Books and banter by W.H.Manke

Lynn Bambridge, Joshua’s mother, looked at the man on the bed of their cheap motel room.  He had gambled well into the night and had lost again.  She had arrived from work only twenty minutes earlier and had not seen him come in during that time.  “He must have been back for some time,” she murmured.  She had not become aware that he was in the motel room until a few minutes earlier when she checked the bedroom.  She knew right away that he had lost a large amount of money.

Looking at him she could see that he had come back drunk, something he had done after each night of big losses.  There had been enough of those in the past month that the money from his winning streaks was nearly gone.  In every town that had a casino they had stayed until his luck had run out.  They had left Las Vegas, their first stop many weeks earlier.

She had always been lucky to pick up work as a waitress.  It had kept her occupied since she didn’t enjoy hanging around the gambling tables.  Jack had also wanted it that way.  Her income paid for their rooms and for their food.  The feelings she had had for the man when they had first met had slowly vanished with each of his losses.

Jack was not a bad sort when he wasn’t drunk.  In fact he had a soft heart, but he had become irritable and aggressive whenever his losses had carried on for more than a night or two.  Two weeks into his gambling spree she had told him that she wanted to go home to her boy.  He had forbidden her to call him from the outset.  “There’re some nasty people looking for me,” he had said.  They won’t be nice to me or to you, if they find us.  We can’t afford to leave a trail so don’t you dare call anyone.  I wouldn’t want to hurt you or your kid.”

Now, as she glanced at him, she despised him.  Shortly after she had left with him she had become terrified of him.  “I’ll kill you myself if you try to run out on me,” he had threatened several times. “I might even do it, if I find out you’ve called your kid.  We can’t leave a trail.”  She wanted to believe that he was only bluffing to keep her in line, but lately she had no longer been sure of this.

“I hate you,” she whispered watching him sprawled out across the bed.  He had managed only to get himself half undressed before he had passed out.  She was glad that he had come back before her shift at the diner had ended.  It had been a good shift.  She had received lots of tips and her paycheck too.  She had cashed it at the diner, and with that much money in her purse she had made a decision to take the first opportunity to get away from Jack.  Little had she realized at the time that the opportunity would come so quickly.  Now that it had suddenly arrived she felt  nervous.

Even though he had always made her give him the money she earned, she had managed to hide a little from each job.  She slowly reached over to him poking him lightly on the arm that dangled from the bed to see if he would wake up.  He only grunted and continued his snoring.  For another long moment she stood deep in thought.  Then she tiptoed to the desk, picked the telephone up and quietly called the bus depot.  She inquired what buses would take her to Regent City.

The ticket agent told her of a bus that would take her in the direction of Regent City, and that she would have to transfer only once were she to take it.  “Coach 467 will be leaving in less than an hour, Ma’am,” he said and told her the price of the ticket.

She hung up and whispered, “I’ll have to hurry.”  She changed quickly trying not to make any noise.  Silently she packed her suitcase, retrieved the money she had hidden under the bathroom sink, tiptoed across the room and carefully and slowly opened the door.  Casting a quick glance back she saw that Jack hadn’t moved.

The bus depot was only three blocks away, but she felt like it took an eternity to get there.  It wasn’t the most pleasant part of town to be walking along in the middle of the night with a suitcase, and she imagined any moment that Jack or some mugger would grab her from behind.  She had stashed most of her money into her undergarments.  “If anybody’s going to rob me, they’ll have to undress me, and I can holler with the best of them,” she said to herself trying to keep her courage up.

Only when clutching her bus ticket in one hand and standing in front of the driver did she breathe a sigh of relief.  She took one quick look back toward the motel she had left only minutes earlier.  Jack had not followed her.  “I hope he was only bluffing about coming after me,” she whispered.  “He won’t have any money for a few days to go far.”  She took a seat quickly and closed her eyes to try to get a little sleep.

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