We're gonna save him!
Prologue: Tar Heel, North Carolina
"Thanks for the ride!" Sam said as she opened the cab door of the eighteen wheeler truck. The truck driver's response was to push his Freightliner hat up, then nod. Sam waited until the truck pulled back onto highway 87 before she crossed the tarmac and entered the Ourway Sandwich Store.
"Millie's lookin fer ya" said the bored teenager behind the counter.
"Well, here I am, I guess she'll find me." Sam said while tying her 'Ourway' apron on over her uniform.
Millie, the store manager, had stuck her head out of her office and motioned for Sam to join her there. Sam finished tying her apron strings and stood in the doorway of Millie's five foot by five foot cinder block closet that was called 'the office'.
"Ms. Pucket, this is the third time this week that you've been late. You were meant to start your shift over twenty minutes ago. We've had this conversation before. I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you go." Millie said.
Sam didn't respond. She simply took off her apron and dropped it on the pile of soiled aprons in the corner of the office. Millie handed Sam a check totaling eighty seven dollars and forty two cents. Sam nodded, and left. She was unemployed, again.
Carly was going to kill her.
Things hadn't been all blue skies and sunshine since High School graduation seven years ago. Sure, they had been the creators of a popular internet show during their youth. The two girls and their tech-producer, Freddie, had been wildly popular. But that experience and a couple bucks would get you a cup of coffee at most 'Moondollar' coffee shops. Fame, especially internet fame, is a fleeting, fickle thing.
Carly had graduated from University of Washington, but had decided to move on, out of the Seattle area. While in college she had resumed her relationship with Griffin, but it had failed miserably. He'd tried to talk her into a four-some with another couple. That type of thing was just not Carly's cup of tea to begin with. Then it turned out the other couple was Harry the Hippo and Penelope Panda. That kind of activity with a stuffed animal, regardless of how cute he told her they were, just didn't hack it.
Sam had answered her wanderlust after high school. Drifting with the wind it seemed. When Carly had dumped Griffin, she looked up Sam and the pair decided that Denver would be as good a place as any to hang out, get jobs and look for hot guys. Then it was Phoenix, then Austin, then Rapid City, then Olney, Illinois and finally Tar Heel North Carolina. Home of the largest pork products plant in the world; guess who wanted to move there? Rock Bottom was only a few inches away on the map and it seemed that it was getting closer every day.
The duo was renting a run down mobile home in a equally run down mobile home park. The rent was six weeks past due, cable had been cut off a month ago. Sam's cell phone was as good as a paper weight since her cell service was off due to non payment. Carly's phone was still working, only because her phone was on her father's contract. The very worst thing though, they had been cut off at the meat counter at the deli. No car, nothing left to sell, and no money… Things were bad.
Carly had secured employment as a temp with a nation wide agency. But here, in Tar Heel, wages were low and jobs for anything were hard to come by. She'd been reduced to babysitting.
Sam stood in front of the steps leading to their shared trailer. Carly was going to freak, she just knew it. Going up the steps and opening the door, Sam entered their abode.
"Look! Look at this magazine article!" Carly said shoving the magazine in Sam's face.
Sam took the gossip rag out of Carly's hand and looked at the indicated article. It was something about a three headed snake proving that Elvis was a space alien and isn't really dead.
"Why do you read this crap, Carl's?"
"Crap? Oh, that's the wrong article… Here, read this one." Carly said turning a couple pages.
The page headline read: 'NATION'S MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELOR TO WED'
'Trillionaire owner of NerdoWare Software and developer of the Dorko computer operating system, Fredward Benson, will wed Contessa Evita La Gonga…'
Sam glanced through the article and shook her head.
"You know Carly, we both had a shot at him, and we both thought he was just too geekish to hang with."
"Get a grip Sam, neither of us thought he was too geekish! We both screwed up! You with that axe murderer, Gary, and me with Griffin!"
"Carly, he wasn't an axe murderer. He robbed convenience stores and gas stations. But you're right. He was a mistake…"
"Yeah, I still remember the look on Freddie's face when I broke it off with him over Griffin, and you had done the same thing a year earlier with the career criminal freak." Carly said.
"Look whose talking freaks! Who was it that wanted you to have sex with a stuffed animal? But you're right, we screwed up. One of us could have been with that boy, and been on easy street. At least I loved Freddie!" Sam said.
"Well, I did too!" Carly said.
"Yeah, and then you did the same dumb thing I did. Break it off for someone 'exciting'. I don't know about you, but Freddie looked broken when I did that. We're both idiots." Sam said, and then sighed.
"Should we try to call him?" Sam asked quietly.
"Sure!" Carly said handing Sam her phone "Go ahead, try to call him. See if you can get through. It'll be just like last time. You'll get as far as the floor he's on and bam… disconnect."
Sam nodded, but tried anyway. After about ten minutes she shook her head sadly. "Same thing, I got as far as his secretary and poof! She hung up."
"How much money do you have Sam?" Carly asked.
"I have about two hundred, counting this check. Why?" Sam asked.
"I have about the same. I called the bus line. It costs four hundred twelve bucks to get to Seattle. Pack your stuff, we're leaving. The bus departs Fayetteville at two something tomorrow morning. I already called Spencer and had him get the tickets. We'll need the rest for food since it takes over three days to get there." Carly said.
"Carly! Why are we going to Seattle? Freddie won't see us! He won't even take our calls! This is crazy!" Sam yelled.
"Nope, it's not crazy. He's not getting married for two months. It says in the article that this is that woman's sixth marriage! Look at her picture! She's forty years old if she's a day. We can't let Freddie marry her! All she's after him for is his money and you know it! We're going to Seattle, and we're going to save Freddie!" Carly said.
"Okay, we're gonna save Freddie. So how are we getting to Fayetteville? We can't walk, it's twenty five miles! I don't like hitch hiking at this time of day." Sam asked.
"Thelma's working the truck stop there tonight. She said she'd take us." Carly said.
"Thelma the hooker? You want to ride in her truck? You do realize just what she does in that truck, right? I never did get the stains out of my pants the last time I got a ride in that truck of hers! That's just icky!" Sam yelled.
"So pull a sheet off you're bed and we'll sit on it. We're leaving in about an hour, so pack you're stuff!" Carly yelled back.
The ride to Fayetteville was done in relative quiet, since Thelma is a mute. Thelma dropped them off in front of the Basset Hound bus terminal and they waved their goodbyes.
Sam looked at Carly and nodded in Thelma's direction as she drove away;
"How is it that she's so popular in her… um, line of work anyway?" Sam asked.
Carly shrugged and said: "Maybe she's a good listener, since she can't talk… Oh, and not having any teeth might be a plus in her trade."
Sam, although a bit stunned, nodded.
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