9

            Pap was silent a moment then he stood, “Guess we should get you two to town.”

            I stood and kicked Shawn’s foot to wake him up, “Hey,” he said groggily, “What was that for?”

“Making jump off a train.”

            Pap led us out of the cabin and around the back, he had a beat up ’53 ford truck that looked like it had seen better days. Mary came running from the house and into the truck as if she had been awake the entire night.

“You kids hop in the back, it’s a bumpy ride but it’ll do.”

            We climbed into the dirty pickup bed and sat down with our backs to the cab. The truck rattled to a start, lurched forward, and then shot off like it was a bullet. Every few miles the exhaust would pop and the truck would slow before it sped up again. What was really nerve wracking were the potholes, there must have been a hundred of them, whenever we hit one we would nearly fly off the truck.

“It’s like taking a trip to the moon.” Shawn said.

“Yeah right, no one will ever get to the moon.”

“You never know.”

            The truck went up a short rocky slope then bounced down the other side, and it was still as Pap drove.

“Finally.” Shawn lay down in the bed of the truck looking up at the treetops, closed his eyes and I think he fell asleep after that.

            There weren’t any other cars on the road, so it was relatively peaceful. The road twisted through the mountains that were peppered with trees and waterfalls. Every once in a while I would see roadkill, so I stopped watching the road.

            I was just about to doze off myself when the horn of the truck went off, Shawn jumped awake and rubbed his face, “We there?” he asked still trying to wake up.

            I looked out around the truck, there were houses and way up ahead there were bigger buildings, none of them above three stories high.

“Yeah, we’re there.”

            The main part of town was like a giant tic-tact-toe board, in the squares there were department stores, diners, and drug stores. In the middle there was a church and garden. It was a clean town, no greasers, Shawn and I stood out. Pap stopped the truck behind the church, we hopped out of the back and went to the window.

“Thanks Pap.” Shawn told him.

“You kids got any money?”

            Shawn shifted through his pockets and shook his head, “No sir.” And for a minute I though Pap was only giving us a lift if we payed him. Pap sighed and handed Shawn a five.

“Go get yourself something to eat from Joe’s Diner, the sheriff and deputies don’t go there much, right about now there making sure the youngin’s get to school.”

“Thanks.” Shawn said again.

“Shawn, Rickey, they’re tough, you don’t want to get mixed up with them.” Pap said before he started the car and drove away with Mary.

“Well, let’s go get something to eat.” Shawn said.

“You didn’t have any money did you?” even though I don’t mind stealing, I’d rather not take it from the one who helped us.

“No, it must have fallen out when we were getting washed up the river.”

            I felt my pocket and found the letter, relieved it hadn’t been washed down the river too. We walked around a bit looking for the diner. This literally was the perfect town, there were no divisions between greasers or socs. Everyone here seemed to be where they were supposed to be work, school, home, shopping, except us, we looked out of place.

“Do you notice anything… Strange?” I asked.

“Yeah, there aren’t any black people.” He joked.

“Probably cause they’re all Mormons.”

“I heard they don’t drink.”

            I thought of Ron, “Probably for the best.”

“Oh yeah, your dad.”

“It’s okay, I’m not related to that scum.”

“Just take it easy he can’t hurt you anymore.”

            We found the diner, there were hardly any people, most likely because it was nine in the morning and they had just eaten breakfast.

“Can I take your order?” the little blonde waitress asked, “The breakfast special is only a 1.50, it comes with eggs, bacon, and pancakes.”

“Sure, two.” Shawn told her.

“Okay, I’ll have that right out for you in a sec.” she winked at Shawn just before she went into the kitchen.

“I hate blondes.” Shawn muttered.

“Yeah, not my type either.”

“Never met one who wasn’t a doat.”

“Yep.”

            She came back out with two servings of breakfast, it was clear she was trying to cater to one of us, and it clearly wasn’t me. She handed a plate with a bigger size serving to Shawn, while mine was considerably smaller.

“Let me get you and your kid brother some water.” She said before she went back into the kitchen.

            I put my elbow on the counter and rested my head on it, “So what do you do when this happens?” I asked sarcastically.

            He took a bite of his pancakes, “I milk it… Kid brother.”

“Cute.”

            By the time we were finished with the meal Shawn had gotten a couple of extra meals out of her, free. He also called her doll but that was irrelevant. He paid her and we left.

“And that was you lesson in crime kid brother.”

“I’ll be sure to write it down.” Shawn had also made a habit of calling me ‘kid brother’, just for kicks.

“So let’s head down to the train station and see which train we could catch to Arizona.”

“Okay.”

            We actually had no idea where we were going so we mostly wandered around town.

“No coffee?” Shawn asked.

“I don’t think so.”

“No wonder that blonde looked shocked when I asked for some. What about horse races?”

“No they don’t gamble, or smoke, or chew tobacco.”

“They’re a crazy bunch these Mormons.”

“Yeah?”

“How do you know so much about them?”

“I used to have a Mormon friend.”

“What happened?”

“Ran off, like us.” I said.

            We rounded the corner of the street and I collided with the sheriff.

“Hey,” he started, “You’re that missing kid.”

Author's Note

Just so people know, Mormons totally accept black people, please tell me if i'm pushing the limits.