Chapter 5

The next morning was awkward for Ed. Angie also seemed quieter and more reserved than she had been in the past. Only Maria seemed unchanged by the going's on of the night before.

Angie and Maria got up together to make use of the bathroom. Ed heard the two of them showering and laughing together a few minutes after they went into the bathroom. After half an hour, the last fifteen minutes of it having been very quiet, Ed started getting concerned. Another fifteen minutes passed by before Maria stuck her head out of the bathroom and told Ed to go to the mini mart to get her a big bag of ice. When Ed got up off the bed, Maria yelled at him to hurry up. He ran to the bathroom door and saw Angie collapsed on the floor. He started trying to push his way past Maria when she told him that Angie might die if he didn't hurry up and bring her the ice.

"I'll get the ice, but after I get back with it, you and I are going to have a serious talk, Maria. You promised me you wouldn't mess with that stuff anymore."

Ed was back with three bags of ice within five minutes. Maria had used the time to somehow get Angie into the bathtub and had been running cold water into it. She took all the ice bags and ripped open the plastic, letting the ice fall directly on Angie's body, or else into the bath water.

Ed was relieved when Angie started coming around shortly after that. She tried climbing out of the cold water, but Maria kept her right where she was, telling the girl several times that she needed to stay in the water, that she'd overdosed, and had nearly died.

It was soon obvious to Ed that the three of them weren't going anywhere together that day. He came close, on several occasions to just leaving the two women in the motel room by themselves. He did walk over to the garage, picking up and paying for his car. He then went over to the motel's office and paid for another night's stay.

When he came back to the room, Angie was sitting up on the bed she'd shared with Maria the night before. She was wearing blue panties and nothing else. Maria was behind her, propped up by the two pillows, and nodding off in a drugged stupor.

"What happened? Did she take more of that poison?" Ed felt himself starting to lose more than his temper. He felt like he was under some type of attack. He knew that Maria had deliberately gotten into the dope again, probably just to let him know that he couldn't tell her what to do. Angie was still feeling the effects of her own earlier drug usage. She looked up at him when he spoke, but she couldn't seem to focus well enough to form any kind of response to his query.

Ed went into the bathroom, upset and disgusted with the situation he found himself in. He found the green canvas bag, including all the drugs and drug paraphernalia, put back inside the box and bag. He zippered up the bag and took it outside to his car. Once he had it locked up in his trunk, he felt better.

"Angie, how much would it cost to take the bus into Las Vegas, for the two of you?" Angie again looked up at him, but her eyes still refused her attempts to bring Ed into focus. "Here's two hundred dollars, take it. I'm sure that's enough. Today's the twenty fourth. Tell Maria that I'll stop by at the Greyhound Bus station in Las Vegas on my way back. Tell her I'll be there on the fifteenth of next month, at three in the afternoon. She can meet me there if she wants to talk about me giving her bag back to her. I'm going to Illinois to visit my aunt. The room is paid for today and tonight."

Ed left right after he got all his things packed. Maria was still propped up on the pillows. Once in awhile, she'd scratch absently at her arms or run her hand over her face and mouth. At no time did her eyes open, she didn't seem aware that anyone else was in the room with her. Ed took his bag out to the car and put it in the trunk also.

While he was there, staring at the green bag, he remembered that Maria had some of her clothing in the bag as well. He got it out and took it back to the motel room, putting it on his bed. This time, neither of the young women reacted at all to him opening the door to the room. He let himself back out and got into his car.

He sat there, behind the wheel, telling himself that he should start it up and get as far away from the two of them as he possibly could. He knew it was the smart thing to do. Maria had already shown him that she was firmly set on a course that could only lead to her utter destruction. If she wasn't already physically addicted to those drugs, she was well on her way to it.

After ten more minutes of talking to himself, Ed finally came to a decision. He reached over and turned the key in the ignition. The car started right up. He put the car in reverse and backed carefully away from the motel building. Three minutes later, he was on Interstate 15 again, heading East, towards Las Vegas.

Each mile he put on the car made him feel better about what he was doing. The only thing he had any doubts about at all was taking all that money. If someone had asked him to explain why he'd done that, he'd have been at a loss to do so. It had more to do with his belief that Maria was using the bag, and everything it contained, to injure herself. She seemed bent on doing all she could to place herself in untenable positions. She also didn't seem to mind taking other people down with her. Somewhere, back in the recesses of his mind, was the hope that a few weeks without the money or the drugs might make her realize how foolishly she'd been acting.

In spite of himself, Ed was beginning to develop strong feelings for Maria. Had he not felt strongly, he never would have taken the bag when he left. His having done so, served to tie them together, when leaving her and the bag would have effectively severed whatever connection they still had.

He drove all day and part of the evening, ending up in Salt Lake City, where he spent the night. The next morning, after a troubled night's sleep, Ed got back into his car and headed further East. He ended the driving day in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The next day he drove a little farther, ending up in Iowa.

He knew he'd make it to his aunt's house the next afternoon. What he didn't know was what he'd say to her when he showed up on her front doorstep again, after so many years of there having been no contact between the two of them.

When Ed's father had died suddenly, back when he was eight years old, Ed and his mother had moved across the state to go live in a small house with his maternal grandfather, and with his mom's sister, Judith. The following winter, Ed's grandfather had come down with pneumonia, and he had then died, a few weeks later.

A year after his grandfather died, Ed's mom had met a new man, and that relationship had quickly grown serious. It came to an end though, when a fourteen wheel tractor trailer combo, carrying a fully refrigerated trailer filled with beef, broad sided Ed's mom and her boyfriend as he drove across the interstate.

After Ed's mom was buried, Aunt Judith didn't know what to do with Ed. Mostly, she tried to ignore him. She didn't try to be mean to him. She had gone through her own life, hoping to be ignored and left alone. Life had overwhelmed her at an early age, and she'd tried to withdraw from it to the fullest extent possible. Ed was ten years old when he found himself living alone with a woman whose most fervent desire in life was to be left alone.

Ed did most things for himself. He fixed his own meals, laundered all his own clothes, and cleaned up his own room. He went to school, only needing to bother his aunt when there was some paper that needed to be signed, since she was now his legal guardian. He'd joined the Air Force, right after graduation from high school. By this time, thanks to the example his aunt had set for him, Ed's main wish was to be left alone too.

On the day his train left for Lackland A.F.B., in San Antonio, Texas, Ed and his aunt had spoken their final parting words to each other.

"Don't cause any bother to anyone, Eddie."

"No Ma'am."

Both had turned away then. Ed had no idea what his aunt had been thinking. For his part, Ed was slightly excited to be free from his aunt's control. Not that she'd ever exercised that control, but Ed had often felt the potential for her possibly doing so. It was good to no longer have to worry about the one person who had sufficient connection to him to have influenced his decisions. Ed was now on his own. That sense had stayed with him right up until he was met at the train station by some training instructors from the air base.

Over the next twelve weeks, Ed learned a lot about influence and control. It seemed like every breath he took was being influenced and controlled by someone other than himself. He went from no supervision to intense supervision. From having no one to answer to, to being dependent on someone else for all the decisions needing to be made in his life. Once basic training was over, things started being more relaxed. Ed remembered how they had been in basic though, and he took pains not to do anything to bring attention to himself. Once again he strove to become invisible. He did his job and just wanted to be left alone.

Maria had changed all of that. She had come in and turned his whole world on its ear. Part of him had started welcoming the change. The drugs had scared him too much though. The thought of being arrested and sent to prison was too much worry for him to manage. He was running away from that possibility. Running back to the one person he might be able to explain himself to. He didn't have any idea how to go about opening up that kind of conversation with his aunt. He knew it would be uncomfortable for both of them if he did manage to think of a way to even bring the subject up. More than anything else, he wanted to have someone else knowing what he knew, someone else deciding that what he'd done had been the correct response for him to have made.