! That one! There’s Dad’s car!”

I went past it, then came back. The car Cammie pointed out was a mid-1970s Buick. Not as much of a land yacht as mine, but plenty big.