“Where ya headed?” (flash fiction)

Lover’s view (w/sensual songs) Sonoran Sky

“Where ya headed?” (flash fiction)

From the mountains she descended, under the shadow of the Appalachian Mountain’s highest peak. With the last of the dirty dishes cleaned and rinsed and the chickens fed, all she had left to give, she packed all she could fit into her grandmother’s suitcase worn, then she shut the door one last time on her childhood home. Thin walls and a sloped floor had witnessed her tears, falling, after her daddy done died and left her nothing. She walked down the porch steps, not bothering to lock the door or look back. One key left on the counter and a handwritten goodbye for whoever might show up first.

Outside of Asheville is where she met him, waiting on a Greyhound to take her to her California cousin. Staring at a discolored spot on the wood floor, she saw his boots before she saw the rest of him.

“A pretty girl like you should be smiling,” he said to her lowered head. “May I sit next to you miss? Looks like you could use some company.”

“If you must,” was her forced reply as she scooted her body away from his left side.

His question of where ya headed was met with silence. “That’s ok, you’ll warm up to me yet. You ain’t asking but I’m in the mood for tellin’. It’s west I’m headed to help herd some cattle. Just a start, til I get my bearings.”

He carried her bag when their bus arrived; she obliged. On the front side of midnight, the brakes did squeal when the bus came to a stop on the cracked black tar. He stepped first, then turned and offered her a hand up the silver steps. “I will follow you,” he said. She nodded her head then found a seat in the rear. No escaping him, this was clear.

He yacked on. She couldn’t help but yawn – not making it to Knoxville before she fell asleep on his left arm.