“Where you staying?” Tiffany asked when she finally had enough free time to breath. The two women were in a cramped office. The desk was covered in papers and invoices and Tiffany just moved them to the side. She then glanced at Tiffany’s backpack. “You’re new to town?”
True nodded slowly. “I just got to town today. I haven’t decided where I’ll stay yet.”
“Well there’s a motel just down the road. You can pay by the night or by the week if you like.”
True nodded politely. “Thank you. I will look into that.” But she already knew that she didn’t have money for that. Maybe after a few more days of tips…
PT 2
The next day True arrived at work wearing her T-shirt and apron beneath her worn coat and carrying her backpack over one shoulder.
Sue, a different waitress eyed her. Sue was forty-ish with a chubby body, an upturned nose and face that had too much blue eye-shadow and bright red lipstick.
“You the new girl I’ve been hearing about.” She said while rapidly chewing gum.
“Yes. I’m True,” She greeted politely.
“I’m Sue. I’m supposed to show you what to do this morning.” Sue spent more time being nosey than working, asking True questions that she didn’t want to answer.
“Where you from?” Sue asked.
“No where.” True replied quietly while clearing dishes from a table.
“Nowhere?” Sue replied loudly, gathering everyone’s attention. “Everyone’s from somewhere.”
True shrugged. “You can be born anywhere but if you move from place to place you’re not really from anywhere.” True was happy to go to the kitchen to get away from the scrutiny of Sue and the customers. They whispered questions about her even when she was in earshot. She was happy when Pauline came in at lunch and she could stay in the kitchen and do food prep for Jeb.
“Don’t mind Sue,” Jeb said out of the blue. “She’s a busy-body.” True gave him a surprised look. He was a man of few words other than when he grunted out an instruction.
“I’m used to it,” she said dismissively. Jeb gave her a long look.
“You staying around long?” He asked.
“For a while.”
He just nodded.
The lunch crowd wasn’t nearly as busy as the breakfast crowd and when it calmed down enough for her to take a break, True sat at the counter and had a burger—which was free, making it the best burger she’d had in ages.
She noted a man staring at the television set that was propped up on a shelf behind the counter. He sipped his coffee, his attention on the television instead of her, which was unlike most of the other customers.
The television was playing a soap opera making her remember a time when her mother used to watch shows like General Hospital with characters like Luke and Laura. She felt a streak of sadness that she blinked away. The man was big like a lumber jack. His short auburn hair had streaks of grey at the temple. He sported a neat goatee and wore a plaid shirt over a t-shirt. There was something distinctly bear-like about him in the way that he hunkered over his coffee while watching the soaps. Maybe it was his thick lush short cropped hair, and the covering of fur on his forearms.
Suddenly he turned to her, his expression giving away no hint to his thoughts, whether he found her nosey for staring, strange because she was the only black person in town, or intrigued because…she was the only black person in town.
True quickly averted her eyes but not before noticing that he had a big cast on his right leg. Sue came over and poured her a re-fill of soda pop. True gave her a grateful nod of thanks.
“You staying at the Westover motel?” She asked. True should have known that the woman wasn’t done interrogating her.
“Tiffany said it was a good place to stay.” True answered evasively.
“What brings you to Estill County?” Sue’s brow perked up curiously.
“Sue! Why don’t you leave the girl alone!” Jeb yelled from the kitchen.
A scowl pulled across the jowls of the woman’s face. “I’m just asking!”
“I better get back.” True picked up her plate leaving her lunch unfinished as she carried it to the back.
Jeb told her he didn’t need her in back so she carried a sponge and cleanser and began cleaning the counter up front.
Sue frowned. “You don’t gotta do that. We don’t do that until the end of the day.” But True didn’t think that was true. The counter had dirt over old dirt buried in the crook and crevices and some of the shelves were spotted with old spillings.
True shrugged as she continued to clean. “I don’t mind.” Translation=I’ll mind my business and you mind yours. Sue wasn’t her boss. After her mama died and she was placed in foster care she met a lot of people like Sue, who felt better about themselves when they put themselves over someone else.
At the end of the day True was more exhausted from Sue than she was from work. She could tell that Sue’s complaining was getting on Pauline’s nerves, too. She talked about customers who were cheap tippers while in the earshot of other customers. She complained about the truck in the parking lot that had been sitting there for weeks and weeks, and how scandalous Bonnie was for running off with Jake, and about her kids who obviously weren’t raised right since they stole and skipped school and got caught smoking things other than cigarettes.
It was exhaustive and she was happy when Tiffany returned in time for the dinner rush and told her that she could go on home.
Home.
True grabbed her things and went outside. She was hit smack in the face with the crisp February wind. She pulled her collar up and began the trek to the Westover motel. It was entirely too cold for her to sleep outside again. She’d curled up in the back doorway behind the diner hidden by two big dumpsters. Her biggest fear was that a rat might jump out of the trash—but it was evidently too cold for rats. She had snuggled in as best she could and then had gone across the street to wash up in the bathroom of the bus depot.
Tonight she would sleep in the motel, take a hot bath, wash her clothes and ease her aching bones. She was twenty-seven. She shouldn’t ache so much on the outside or inside. She thought about Carlos, how he had tried to break her spirit—how he had very nearly succeeded.
She was seven dollars short of being able to pay the sixty-nine dollar a night fee. And the two hundred forty-nine dollar weekly charge wasn’t doable because she simply wouldn’t be getting a full check this week.
She politely told the clerk that she’d comeback later and hefting her backpack higher True went back out into the cold, worrying about a place to sleep where no one would harass or arrest her for vagrancy. Yes, vagrancy was something that creates a police record…
The bathroom of the bus depot covered her bathing needs but wasn’t an option for sleeping since they closed and locked up each night. The restaurant gave her free food and quick money in the way of tips, but now she needed a place out of the cold to sleep and that was hard when you were in a small country town. Abandoned cars had worked for her in the past but there weren’t abandoned vehicles just…sitting…around…taking up space…
Remembering Sue’s comments about the abandoned truck in the parking lot, True returned to the diner. It was dark and she tried not to be noticed. The restaurant was still opened and she didn’t want to draw attention. Lord knows she had already done enough of that by being black.
She eyed a big truck parked on the side of the diner, in the back and away from the parking lot. As far as she could see, there was no reason for Sue to complain about the truck taking up space. Where it was parked was an unused portion at the back of the restaurant. A rusty chain and two beat up posts kept it partitioned from the rest of the parking lot. It looked like someone had spread a bunch of gravel over a bunch of weeds and the weeds were now taking over. There weren’t any other cars around, which is why she had felt secluded sleeping behind the diner that first night.
True hurried over to it. It was just the cab, the double sets of wheels holding nothing more than supports. She tried the driver’s door, which was on the far side away from the diner and facing woods. Of course it was locked. True leaned against the truck and took a moment to blow warm air into her hands. She needed gloves. She could spare the money to buy gloves and another scarf from a thrift store. Surely there was a thrift store in this town. Her ears were cold because her cap only covered the top of her ears. She pulled it down as low as she could and then turned and began walking to the back of the truck but stopped at a window, which obviously led to the sleeper cabin. She tugged at the latch, not expecting anything but it gave!
True pushed the window opened as far as it would go, which wasn’t far at all. The opening was maybe two and a half feet wide. Could she shimmy inside? She was small…smaller since Carlos had kicked her out with nothing but the clothes on her back. True dropped her back pack and took off her coat, shivering when the cold air found it’s way between her and her thin shirt and jeans. Shivering hard and with teeth chattering, True used the large front tire to stand on as she pulled herself up to the window. She had to put one shoulder and arm inside because the space was too small for both to go in at the same time. Ugh, her boobs were being scraped mercilessly by the hard ridge of the window but she managed to shimmy herself until she was half in. She began to panic when her hips prevented her from progressing further. What if she got stuck?! Her stomach and pelvis were screaming in pain from being wedged so tightly.
True took a deep breath deciding that she would rather strip off a layer of skin then get caught stuck half in someone’s truck. She’d be in jail for real, breaking and entering wasn’t simple vagrancy. There was an interior cabinet and she used it for leverage, pulling herself until she got her butt past the window and tumbled inside with a crash as she landed on a small table scattering it’s contents. Luckily the small television was pushed into a nook so she didn’t break it, but some of the molding from the cabinet was lying broken on the floor next to her.
True laid there for a minute staring at the small opening that she had just come through, then she rubbed her bruises and looked around. With only the light of the moon she could make out a retractable door that closed the cabin off from the driver’s area. The cabin was surprisingly spacious. Her eyes settled on a bed that was neatly made up and she had a fleeting thought of Goldilocks testing each bed until she found the one that was just right. True didn’t care if this bed was just right. It was a bed and it was out of the cold and therefore met all her needs.
She eased back the vinyl curtain that separated the front from the back and climbed forward. She needed to get her coat and backpack but worried about opening the door and illuminating the inside of the cabin. She even considered leaving her coat and backpack outside but she chanced opening the door, which immediately flooded the area in bright light. True dashed outside and quickly scooped up her belongings.
She quickly slammed the door shut and relocked it. Once she had her coat back on and was out of the freezing wind she found some blankets folded neatly on a shelf and burrowed on top of the comfortable bed. Most of the cold was now outside and she fell asleep feeling warm and safe.