Epilogue

JULY 3, 1965

 

Ruby rested her elbow on the diner counter, she had a Coke in her hand and a straw pressed between her plump lips. Her hair was beautiful and wild, curls in every direction. She had not only a compass dangling on a chain around her neck, but also the attention of all the patrons at the diner’s counter.

“So, I’m running as fast as I can, and my feet are slipping and sliding on the ice of the mountain, and for a second there, I think I’m going to go over the edge of this cliff. When all of a sudden…Wham!” Ruby slammed her hand on the diner’s counter and the girls listening all jumped in their seats. “A yeti bigger than my van comes tearing out of a cave and runs right past me.” She spread her arms as wide as they’d go, showing just how large the yeti had been. “I catch my balance and narrowly escape with my life. I was this close.” Ruby held up her hand and pressed her thumb and index finger close together. “To death and the yeti, come to think of it.”

“Bull!” A tall, dark-skinned girl cocked her head to the side and jumped down from her seat at the counter, pulling Ruby’s attention away from the flock of listeners and centering it on herself. “I can believe the one about aliens in Greece. I can even believe the one with the groovy harpoon death on an ocean liner, but Ruby Starr, I cannot—cannot believe that a North American yeti would reveal itself so easily. That just don’t make sense.”

“Misty, girl, you are always bringing me down.” Ruby sighed, looking to her friend Bruno for support. “Bruno, do you get me?”

“Mission control, I hear you loud and clear.” He laughed, wrinkling his forehead.

“But are you receiving?” Misty pulled off Bruno’s hat and placed it on her head. “Come on. Let’s blow out of here. We’ve still got a couple hours left before dark. I bet we can make it even closer than last time.”

Ruby picked up her bag from the counter and left a few spare bills as a tip. “You two are always tag-teaming me.” She pouted.

As they stepped outside, the desert heat hit her. They were in for a long day and an even longer night. Ready to roll, she slid on a pair of sunglasses and dug her keys out of her purse. She paused only when the sound of a motorbike echoing off in the distance caught her attention. For a moment, her heart broke and overwhelming sadness took her, followed by overwhelming happiness.