Almost Everywhere

A Story by Rip the cowdog

Riding in a boxcar through a small Texas town.

The rain was starting to come down as I made my way across the rail yard twords the edge of the gravel and rocks . I knew that the closest place to get out of the weather was the highway bridge a few hundred yards away, there I could at least dry out and maybe get a fire going to warm myself up a bit. The grain elevators were being watched by a security guard,so hiding in their was out of the question, and he was watching me from his vantage point in an old ford pickup, so I wandered south west just out of his line of sight and headed to the roadway where after crossing there would be almost to safety. on my way to the bridge I noticed someone up ahead on the path way hiding under the shelter of a small lean to. as I got a little closer I noticed it was a woman, pretty young and she looked at me as I approached, She was wearing a pair of jeans and an old military style jacket, and a small radio was playing some country music. She asked me if I had a Cigarette, I told her No that smoking was'nt for me, then she told me to sit down and get out of the rain, There were soda's in a can and some pork and beans as well, she had turned this lean to into a pretty nice place, a can of sterno was warming up a container of stew or something in the corner away from the wind , it was nice and warm in here to.She gave me a soda to drink and asked me where I was traveling, and how far I had been on my road trip so far. I replied that Mexia Texas was my destination and that the rail lines had been my taxi from as faraway as Maybelle Texas , she listened eagerly as my story unfolded, I gave her bits and pieces of information about my travels so far, the nights all alone in the boxcar, and sleeping under overpasses and bridges.She then told me about her travels and how she had run away from her uncles house in Missouri,She would'nt tell me why, but that she was going south to Hearne Texas to live with her sister. I learned that her name was Bridgette and that there was a lot of tomboy in her blood, she might be a young lady in appearance, but she was educated well above her nineteen years she claimed to be.streetwise and savy to this way of life I learned by listening to her voice which was kind of harsh from smoking cigarettes or some other kind of street drugs I presumed. There were no tracks on her arms that were visible , but she did have a nice tattoo on the left shoulder that was visible when she took off the jacket earlier. and her breast's were nice and firm, the n*****s were large and brown, that much I could see through the tan sweater she was wearing. She didn't have any under clothes on beneath the sweater, which made her soft skin more visible.I told Bridgette that I was going to head twords the bridge, and pointed to the south west where the shimmering lights in the distance outlined it pretty well. She mentioned that since we were traveling to the same part of Texas ,that maybe we could travel together and watch each others back on the road. And that I should stay there with her until the rain and wind blew over, then she would be ready to move on and leave this part of Abilene. I sat there for a minute and mulled over the thought of me and her traveling together on the road, She made sense as far as watching each others back, and two people traveling together was better than being alone, She was starting to grow on me already, And she has a pretty figure too, even though I was old enough to be her father she took control of our situation and was already giving me orders, of sorts. I told her I would by a pack of smokes for her when we came across a grocery store, She perked up and pointed right across the field to a few buildings in the distance, so with the money in hand off she went like a jack rabbit, rain and all, I figured she was going to take the money and run, but ten minutes later she was back inside our shelter puffing on a Doral filter cigarette, I had made a friend for life I guess. She even brought me a Hershey bar and a Coca Cola back from the grocery store. She earned my trust for the day.but now it was time to rest, because tomorrow was gonna be a heck of a day, traveling with Bridgette in tow would be a learning experience for both of us.