Chapter 6
"Is there any place in the Mall that I can buy some clothes," he asked her as he followed the signs to the Steamtown Mall.
"There's a Boscov's in the Mall," she answered, "It's got some nice clothes, a bit too expensive for me though... I'm a Wal-Mart kind of girl."
He found out that the Steamtown Mall was not a mall in the usual sense. Scranton was a depressed area since the coal and steel industries had waned but it was fighting tooth and nail to bring itself back to respectability. The city government had taken the downtown area and joined a lot of the stores in the dying retail district together into a semblance of a mall. It all seemed to work. The downtown area was alive and well.
Roger found a parking lot close to the mall and pulled in and parked. When Janice tried to tell him that she would wait in the truck for him he walked over to her side and held the door open. He had to take her hand and pull her out of the truck. She left the cover in the truck so he held her hand and forced her to run along with him to Boscov's entrance.
Once inside the store he led her toward a section that had few people standing around, "Look, we're going to a nice place to eat tonight so you get a decent outfit and shoes and whatever else women need to make themselves pretty."
She immediately got on the defensive, "Look I'm not going to..."
He cut her off, "I haven't asked or suggested anything of the sort. All I'm asking of you is that you grace me with your presence at dinner and enthrall me with your witty conversation. Besides, I have a vivid picture of you standing in a Laundromat in the nude washing your one set of clothes. Scranton would never live it down."
She smiled at his attempt at humor and she meekly followed him to the ladies section. She looked through the dresses and he finally had to force her to pick out something that she would wear. He had to do the same with shoes, stockings, makeup and a coat. He knew that she felt self-conscious taking money from him and he tried to keep her smiling all of the time that they were shopping.
After he was satisfied that she had everything that she would need, they walked into the mall and found the ladies room. She went into the ladies room to make sure that there wasn't anyone inside and then she asked him to stand at the door and make sure that no one came in. He stood at the door for almost an hour, telling people that workmen were inside repairing the ladies room.
When she finally walked out of the ladies room his mouth dropped open and he stared at her. No longer did she have the drowned rat look. She was a beautiful woman. The dress that she had selected fit her like a glove and her makeup was flawless. He took her hand and they walk out of the mall. She dropped her uniform and worn out shoes in the trashcan as they walked toward the truck.
She saw him looking at her almost perfect hair and smiled, "Those air dryers for your hands make good hair dryers too."
It had stopped raining and the night air was turning much colder. He knew that there would be ice in some spots tonight.
Roger turned to her, "What's a good restaurant around here?"
Her face got serious again, "Can we go back to Clark Summit? I don't want to stay around Scranton tonight."
He headed toward Clark Summit with Janice showing him the way. They stayed off of I-81 and used the back roads. In about a half hour they were in Clark Summit sitting at the traffic light.
"What kind of food do you like?" she asked.
"Steak and seafood," he replied with a grin.
"Pull in that restaurant up there on the right then," she said, "I used to work there."
Roger pulled into the parking lot and waited while she checked to make sure she looked all right before they went into the restaurant. She reapplied some lipstick and turned and saw him looking at her and grinned self-consciously.
"You look perfect," he said.
Her eyes began to puddle up and she opened the door and then turned to him, "It's been a long time since I felt pretty. Thank you."
She got out of the truck and stood with her back to the door. Roger got out and took off his jacket and got his 3â„4 length leather jacket out of the back seat and put it on. He walked around and took her hand and put it in his arm and they walked toward the restaurant.
There were a few empty tables and they were seated immediately. Roger asked if she would like a drink before dinner and she nodded. He ordered bourbon and water for himself and Janice ordered a Margarita. Roger asked the waitress to give them a few moments before they ordered. They sat for a few minutes soaking up the atmosphere of the restaurant. Janice seemed to still be a little on the defensive.
Roger finally opened the conversation. He told her how he had started the company and how he had made a nice profit when he sold it
"What are you doing in Scranton then? Don't you work anywhere now?"
He chuckled, "Well, if I don't want to I'll never have to work again and I'll never have any money worries again."
"That's why you throw you money away on strange women," she replied.
"I never throw my money away. I consider myself a very shrewd investor. It's just that sometimes I feel like investing in people and I think that I've made a good investment today. Now tell me about Janice Siemens. What makes her tick?"
She got quiet and looked deep into her drink, "My story isn't as glamorous as yours. I was born in San Diego. I met my husband in San Diego. He was a sailor and owned a motorcycle and I thought that he was the best thing that God ever created. He was exciting. He was wild, crazy and I went along for the ride. My Dad is retired Navy and he and Bart didn't get along. Bart finally got an undesirable discharge and my father wouldn't allow him in the house. It's a Navy thing. Bart was born in Scranton and one day we hopped on the bike and headed toward Scranton. We got married in Las Vegas and began the long journey across the country on his motorcycle. Let me warn you, don't ever try that. I couldn't sit down for weeks."
The waitress came to the table and Roger ordered two more drinks for them. After the waitress left she continued her story.
"I went to work as a waitress as soon as we got here. Bart just couldn't seem to get a job and hold it for long. He had belonged to a motorcycle club before he joined the Navy and he picked up where he left off as soon as he got back here. Soon his bike and his buddies became 98% of his life. I was the other 2%. Finally I had enough of the drugs and drinking and women and filed for a divorce. The night that he was served he went out drinking and wrecked his bike down in Moosic. The police said that he was going over a 100 miles an hour when he wrecked. Now, I'm persona non-grata in Scranton. His bike club thinks that he was killed because of me. None of them will even acknowledge that I'm alive today."
"Are the Beame brothers part of the motorcycle club?" he asked.
"Oh yes. They never even had much to do with Bart. Now they have made it their life's mission to make my life a living hell. I guess it's their twisted idea of fellowship or whatever goes through their feeble minds."
Roger took another sip of his drink, "There's more to tell about the Beame brothers isn't there?"
"One night about three months ago they caught me as I left work. They put me in the trunk of their car and took me to the rundown trailer that they live in behind their motorcycle shop. They tied me to the bed and raped me all weekend. On Monday, before they had to open the shop, they beat the shit out of me and left me naked in the hospital parking lot. I spent nine days in the hospital."
Roger took her hand and held it tightly, "Did you report it to the police?"
She shook her head, "If I did that, instead of having to keep an eye out for those two, I'd have to worry about the whole club. No, I just went back to work as soon as I could. Now whenever they find out where I'm working they come in and sit drinking coffee and harassing customers until the owner either fires me or calls the police. When they find out where I live they harass the neighborhood. I haven't had a decent night's sleep in months. I wake up ten times a night waiting for them to kick the door in. That's what I meant when I told you this afternoon that nobody wants me around because I'm too much trouble."
"Why don't you go back to San Diego?"
"When I told my parents what I was doing, my father started screaming and yelling and said that if I left with that trash that he never wanted to see me again."
"Have you tried to talk to them lately?" he asked.
She shook her head, "I guess there's a little bit of pride about that. It's hard admitting to your parents that you were a stupid idiot and they were right all the time."
The waitress came back and Roger knew that it was time to stop the conversation. Janice didn't need to relive her mistakes. He wanted this dinner to be something special for her. He ordered a surf and turf for himself and persuaded her to order the same.
The rest of the dinner was more relaxed. Janice started opening up a little and she started to tell of the good times she had in Scranton. When she started talking about San Diego Roger saw a sparkle in her eye and he knew that this was where her heart was.
When their waitress asked them if they would like dessert they both moaned and patted their stomach. Roger ordered them a coffee royale and they sat and enjoyed each other's company.
After the waitress had taken his credit card he looked at her, "Janice, you need a place to stay tonight. I saw that there's a Hampton Inn in Clark Summit."
She didn't give him a chance to continue, "I'm sorry Roger. I just can't..."
Roger held up his hand, "I'm not suggesting anything. Separate rooms, I promise. Look at yourself Janice. You're not only physically exhausted you're emotionally exhausted. If you don't start getting a decent night's sleep you're going to kill yourself. Stay here tonight. No one knows you're here and you don't have to worry about someone kicking the door down."
The waitress put the check and credit card in front of him and he
signed it and handed the check back to her. He looked questioningly at
Janice and she nodded her head. They got up and Roger went and
retrieved their coats and helped her on with hers. He took her arm and
put it in his and they walked to his truck.