Just Passing Through
By Dolphinchic
No one knew where he came from, but no one cares, what he did changed the life of one family. Jarod got off the bus in a sleepy little town called Lexington, VA. He had been running for so long Jarod just wanted to rest and have some fun. He walked to the Motel 8 he saw from the interstate. As he approached the desk in the lobby, he noticed a flier taped on the door. As Jarod read the flier, he made a mental note to look in on the little girl. "Can I help you?" said the woman behind the desk."Yes, you can. I would like a room please, "Jarod said trying to match the accent."How long will you be staying with us?" she asked"I was thinking about staying a week. After that I don't know," he said quickly adapting to the sweet country accent. "Room 211," she said handing him the key. When he got to the room, Jarod flopped down on the bed and reached for the phonebook. As he dialed the number for the local pizza shop, Jarod thought about his life and what he would have done differently. "Dominos, can I help you?" The voice on the line jolted him out of his daydream."Yes, I would like two large pizzas with the works delivered to room 211 of the Motel 8," Jarod said hungrily. "That will be delivered in ten minutes," said the voice."Thanks" Said Jarod "see you in ten minutes." After he hung up the phone, Jarod reached for his duffel bag and pulled out his laptop computer and logged onto the Internet. Alice Shaffer was furious at her parents because they wouldn't let her go outside and play with the other kids from the neighborhood. It was bad enough that she was sick with bone cancer and that she had a rare blood type. What really made her mad was that the waiting list was a mile long and that she was last. The only thing that made the whole experience accommodating was the Internet. She could get on the net and be a kid. As she logged onto her chat room, she saw a new call name, The Lone Ranger, on the screen. It looked like no one was chatting with him, so Alice made up her mind to chat with him. She typed HI I am White Wolf and welcome to my chat room. As Alice told him about the fund that her church had set up for her and all about her condition. The Lone Ranger wanted to meet with her and chat in person, he would only be in Lexington for a week. Alice thought about telling him about the cakewalk on Friday but her common sense got the better of her. She told the Lone Ranger that she couldn't see him and logged off
Jarod was surprised when White wolf logged off so suddenly. What he had found out was what he needed to know and how he was going to help Alice Shaffer. He had to work quickly there would only be a couple of days before they found him. As Jarod hacked, while eating pizza, into the hospital records then he cross-referenced her blood type with all of the people in Rockbridge County. He found out what the doctors had not, that Alice had a cousin with her blood type. As he finished his pizza, Jarod e-mailed the doctor in charge of Alice's case with the information. After he did that, Jarod turned in for a guiltless nap. The next morning Jarod took in the sight and sounds of Lexington. As he walked down Main Street, Jarod bumped into Alice. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to do that, " Jarod said softly to her."It wasn't your fault, I'm the one who's clumsy," Alice said with a sigh."My name is Jarod," he said with a smile."Mines Alice, "She said warmly. He directed her to a park bench so that they could sit down and talk."I think that I know you from somewhere Jarod, but I just can't place where," Alice commented with a sigh and then she started to cry. Jarod reached over and put his arm around her and listened while she poured out her heart and soul to him."It just isn't fair," she whimpered over and over again. Jarod spoke with a kind voice and said "Life isn't fair, but you have to keep fighting! I had something bad happen to me when I was your age, but I keep on fighting. ""Will you come to a cakewalk at the highschool today?" Alice said with a pleading look on her face. Jarod looked at his watch. He had an hour before the bus left. "Well, we better get going," He said with a grin. he highschool gym was abuzz with people, kids and pets. When Jarod and Alice walked in everything stopped. As her mother waked over to then, Jarod slipped away to buy tickets. "Thal be one dollar per ticket. Donation's willla lso be taken here." Said the retired man at the table. Jarod thought about it and bought forty tickets and left an impressive gift for Alice. When Jarod got back to Alice, she was beaming, and Jarod knew why. "Jarod, they found me a donor!" Alice said with whoop of joy. Jarod just shrugged her as she pulled him to the chicle of chairs. As Alice gave a lady four tickets, Jarod was bewildered he had never been to a cakewalk before so he didn't know what to do, so he just fallowed Alice. "Will the person in seat number sixteen come claim your cake?" the announcer said with a grin. Jarod looked on the back of his seat he was number sixteen, a young child gave him a German chocolate cake."Hope you like it missterr, my mumey made it," the child said with three fingers in her mouth, and then she ran away. The elderly man that, was selling tickets, got up and announced ''Everboaddy, we have our first donation. He didn't leave his name but he did give $10,000 to the Shaffer family." Jarod left a note for Alice with her mother and left. When he got on the bus he looked forward to doing something like this again in another town
EPILOGUE
Dear Alice,
The bad thing that I told you about was that I was kidnapped when I was little. The people that kidnapped me are coming after me because I want to find about my parents, my siblings if I have any. I help folks like you that are in need or that are in trouble. Your friend,
Jarod
Alice read the note for the tenth time that day and then put it up, and ran outside to play. A black car with New Jersey plates pulled into the parking lot of the Motel 8 in Lexington, VA. A woman dressed in black got out of the car and walked inside. When she got out of the lobby, she directed her team to go to room 211. When they got in to the room they found a German chocolate cake and a red notebook. As she walked out of the room, she lit a cigarette and said "One of these days I am going to catch up with you Jarod"