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The great open planes lay ahead of her. The open roads to be more exact. But it didn’t feel open at all. In fact the straight forward road she had been driving on for the past 8 hours felt very claustrophobic. She had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. It felt like the road kept getting smaller and smaller. The baking hot sun made the long drive feel even longer.
It seemed like forever since she had left her sleeping husband back in San Angelo. She had been driving all night and her eyes felt heavy like there was led attached to them. But she just managed to keep them open mainly because of that pick-up. There was something strange about that pick-up. It was almost like it had followed her since Joe Ambroce’s house. It had, hadn’t it? She was sure it had. Maybe it was Joe in that pick-up? She didn’t remember that Joe owned such a green pick-up though. No it couldn’t be him. He was a big shot like her husband back in the city. He wouldn’t drive around in a dump like that. Would he? She looked anxiously down at the passenger seat where a brown leather bag shined in the sun. A hundred dollar bill vibrated in the wind from the opened window. Had it been worth it? Was it still worth it?
She covered the back with her jacket and looked nervously in the rear-view mirror. Still there. “Shit!”, she yelled and smashed her hand down in the steering wheel. Why didn’t he turn around or stop or something. Why was he fucking following her? Could he know about the money? But how? Something was wrong – very wrong. She hit the gas. 65 mph… 70. The green pick-up was still keeping up. What could she do? She looked in the rear-view mirror. What was that sticking out of the window… a gun? A gun?! Shit! She wouldn’t take that risk – she put her foot down. 80 mph. She kept looking back. Still there, still there! The sweat ran into her eyes and made it hard to focus. Her heart was beating almost as fast as it had done when she sneaked out of her former home with the cash.
Finely the green pick-up was starting to sack behind. She smiled vaguely and turned her eyes back on the road just to see a large truck going with 60 mph right towards her. By something that looked like an inch she avoided crashing into it but she ended up in a ditch on the side of the road. A big dusty cloud concealed the surroundings to her. She tried to speed up but little did it help. She was stuck. “Fuck!”, she thought.
From behind the dusty cloud she could hear a car pulling up. Quickly she grabbed the money and snuck out of the car. Very quietly. She moved along the ditch and was careful that, whoever had stopped, didn’t see her. It was the green pick-up. From her hiding place she could see the driver of the pick-up getting out of his car and going toward her stranded car. She saw his face. She didn’t recognize him. Maybe it was some kind of a private investigator her husband had hired to catch her. Or even kill her! If so, it was a pretty smart disguise. He looked just like a typical hillbilly. Maybe a little too much?
“Hey ye, are ye alright?” he yelled. “You bet I am!” she whispered to her self. She snuck up to his car and carefully opened the door. The car keys were still there – “Yes!” She turned the keys and smashed trough the cloud. With a bump she hit the man and he went all the way over the car smashing the windscreen on his way. She looked back. He didn’t get up. A small relieved laugh escaped her lips. Finally. Nothing was between her and Mexico now.
“Towers Diner – 2 miles.” She was getting quite hungry. She could really use a rest. She wasn’t far from the border, but it would go quite a bit faster if she got something to eat so she could focus on the road. She decided to take the risk. She pulled over at Towers Diner in the small town of Abbot. She took the bag of money in a firm grip and then walked slowly and carefully towards the diner.
She sat down on the bench upholstered with red hard pillows. They were almost comfortable after the long drive. She took her sunglasses on hoping no one would recognize her. But why should they. She was so far away from home. But you never know. Besides it seemed like everyone was watching her. They all knew she was sure of that. They all knew about the… “Hey sugar. Do ye want some coffee?” A, from her appearance, very old waitress stood right in front of her with a pot of coffee. “Eh, yes please”, she answered. She pored her up some dark strong coffee. The very used gum in the waitress’s mouth kept going round and round between her teeth which created somewhat of an annoying sound that filled the small diner together with the soothing sound of some old country singer from the loud speakers. It made her relax. It felt safe and normal. But was it just a trick? Maybe she was supposed to feel safe. And that’s when they would strike. When she least expected it. She looked around. There were a lot of suspicious looking people in that diner. An old lady with an umbrella was sitting next to her. She was sound asleep making a funny sounding noise that reminded her of a cats purr. Her husband always snored. It had annoyed her quite a lot. In fact it had irritated her in such a degree that she once tried to strangle him with a pillow. Of cause she never wanted to kill him but a moment of anger had blinded her. But he had forgiven her as he always did, that naive fool. He had always been good to her and treated her well. She’d never missed anything – just a decent fuck once in a while. But that she got elsewhere. The only thing she really missed was some kind of excitement. She was so bored. So when her husband yesterday evening had put several hundred thousand dollars in their safe she sieged the moment and took off with as much money she could carry. Back then she was sure she would get away with it. But right now she wasn’t that confident. She wondered how close they were to finding her at this very moment. She dosed off.
The sound of a car pulling up tore her eyes open. It was dark. How long had she been a sleep? She had to go… had to go now. She put a 50 dollar bill on the table and began walking towards the exit. “Ma’am?” She turned around looking straight into the eyes of a tall, muscular, man wearing a fancy black suit. He was walking directly towards her. What did he want from her? She wanted to run away but she couldn’t. She was like nailed to the floor. “’Evening ma’am. Is it your green pick-up parked outside?” She looked at him without answering. “…the one with the broken windscreen?” She looked down. He knew. “Because if it is…” he continued. But he didn’t get to say anything else. She was convinced. She hit him right in the face with the heavy bag full of money and ran out of the diner. Shit that was too close; she thought and steered in the direction of the pick-up. She fumbled with the keys trying to unlock the car door and dropped them on the ground. She looked over her shoulder. The man came out of the diner looking very confused. He looked around until he saw her. “Ma’am, ma’am!” she picked the keys up and tried again. Click! Finally. She threw the bag on the backseat and hit the gas. The diner disappeared in a cloud of smoke in the rear-view mirror further and further back. Suddenly a car came through the cloud. “1 mile to Mexico”. Soon she was safe. Soon. She speeded up. As did the car follow her. She put her foot hard on the foot pedal and the car sacked behind. She started to laugh out loud. Now she could see the sign. “Sweet freedom here I come”, she screamed. But then suddenly the pick-up started to sway and a wining sound cut into her ears. She looked out of the window. The front tire was flat. She tried to pull the car back on track but too late. She lost control and the car went directly into the sign. For a moment she raised her head but then she collapsed over the steering wheel. The sound of the horn cut through the silent desert. The fire from the wreck lighted up the sign: “Bienvenidos a México - Welcome to Mexico”.
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