Tracey, Don't Stop
I walked for hours, just waiting for someone to take notice. But no one did. It began to get dark and I started to feel extremely exhausted. If I stopped I knew I wouldn't be able to get myself up again. And I had to find Sonny. It got so cold as the moon began to rise. My makeshift coat was not much help. My body knew to fight back and how to get warm but I didn't know anything.
I forced my legs to keep moving no matter what. I got so scared because I knew that any second I would drop. My feet wanted to walk towards the bus but I wouldn't let them. I was done with automotive transportation of any kind. I'll walk as far as I need to, I just have to rest now. I decided to walk until I reached a coffee house. One that I could stop in. But I had no idea what city I was in so for all i knew there wasn't a coffee house for ten miles.
For once in my life I get lucky, stumbling upon some place called Johnny's Cafe. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for but it would do. They had the air condition cranked so high that I wanted to drop my curtain and lay out like a sunbather.
There were only three people inside: a young dark man working the counter, a large woman reading in a booth and an elderly man drinking black coffee at a table.
"Can I help you?" the cashier asks, leaning closer against the counter, watching me carefully.
"I don't have any money."
"Then leave." I guess I'm not so lucky. I turn to leave but he calls me back. He says the old man will pay for a bagel for me if I promise to help him with something. I had nothing to lose so I agreed. The worker brought me the bagel as I sat down across from the strange man. He had barely any hair left on his spotted leathery head but he somehow managed to grow a white fuzzy go-ti coming down from both his sideburns.
"So," he said as he picked at a button on his jacket.
"So," I said, taking a bite of my bagel, "What do you want me to do?"
He grins and takes a long slow sip of his coffee. If I had any bit of my conscience left I'd be able to to tell that this was not smart. But I didn't and I was starving. He set his mug down and dug into a backpack that sat on the floor next to him. He pulled out a white envelope and handed it to me.
"Give that to a man named Earnie Hariston. He lives about an hour east of here. Okay?"
I didn't answer. I was just staring at the envelope wondering what was in it. It was very light, almost as if nothing was in it and it was only being kept closed by the tab being folded under. It's almost like he wanted me to open it.
"Okay, Tracey?"
I never told him my name. I nodded my head and put the rest of the bagel in my mouth as I ran out the door with the envelope.