Chapter 4

Andy pushed back at the same time Kendall extracted his hand. All of a sudden, she bolted up to a sitting position and looked at him. She then looked at the bed, and then back at him. After closing her eyes and letting out a little noise, she said what was on her mind.

She'd had too much to drink. This was the second time with Tequila, and both times it had ended up problematic.

Kendall was waiting for her to go off. He wouldn't have blamed her, even though he had no idea how they even got to the room in the first place. Strange thing was she was silent after saying it had been a problem. He felt the need to apologize and tried. He was older, after all.

She laughed at his behavior. This was becoming a habit.

Kendall got irritated and asked how old she was. When she told him, he about fell out of the bed. He couldn't believe it, and stammered, asking how that was possible.

Andy couldn't help the smirk on her face. She then told him of the two years she had spent working and saving, before heading to college.

Kendall was humbled. He'd never had to work through college. His ticket was paid for, and he had hardly wanted for anything during that time. His parents had died, but the estate had paid for everything. The last of the money from the estate had been used as a down payment on his house. It had been a great start to what was to be a fulfilling life. Things just hadn't worked out that way for him.

Coming back to the present, Kendall realized he had been very wrong about this woman who was still on the bed with him. She was only four years younger than he was. Not wanting 'complications' was getting harder. He knew he needed to get up, and get out of the room.

A banging at the door got their attention. A man yelled through the door, in very broken English, that it was time to get into line.

Andy and Kendall looked at each other. Both said the first things that came to mind. Breakfast? Bathroom? They couldn't help but laughing.

Andy then told Kendall that he needed to get up and go out of the room.

Surprised, he wondered out loud, "Why?"

That question was answered when Andy told him that her short dress had bunched up a good bit during the night.

Kendall stammered as he slid out from the covers (still dressed in his clothes from last night), but his mind couldn't turn off the idea of what she must look like under those covers. Manners or not, he couldn't help but look back at her on the bed, before going down the hall and exiting into the bright light of morning.

Blinking several times in the brightness, brought a sense of reality back to Kendall.

He looked around, thinking there would be a line, and hoping it wasn't for the bathroom. He saw none and then made his way down three doorways to find the bathroom door open. He quickly used the facilities, knowing that Andy would soon be needing to use them as well.

As soon as he came out the door a man waved and spoke in the same broken English telling him to come, quickly.

Kendall was beginning to wonder what was going on. He'd walked two blocks with the man who was obviously in a hurry.

As they turned a corner towards the main street of the town, Kendall became aware of the urgency. He started to run.

Andy had found herself in front of a girl when she opened the door, and recognized her as the quiet girl who had been seated next to her at dinner. Andy smiled. The girl took her hand and led her down to the bathroom. Instead of letting go, she pulled her inside. Andy thought that a bit strange. The girl hadn't said a word yet, she did let go of Andy's hand though, but that was only when the girl pulled back a curtain. Andy had assumed, from the light filtering through, that there was a window behind it. There was, but there was also an old claw foot tub.

Before Andy could figure out what was going on, the girl had pulled out towels, turned on the water, and pulled out a tray that held three glass jars. Holding each up to Andy, the girl took off the lid, wanting Andy to smell them. Andy thought the first one a bit odd. The second was nice. The third made her smile. That caused the girl to smile as well. She took a scoop that was on the tray and added two scoops into the bath water.

The girl then took Andy's hands and gave them a squeeze, grinned at her, and then left, closing the bathroom door behind her.

Andy was a bit dumbfounded, but the smell of the perfumed water was simply irresistible. For some reason, Andy didn't even think about locking the bathroom door. It was almost as if the water was intoxicating. She dropped her clothes and stepped into the tub, feeling the tension flow out of her as she sank into the water. It was almost like she was a little girl, about the age of the one that had brought her in here, once again.

The man caught up to Kendall when he had stopped at the end of the line. He told Kendall he would stay there. Kendall was to get the scooter.

There were six cars and one truck in front of him. Kendall looked at his watch as he walked over to retrieve the scooter, which had been locked up across the street. It was nearly ten in the morning. He was surprised at how late it was, but remembered that it would be probably another three hours until the tanker with the gas rolled into town. This was going to be a long, hot, day of waiting.

Rolling the scooter across the road, the man took hold of it and then smiled a crooked toothy smile. Kendall then got a lesson in local politics. Kendall would be assured a full tank, if he bought something in the shop next to the gas station.

Kendall shook his head thinking that it was one clever way to insure that your wife's business works. He entered the shop, expecting to find cheap trinkets that would just be thrown away. What he found was a clothing shop. Natural fabrics, some with embroidery around the collars. Kendall wasn't in a rush. He knew he had plenty of time before he needed to make any sort of decision. He was pleasantly surprised when he found some men's clothing in amongst all of the ladies things.

Stepping out of what had been laughingly suggested as a dressing room, Kendall saw a girl that he swore he recognized. She came up to him and gave him a big smile and a constant nod. He had to look in the mirror all the same, but did agree. The shirt and pants did look pretty good on him. She took his hand and pulled him to a rack.