The sun was shining bright through the window of the little VW Beatle. Anna had seen one of these cars once in a movie, but she’d never been in one. She soon realized it was a rather disappointing experience. The seats were hard and each tiny pebble that went under the wheels felt like a bolder. Still, she was appreciative of the ride and she looked down to her feet in her new sneakers and felt the blisters throb.
She looked over to Carl and saw him sleeping heavily. His eyelids were twitching as he dreamt and she wondered what was going through his mind.
“Gerald?” she broke the silence.
“Yuh?”
“Do you always pick up hitch hikers?”
“Hmmmm… not always. But I’m always on the road so maybe every week or so I’ll pick up someone nice like yourself and help them out,”
“That’s real nice of you,” Anna smiled in the rear view mirror.
“Oh really it’s nothing. It’s just what the scripture teaches,” and he smiled happily.
She had never met anyone so innocent and carefree before and figured he’d never had a bad experience in his life.
“So do you travel for work?” she asked.
“Uhuh… I’m a good old fashioned Bible salesman,”
“You’re kidding? I didn’t know those actually existed,”
“Well,” Gerald shrugged. “Here I am,” and he smiled that goofy grin again.
He was so kind and friendly that Anna couldn’t help but be suspicious. She’d seen enough horror movies in her lifetime to know how scenes like this ended. She looked out to the desolate landscape and realized the predicament of their situation. The sheer wild terrain all around them and the sense of isolation, it terrified her.
“You look like you’re contemplating something there?” Gerald talked to her through the mirror.
“Just that… Don’t you get lonely and frightened out here on the open road?”
“Frightened? No!” he laughed. “This is freedom. This is the true spirit of America,”
And Anna churned over his words in her mind.
“Have you always travelled alone?”
“Oh no. No. I had a wife once. She used to come with me on all my trips. But we were just married two years when the cancer took hold of her. She died before I could make it home to say goodbye,” the severity of his words however were not impacted on his face.
He was still smiling at Anna in the mirror as she turned towards Carl. Seeing him beside her warmed her heart.
“May I ask if you’ve been married long?” Gerald asked so innocently that it made Anna blush.
“Er… not that long at all,” she didn’t care to elaborate.
“Well ain’t that nice. You should appreciate every moment you have together. You never know when you’ll have to say goodbye,” and he looked to the sky as if he could see to heaven. “But everyone waits up there for us when we have to go,”
“Do you think everyone is reunited with their loved ones?” she quickly felt terrified at the thought of being with her father for all eternity.
“Yeah I really do. The way I see it is that we are all in debt to God and then person by person he makes us repay that debt. That’s when it’s our time to go back,”
Anna didn’t know what to say to that and she just looked out the window as the trees passed by.
“I don’t know if I like the sound of that,” she mumbled under her breath.
CHAPTER 15
Jerry was trying his hardest to run up the stairs in the Don’s home but in true Angelo style it was the longest and most exhausting staircase Jerry had ever seen. He was sweating as he got to the top and he had to stand for a moment to catch his breath. In the distance he could hear the music of Frank Sinatra playing. He followed the sound until he reached the door of Don Angelo’s office. Knocking gently he waited for an answer. Silence. He knocked again.
“Yuh, who is it?”
“It’s Jerry, boss,”
“Sure come in,”
As he opened the door he was instantly startled to see a young girl about twenty years old emerge from under the Don’s desk. As she stood up he could see she was only in her bra and panties.
“Don’t mind her she was just leavin’” Angelo zipped up his pants and leaned over his desk to pick up a cigarette.
The girl scurried out the office and down the hallway, with a wad of cash clutched in her hand.