Chapter 13

Somewhere between Sioux City, Iowa, and St. Joseph, Missouri, I got over Cindi and Brenda. Cindi swept me off my feet. Her childlike enthusiasm and all out sexual energy were exactly what I needed to kick start my new self, and then Brenda came along with everything else I wanted in a woman, and it got me thinking about forever with two perfectly matched women for me to take care of, and for them to entertain me.

When we were naked together, it was magic, but the farther I got from South Dakota, the less I missed them.

That got my attention.

Maybe I was training myself to let go, since my lives were so temporary. It hurt less if I loved less, but if I loved less, I got less out of love. The net benefit fell far short of anything gained. How does one love, when they know they are temporary help in this world? If I wasn't careful, I was going to end up gun shy, so I intentionally let it go ... let them go.

I stopped at a neighborhood garage sale along the way and replaced my Glock, along with ammunition, and extra clips, with a nice smooth draw holster to make it easier to both conceal, and get into action should the need arise. I practiced at an outdoor range located nearby, and hit the road feeling protected.

Feeling a little better, I stopped somewhere north of Saint Joseph, Missouri for a rather late lunch and met the reason the universe sent me here to occupy David's body.

The restaurant was nothing much, just a place to stop and eat, along the way to North Carolina. Without Cindi and Brenda, driving home to the ranch didn't seem so tedious. I think I wanted to get them to the ranch so they'd fall in love with it like I did, and not leave me. That didn't work out, just like things failed with Beth Ann, Regina, Rebecca, and Colleen – not to mention Tammy, Sherrie, and Teri. Maybe it was for the best was my thinking as I parked and took a seat in a corner booth at the restaurant.

Because I could see the parking lot, I saw the old, beat up, Olds roll in to the lot, looking like it was on its last legs. The driver hopped out and immediately opened the hood and started tinkering with something underneath. I could read his lips, and hear the cutting tone of his voice when he ordered the woman to take the teenage girls to the restroom while he worked under there.

She seemed tiny under his withering words, and herded the girls inside. I guessed her age at about thirty, and the girls somewhere around fifteen. It was hard to tell, because girls that age can look twenty-five, or thirteen. The one thing they definitely were, was tired, worn down, mistreated, and unhappy.

Something told me not to track their progress inside, but to watch the young man. As soon as they were out of sight, he threw open the passenger door, searched until he found her purse, and rifled it, taking all the cash and stuffing it in his filthy jeans. He then tossed the purse in the dirt and jumped into the car, driving away in cloud of dust.

He'd just abandoned the three of them, penniless, in no-forks, Missouri.

Hmmmmm...

'Here we go again, ' I thought, as I waited for the three to return and find themselves stranded, abandoned and robbed.

When the woman came back through the dining room on the way to the car, she looked around, momentarily confused, because the car wasn't where she left it. Then she broke into a run towards her purse, lying in the dirt. When she picked it up and saw that he had cleaned it out, she sat down in the dust and began to cry.

That helped me make up my mind.

I walked outside just as the woman began to seriously weep. Her crying tore at me like the cries of wounded agents in firefights I'd died in. Her daughters ran to her and held her as she reached the end of her rope – maybe for the first time, certainly for the current time. The three of them lived in a private place, just then. Their grief walled everyone else in the world out, and they held on to each other, hoping that some miracle would swoop in and take them away from the nightmare they were living.

The universe was far ahead of them.

I waited until I thought the mother had temporarily cried herself out, and softly said, "Hey ... You're not alone ... I will help you..."

She looked up.

Her children looked up.

They saw a young man, carefully dressed, nonthreateningly standing back and letting them see that I was "safe." The one I thought was the mother was much younger than I thought. She might have been their older sister, instead of their mother. She was slim, about five-feet five inches tall, with dark brown hair, cut to about her shoulders. Her clothes were worn, old, and in bad shape. They weren't dirty, just worn out, and the other two looked to be dressed about the same.

I had time to study their appearance as they studied me.

It was a standoff of sorts.

Pretty soon the one I had thought to be their mother, said, "You have no idea what you're offering. My – our – ride just drove off with every cent out of my purse, stranding the three of us here in God knows where, without enough money to make a local call from a payphone." Her voice trembled with fear, and sorrow, as she tried to give me fair warning, before I tried to help them.

"It's all good," I said, softly, still trying to be non-threatening, and gentle. "Whatever you need, I am pretty sure I can help you with. Let me try, at least. That way you won't be out in the heat, and dust, trying to figure out where your next meal will come from, and how you're going to get out of the weather tonight."

Mentioning living out in the open got their attention. I could see fear leap into the younger girl's eyes, and they communicated that fear to the oldest. She looked me over some more, and finally said, "Can we sit down in there," gesturing to the restaurant, "and talk for a little while? I need to talk to someone and if you're willing, I would be so grateful. Please?"