Chapter 5
The ride was peaceful. After he left Binghamton and crossed into Pennsylvania the towns began to become smaller and farther apart. The low mountains had a light blanket of snow under the trees and traffic seemed light for afternoon. Roger had stayed longer than he would have liked in Binghamton but he had to make sure that everything was taken care of before he resumed his travels.
For a while it seemed like the area was sparsely populated but, as he got closer to Scranton the towns became closer together and as he neared Scranton he decided to stop and get something to eat before he started looking for a motel. It would be dark in a couple of hours and he preferred to travel during the day when he could see the countryside. He also didn't know how many motels were between Scranton and Harrisburg, his next stop.
A light rain started to fall. The temperature had hovered around forty all afternoon and a slight breeze made sure that you felt the cold go right through you. Shortly after he passed the ramp to Clark Summit he saw a car pulled off the road. The car appeared to be one of the old Toyotas, boxy and small. He guessed that it was about late eighties vintage and had definitely seen better days. There was a woman standing next to the car with her head in her arms on the hood of the car and she was apparently crying. Roger saw that she had only a sweater on; she was definitely not dressed for this type of weather.
Roger checked the traffic around him and pulled off of the road and coaster to a stop in front of the woman. He put the truck I reverse and backed up to within a couple of feet of the old Toyota. He grabbed the umbrella from under the seat and pulled the small throw blanket from the back seat. As he got out of the car the woman raised her head and looked at him warily. The woman looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties. She murmured something about being Ok, as he approached her, and tried the avoid letting him see that she had been crying. Roger saw that she was shivering so hard that she could hardly talk. He threw the cover over her shoulders and pulled her under the umbrella. Her eyes mirrored her fear and he loosened his grip on her arm.
"Please don't be afraid," he said, " I just saw that you were apparently having car trouble and I thought that I could be of some help. Besides, you're not dressed for being outside in this mess."
Her fear seemed to ease a bit but she still seemed like she would run at the first hint that he would do her harm, "I'm sorry. The car just died on me and I just didn't know what to do. I'll be Ok. You don't have to stay here; the State Police will be by soon. They'll get my car towed off of the road."
"Let's get out of the rain," Roger said, "The truck is warmed up and you need to get some heat back into your bones."
He saw that she wasn't about to get in the truck with him, "Look, I'll put the keys on the hood until the State Police get here. There's no way that I could do anything funny and hold you while I get out of the truck and get my keys."
She started to smile a little, "I'm sorry. I guess... well, so much has been happening lately that I guess I'm a bit gun shy. I do need to get warmed up."
They started for the pickup. Roger didn't attempt to open the door for her as he thought that she might become afraid that he would try something. He got in the pickup, reached over and pulled on the door handle to unlock her door and started the truck.
"Can you call the State Police by dialing pound 77?" he asked.
She nodded and he handed her his cell phone, "You do it. You know this area better than I do."
She dialed the emergency number and told the dispatcher where her car was and then hung up and handed the phone back to him. He plugged the phone in to the cigarette lighter charger.
He saw the tears had started again and he reached for the tin of cookies that Ethyl had handed him as he left their house, "How about some cookies? A friend of mine in Binghamton gave them to me. I guess she was afraid that I would starve to death on the road."
She flashed him a weak smile at his poor excuse at humor. When she saw that he wasn't going to pull the tin back from in front of her until she took a cookie, she took one and took a small bit out of it. They sat for a while in silence while they waited for help to arrive for her car.
"My name is Roger Bostic," he said in an effort to get her to loosen up.
"Janice Siemens," she said in a small voice.
Just then a pickup pulled in front of them and slid to a halt. The driver had pulled off of the road way too fast and the truck slid about fifty feet before coming to a stop. The truck was tricked out with thousands of dollars worth of after-market equipment and sat high above the road. Roger saw that the driver had lifted the truck as high as the law would allow. Although the truck looked gaudy, Roger guessed that the driver probably treated the truck better than he did his kids.
Two men got out of the truck and walked toward Roger's pickup. Their clothes were filthy with grease and it was obvious that the dirt was several days old. One of the men finished the last of the beer that he was holding and threw the can into the brush along the side of the road. The man that had gotten out of the passenger side of the truck walked over to Janice's side of Roger's pickup and put his arms on the door and wiggled his tongue at her in an obscene gesture. The driver walked to Roger's side and knocked on the window.
"Are these guys friends of yours?" he asked, looking at the overweight man leering at them.
When she didn't answer he looked over at her and saw that the fear that had been on her face was now replaced by terror.
The grimy guy kept rapping on the side window of the pickup and Roger lowered the window a few inches. The other man was still wiggling his tongue at Janice.
Before Roger could speak the man looked over at Janice, "I thought that was your car Janice. Let's go."
Roger looked at Janice and saw that she was so terrified that she couldn't move. She was shaking as hard as she had been when they were standing outside in the rain.
"I don't think she wants to go with you guys. We called the State Police and they're sending a tow truck."
The man at Roger's window leaned forward and glared at Roger, "Look jerk, don't stick your nose in this. We'll take her home... come on Janice... NOW!
The man tried to open the locked door on Roger's side just as the reflection of flashing blue lights filled the cab of the pickup. The two men looked back at the police cruiser that had just pulled up and hurriedly turned and ran to their truck and started down I-81.
Janice was still shaking and Roger told her to stay in the truck until the State Policeman needed her. She meekly nodded and turned and looked at her hands again. He got out of the pickup and talked to the state Policeman for a few minutes. Janice was sitting so that she could watch them and when Roger motioned that he needed her she came back to them with the cover over her shoulders. After a quick check of her registration and driver's license the State Policeman asked her where she wanted her car towed. When she hesitated Roger told the policeman that he should call a local AAA garage to tow it and see if it could be fixed. Before Janice could speak the policeman walked back to his cruiser and started to call in the tow.
"I can't afford that!" she hissed at him.
"Don't worry about it," he smiled, "It'll be my good deed for the day."
She looked at him strangely. The policeman walked back to them and told them that a tow truck would be there shortly and that if they didn't want to wait for it to just leave the car unlocked. He told them what garage the car was being towed to. Roger asked Janice if she knew where the garage was and she nodded that she did.
As the policeman headed back to his cruiser to leave Roger took Janice's arm and led her back to his pickup. She followed as if in a daze. After they settled in the truck he turned to her and asked her where he could drop her off.
Janice looked down at her hands as if she was totally defeated, "Just pull off of 81 and drop me off. You can get back on 81 and be on your way. Thanks for your help though."
Roger turned the truck off, "Ok Janice what's going on in your life? You sound like there's no place to go except down further into the mud. Talk to me... I'm a good listener."
"That's Ok, just drop me off at the bottom of the ramp. I'll take it from there."
Roger turned toward her, "Tell me about it. Who knows, I might just have a solution."
"Yeh... sure. Well, let me see if I can remember it all. I just lost my job because I'm too much trouble, my roommate asked me to move out because I'm too much trouble, my car is shot, the Beame brothers broke into my apartment and stole all of my things and either burned them or threw them in a dumpster somewhere, I have fifteen dollars to my name and I hate this town. Did I leave anything out?"
Roger shook his head, "Who are the Beame brothers?"
"You just met them. Howard and Homer Beame. Real nice guys... salt of the earth."
Roger started the truck, "Let's go get some dinner, I'm starved."
Janice gave him a hint of a smile, "Sure, my hair is soaking wet and hanging in my face, I'm still wearing my uniform and I'm wearing running shoes that have holes in the sides."
Roger checked his mirrors and pulled onto the highway and headed
toward Scranton. He saw a sign that said Steamtown Mall and turned off
of I-81.