Chapter 24

In the morning they took a shower together and then went down to see if the others had started to wake up. Sarah and Anna were already in the kitchen drinking coffee and several of the girls were outside in the pool. Pat looked outside and none of the girls had swimwear on. He hurriedly backed away from the window and Pauline laughed out loud.

After Pat had two cups of coffee he told Pauline that he was going to check to make sure that all of the vehicles were ready for the trip and then he would be ready to pick up the supplies that they would need for on the road.

"I'll get two girls and make sure they're ready when you are," she said with a half-smile.

Pat wanted to say something about what he was sure she was thinking but he didn't want to broach the subject in front of Anna and Sarah. He went out and began to check to vehicles over. All of the vehicles were in good shape and had been serviced recently so he was ready to leave in an hour. When he went back into the motel Pauline was waiting for him in the kitchen. Two girls were standing with her and drinking a soda.

Pat had been kept away from the girls by Anna for the better part of the trip and didn't know all of the girls names so Pauline introduced them.

"This is Shasta and Jesse. They wanted to go with you."

Shasta was one of the three black girls of the group and Jesse was a white girl who looked to be the cheerleader type with long blond hair that came down to her shoulders. Both girls were more than just pretty.

"Let's get going so we can get back before dark," he told the girls.

"Shasta needs to stop at a drug store," Pauline called out to him as they walked out to the truck they were taking.

The girls sat in the back and talked which Pat was happy about. He figured that he would stop at the first drug store that they came to and then he would stop and pick up the rest of the things they needed at the home center and the outdoor store. It suddenly dawned on him that he had better go with the girls into the drug store to make sure that they didn't get any of the controlled drugs behind the prescription counter.

He passed a drug store before he came to the home store or the outdoor store. The drug store was one of the large chain stores and he knew that the store would have whatever the girls needed.

"Let's go girls, ' he said as he opened the truck door, "Let's not take too long and don't get anything we won't need."

"Are you coming in?' Shasta asked.

"Yep, there's things in there that can kill you. We don't want any tragedies; we have enough problems just staying alive."

He could see that the girls weren't happy with his decision but he went in with them anyway. He went back to the pharmacy section and stood as the girls roamed the aisles. He gave them free rein to the rest of the store but made sure that they stayed out of the pharmacy section.

"We're ready," the girls called out to him; they were standing by the front door with several plastic bags in their hands.

As they walked to the truck pat grinned at them, "There's nothing dangerous in the bags is there?"

Jesse grinned, "What do you mean by dangerous?"

Pat made a mental note to have one of the women check the bags when they got back to the motel.

"How do you like being the only man in the world?" Jesse asked looking at his face in the rear view mirror.

Pat's face got red, "Okay girls, knock it off."

Shasta grinned and almost yelled, "When is it going to be our turn?"

Pat tried to defuse the situation, "What, do you want to get pregnant? You're only sixteen. That's way too young to get pregnant."

"No way I want to get pregnant yet but there's other things than getting pregnant," Shasta said.

"Let's knock off this conversation," Pat said not too nicely.

The girls got quiet and Pat saw an outdoor store a short way ahead of them. He pulled in front of the entrance and all of them got out of the truck and went inside.

The store was huge and had everything needed for outdoors except guns. There were tents set up on the showroom floor and anything else that they might need. Pat tore his list in half and told the girls to get what was on their half and put it by the front door. He figured that would keep the girls quiet and out of trouble.

Within an hour they had everything on the list and it was piled at the front door. Pat took an arm load out to the truck and then went back in the store. After several trips out to the truck in dawned on him that he hadn't seen the girls for a while. He called out to them but there was no answer. He hurried around the store looking for them and getting more panicky as he searched.

Pat called out again and he thought he had heard something. He was quiet and listened. He heard one of the girls laugh. He walked back to where the laugh came from. There was silence for a while and then one of the girls chuckled. The laugh came from one of the tents.

"Okay girls, lets knock it off," he said as he opened the tent flap.