2. Mary
1289 Words
I took a ride from Herbie, who took me to the town. It was small, not so different from all of those other I had crossed in my voyage, and where it seemed everybody knew everybody.
The old Nadine would never trust a stranger so easily. But, like I kept telling myself, the old Nadine had died in flames, so not much had left of her. And If I wanted to leave the ghosts of the past behind, I had to leave old Nadine behind as well.
We stopped near a mechanic shop. Herbie whistled and someone answered right away from the oily darkness of inside.
"Mack? You there?"
"Yo! What do you need old man?"
The voice was younger than I had anticipated. Since Herbie was so old, I had thought this Mack person to be equally old. His voice however seemed to be younger. And soon enough a red haired man appeared from within the shop, cleaning his hands to a greasy rag.
"Take a look at this young’s baby."
"Gladly, where is she?"
"Mind your mind, jerk. You’re married."
"Yeah, but I am not blind. Nor dead."
Oddly enough, their banter didn’t spook me. If anyone had dared to flirt with me, no matter how old, in face of Thomas, I’d be terrified of the punishment that would follow. With Herbie and Mack, however, I was trying to be as chilled as anyone would be giving the circumstances.
We had toed my car using Herbie’s pickup truck and now Mack was messing with its insides.
"Who the hell mistreated this baby so badly?"
His growls come within the hood of my car but I startled, nonetheless. He sounded angry, and my mind flew back to when Thomas was angry… when he was angry, he would make sure I knew and felt ten times the worse.
"Now, take it easy, big guy… the little lady here only had it recently…"
Herbie’s voice came through my fog of panic. Luckily, neither of them seemed to realize just how panicked and how far in my head I was. So, I could breathe rationally and start thinking again.
"This baby is gonna need a lot more than I have to be fully functional again… I could order the pieces for you, but it will take its time to arrive. You in a hurry, miss?"
"It seems I've just run out of hurries..."
My answer was accompanied by a sad smile. Truth be told, I had nowhere to go. I was just… running… from my past and Thomas. I had to settle somewhere and this God’s forsaken town seemed a place as good as any to start over… at least collect my thoughts and myself before I hit the road again. I looked around, but the mechanic’s shop was at the end of what it seemed the main street. My mind went blank. I was in the middle of nowhere, running from a past that I craved to leave behind, with no reasonable destiny in mind. Paradise Mountains seemed far enough for me stop and get my thoughts back together.
"Do you have a house around here? Relatives?"
At the time, it sounded weird his question. Why would I have relatives nearby? Or a house? If that was the case, wouldn’t he have already recognized me? But then I understand that we were on a small city that craved the tourist’s attention. Which meant that during Spring and Summer it would be bustling with activity, which would decrease in Autumn and lay dormant during Winter.
"No… no one…"
"No one nowhere?" Herbie’s question caught me off guarded. Perhaps it wouldn’t be very smart of me to answer this question truthfully, since I really didn’t know any of them… they could be killers, rapists or worse, altogether… but the Nadine that had faked her death and left Thomas was stronger that the old Nadine. And so I answered with another question:
"Is there anywhere where I could rest for the night?"
"Miss, you’re talking through a week or more… but yeah, there is. Mary can take care of you."
Later, I realized Mary runned the only inn of the town. She was also Mack’s wife, but at that time, I only thought of her as an angel. She had the most red hair I had ever seen. Her eyes were bright green, as if she had a part of Ireland with her. Like her husband, she was in her mid-forties and she seemed so fierce in her own way as her husband was around cars.
She was also Herbie’s crush.
"Mary, my love. When will you came to your senses and elop with me?"
"When hell freezes over."
Her answer was matter-of-factedly and I couldn’t restrain a laugh. She looked at me with curious eyes and leaned herself on the counter.
"And who this fine lass may be?"
"I’m Elisabeth Smith."
"And she needs a room, my love."
She shook hands with me, eyeing me thouroughly. There was something off in her eyes, as if she could see through me. But she didn’t discard me right away, which came as a relief.
"I can book a room for her, we’re not up to the brim, y’a know…"
Since Autumn was advancing, I knew she would have some spare rooms. The city lived for Spring and Summer outbursts… in the winter, I had learned that the town used to be blocked by the snow, so unless someone was a fan of radical sports, they would be all pretty much kept to themselves.
The inn was pretty and had a diner adjacent. I learned later that it also belonged to Mary, but unlike the inn, it was used very frequently. Since the inn only truly worked during half of the year, the diner provided the yearly income the couple needed to live.
"You hungry, lass?"
I was about to deny, the usual lie in the tip of my lips, but my stomach growled and gave me away. I blushed, fairly certain everyone had heard it.
"Well, lucky you, we’re near dinner time. Come on, diner’s this way."
It turned out the diner had a communication door to the inn as well as the main street. Being still early, it was nearly empty when we walked in, Herbie right in my toe. The few people scattered along the tables eyed me curiously but soon focused their attention in their on meal. Probably thought me a late tourist.
"I hope you’re not too picky."
Mary’s voice brought me from the deapths of my head.
"Excuse me?"
"Food. I hope you’re not too picky."
"Why?"
"I lost my cook last Summer and couldn’t replace him yet. He wanted to go to a big city to try his luck. Who am I to torn myself in luck’s place? So, I’m currently the cook, as well as manager, but I’m not all that good in the kitchen."
"Well, I can cook."
I blurted out the answer without thinking and she looked at me through veiled eyes.
"And why would you want to cook at a small time’s diner’s?"
"Why not? We all need to eat."
My answer was rapid and defensive. Thomas would never allow me to do something as low as cooking, but he wasn’t here to stop me.
"Well…"
Mary seemed indecisive, but a look through her windows made her reach a decision.
"Cook me something and we’ll see."
I tried to look through the window, trying to see what she had seen, but I could only see her husband’s mechanics shop.
- Writer
