Chapter 14

The caravan of two trucks stopped at a lunchstand catering to truckers on the outskirts of Palm Springs.

"You hungry?" Pete asked her as the big freight rig came to a stop. "We usually have pie and coffee about this time."

Charity was hungry; she had had very little breakfast and no lunch. She had no money at all.

"Y-Yes... I am feeling a l-little hungry..." she admitted.

Pete escorted her into the small cafe, selecting a booth near the back. They were joined in a few moments by Jeff, the driver of the truck she was riding in and the two drivers from the second truck. Jeff introduced them as Matt and Brad.

It was a congenial lunch, the men joking boisterously, and including her in their conversation, making her feel a part of their group as they touched on various subjects.

Charity was feeling completely at ease with the four men; not once had they said or done anything untoward to give her an inkling of their plans for her. As they pushed back empty plates and finished off second cups of strong, black coffee, Jeff said to her, "It's sometimes hard to get a ride out of Palm Springs... you could get stuck here all night! Why don't you just stick with us... until we get to Phoenix, maybe..."

She looked around at the circle of friendly faces. They all seemed to be such open, friendly men, rather straightforward, somewhat rough, perhaps, but certainly they were not men who would take advantage of a young girl, alone; besides, Matt had said that he had a daughter near Charity's age. Jeff, the oldest had mentioned, somewhat boastfully that he had a two-year old grandson.

"We'd sure like to have you along," Jeff added, "to sort of help liven things up a bit."

"All right... I-I'll go with you, then... as far as Phoenix..."

"I've got to get our thermos bottles filled with hot coffee," Jeff said. "I'll be right with you." He excused himself and went to the truck for the thermoses.

Pete and the other two men, trailed by Charity, trooped out to the trucks where they busied themselves checking over the big rigs to make sure everything was functioning correctly and safely.

"We have to do this every time we stop," Pete told her.

"Why is that?" she asked trying to show an interest in his work.

"Safety regulations... we have to be sure everything's all right; otherwise, we can't operate on the highways."

"That sounds like a good thing..." she observed.

"Yeah... we never know when they'll inspect us..."

"I see..." she said, inanely, wishing now that they were moving, again, putting more miles between her and Redfern, California.

Jeff returned with the freshly filled thermos bottles, swung up into the right-hand seat and gave Charity a hand-up to the high cab. He leaned out and told Pete: "You go ahead and take over herding this rig for a while!"

"Okay!" Pete climbed into the driver's seat, started the powerful diesel, clutched it into gear and moved out on the highway, shifting smoothly through the numerous gears.

After an hour or so, Jeff poured steaming coffee for them. He and Pete had their coffee black, but Jeff poured hers from the other container. "I noticed you used cream and sugar, so I had this one fixed up special for you," Jeff told her. "Hope you like it."

Charity accepted the creamy, sweet coffee, gratefully. "I don't see how you can drink it black, like that... it always seems so bitter."

Later, after a second cup, she yawned, deeply, and confessed that she felt terribly sleepy.

"Well, just crawl on back there in the sleeper where you can stretch out," Jeff said.

"Thank you... I will..." She clambered up into the almost coffinlike box behind the seat and laid down, feeling more drowsy every moment.