Chapter 22

I felt a strong hand shake me awake. My mind was groggy, and I ignored what I thought was my brother attempting to rouse me from my sleep.

The hand shook me again and a man's voice attempted to coax me awake. "Scout, come on now. You need to wake up. We've got to get on the road."

The voice didn't sound like one of my brothers. I opened my eyes and found Owen sitting by my side. Sleepily I asked, "What time is it?"

"It's almost ten thirty, we need to check out soon." Owen told me.

I wiped the sleep from my eyes and sized up Owen in his new outfit. "Where did you get those clothes?"

"I bought them at the department store up the road. Come on now, time to get up!"

My body was exhausted and I didn't feel like I had enough energy to get out of bed, so I opted to lay there and attempt to engage the boy in conversation. "When did you go to the store?"

"I just got back. Casey stayed here with you." Owen said before he pulled the covers off the bed and said with a smile. "Get up!"

Casey came bounding out of the bathroom. She flopped on the bed next to me. "Mornin' sleepy head." She grinned from ear to ear. "Imagine my surprise to find you two love birds tucked in together when I woke up!"

"Imagine my surprise to find you outta bed before me!" I smiled.

"I could not believe you went to bed with me instead of him. No way that would have happened if we were travelin' with a man of mine!"

"We know." Owen told her, "you made that quite clear in your ramblings last night."

"I was only here for a few hours." I said, and closed my eyes.

"Scout!" Owen grabbed my hand to pull me up from the pillow. "You can't sleep all day. We've got to check out and hit the road. We've got a long drive ahead of us."

I rubbed my eyes. "Okay, I'll get up." I sat up and opened the night stand drawer to find the switchblade gone.

"I put it in the glove box." Owen said quickly. "You'll be fine without it."

I stared into the empty drawer. The memory of Sodapop coming into my room to give me the knife filled my mind. I remembered how he spoke in a low and serious voice. 'You know I wouldn't normally want you or Pony to carry a blade, but after all of this, I think you should have this. Just in case.'

Casey must have figured out I was beginning to obsess about the knife because she told me, "Let it go, Scout. You don't need it."

I looked over at my friend.

She assured me, "You're in good hands."

"I know." I sighed. I looked at Owen and asked, "Can I give Soda a call?"

"He's at work."

"I know the number. I won't be long."

"Make it quick, we've got to get going." Owen said then gestured to the phone to invite me to make the call.

I dialed the number and heard my brother's voice through the receiver. "DX."

"Sodapop?" I asked into the receiver.

Casey crawled across the bed with a hairbrush and began to groom my hair for me.

"Scout! Is everything okay?" Sodapop asked.

"Yeah, yeah, everything is good. I need to ask you something." As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I realized how stupid my question seemed.

"What's up?"

"Forget it." I waivered about needing to ask about my brother's intentions.

"You called me long distance to tell me to forget it?" Soda laughed at me.

I sighed, and knew I was wasting time and money with my indecision so I asked, "I want to know why you decided to give me the switchblade?"

"Because I'm an idiot, and Pony lit into me pretty hard last night about it too."

"What'da he say?"

"He told me I'm an idiot!" Sodapop told me matter of fact. "He said you don't need a blade, and you probably wouldn't use it anyway. You've proven that you can take care of yourself without it. He's right. I was wrong."

"What did Darry say about it?"

"Nothing. He knew I was giving it to you, but I gotta tell ya, he's fit to be tied about Owen taking you to Texas. He was extra grumpy this morning." Soda laughed at his comment.

"It's not like I planned this. Besides, he is being unfair about it. When Pony ran away, he didn't get grounded when he got back."

"Well, Darry didn't knock you on your ass right before you left either. That's the difference."

"Darry didn't, but it sure felt like life did."

"Yeah... Hey, I heard about the fight you and Owen had over the blade. I don't want it to be causing problems between you two. It was supposed to keep you outta fights, not get you into them."

"We're good, it's all just been a lot to handle." I said somberly.

"Hey Sissy, don't worry too much about Darry and his rules. Pony and I will have your back. Just hurry back here. I think Darry just misses ya and wants you home."

"I understand. I'll call the house tonight."

"Okay. Say hi to Owen and Casey for me. I love you guys."

"I will. We love you too." I hung up the receiver.

Owen tossed me an outfit from my suitcase. "Time to get dressed!"

Casey flopped down on the bed next to me. "So, did y'all do it last night?"

"Ewe, no! Especially not with you in the room!" I told her.

She laughed at me, "I might'a."

"Well, we are classier than that." Owen said. "Get dressed, Scout."

I climbed out of bed and gathered some clothes to wear.

Casey looked at Owen with a grin. "You saying I aint classy?"

Owen shot her a look skepticism, and she laughed at his reaction because she knew she wasn't the classiest of gals.

"Seriously though, when ya gonna?" Casey inquired.

"When we are older." Owen told her.

Casey looked at me then back to Owen. "What if Scout don't have the chance to get older?"

"What?" Owen questioned her.

"What if someone finishes her off before you have the chance to get older? Don't you ever worry that if you wait you will run out of time?"

Owen grew agitated. "We have plenty of time! Besides, this is between me and Scout, and none of your business."

"Well, it's true! You two are perfect for each other and I would hate to see one of you lose the other and never really know what it is like to be with each other." Casey told us whether we wanted to consider this possible reality or not.

Owen assured our nosey friend, "Again, that's not gonna happen. We have our whole lives in front of us. We've got summers to spend together, pep rallies, football games and college. After we graduate, we're gonnna have one of the biggest weddings in the city, move into our house and have a half dozen children who keep us busy for the rest of our lives!"

"There's no time like the present!" Casey argued.

Owen assured her again, "We have our whole lives in front of us! You, change the subject! Scout, change your clothes!"

Casey looked at me. "Six kids, huh? Whatcha gonna name them?"

"Sleepy, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful, Sneezy, Doc and Dopey after you!" I said and shared a laugh with Owen.

"I'm not Dopey! I can count, that's seven not six." Casey retorted.

"That's Owen's fault! We had six, then one night he just couldn't resist me anymore!" I joked and walked into the bathroom to change.

Casey's grin filled her face as she proclaimed, "now you're talking!"

I got dressed and Casey and I stepped outside to meet Owen at the car. Casey opened the passenger door and pulled the seat forward. She looked at me, "You're the youngest, get it in the back."

I paused and smiled at my friend's humor.

"I'm not kidding! You get the front seat on the way home. I get the front seat on the way there!"

I didn't have any reason to argue.

Owen walked over to the car from the lobby.

Nearby, two teenage boys came out of a hotel room with a maid's cart in tow. The boys stopped to admire the car. Casey must have gotten jealous because she flirtatiously posed against the side of the car for attention.

The boys noticed her and shared a wide smiled.

Casey asked for attention, "What are you looking at? A hot girl, or a hot car?"

The seemingly older boy poured on his charm and asked, "Well Miss, with your permission I'd like to admire both."

"I'll think about it." Casey grinned then turned around to show off her rear end.

I rolled my eyes and told my friend, "You're unbelievable! I bet you would flirt at a funeral."

Casey laughed. "Look who's talking! I'm not the one who went to a funeral and came home with boyfriend!"

I laughed back. "That's not the same as this and you know it."

The boys abandoned their cleaning cart and strolled closer to the Camaro. Casey turned back around and asked. "Y'all work here or you just lifting stuff from the maid's cart?"

"Both." The smaller boy told us and motioned towards the house connected to the lobby. "Our family owns this place and we live here."

"That's cool." Casey said, "Too bad y'all weren't in the pool last night. I used my undergarments as a bikini and it was quite the scene."

The older boy laughed and let Casey in on a secret. "There's not much around here we don't see if you get my drift."

There it was, the perfect amount of attention Casey was hoping to get with her flirtatious moves. "You all are cute, what's your names?" Casey asked. The taller boy said, "I'm Seth and this is my younger brother, RJ."

"RJ, what's that stand for?" Casey asked.

"Nothing, just RJ." RJ said.

"I'm Casey, this here's Scout and Owen is our driver. We're on our way to Sante Fe."

"That's pretty far away." RJ shared. "Too bad you aint staying another night. We're havin' a pool party at noon."

"Awe man, I'm missing another pool party!" Casey pouted.

"You all can stick around and come if ya want." Seth suggested, "It's the first day of summer for us so everybody's coming over. We're just going to catch some rays and listen to some tunes."

A pickup truck pulling a carnival food wagon pulled into the parking lot. We looked over as
a young man stepped out of the truck with the rising sun shining behind him. Casey and I stared at the man as he walked towards us in his tight blue jeans and fancy belt buckle. His shirt was unbuttoned halfway down his chest exposing his strong physique. I think I heard Casey moan with excitement then she asked, "Who is that?"

"That's our older brother." Seth said.

For Casey, it was lust at first sight. She pushed her hip out into her sexy pose. "I better make sure he gets a chance to meet me!"

The young man approached and greeted us, "Hey y'all, welcome to Four Roads Motel."

"Well... we have been properly welcomed now! Name's Casey." She sang out as her eyes poured over him.

The young man smiled and his dimples were delightful. "I'm Tobias, but my everyone calls me Toby."

Owen stepped forward and shook his hand. "Owen Jasper, this is Scout."

"Nice to meet you." Toby said, "Where y'all from?"

"Heaven," Casey blurted out, "just like you."

Toby blushed and took a better look at the girl.

"They're heading to Santa Fe." RJ answered.

Casey didn't take her eyes off of Toby. "My friends here are from Tulsa. I'm from all over. You live here too?"

"Yeah, my parents own the motel, but I'm hitting the road tomorrow. Gotta run the family food wagon on the south western rodeo circuit this summer." Toby told her.

"You run that all alone?" Casey asked.

"This summer I will. Usually, my mom and I run it together but she's can't come with this summer. I'll probably find a drifter or two to help out where ever I stop."

"I'm a drifter! I could help you out." Casey suggested excitedly.

"Casey…" Owen tried to interrupt.

"Rodeo circuit ain't no place for a young lady. It can be a tough and rowdy crowd." Toby told her.

"Shoot boy, the rodeo crowd ain't too rowdy for me. I'm Casey Dobbins, Duke Dobbins daughter, my family wrote the book on being rowdy!" Casey bragged.

"I've heard of Duke." Toby said. "I can't believe you'd want to go on the rodeo circuit after everything he's done wrong."

"What he did ain't my problem. Besides, I'll be with you, so it might be worth it."

Toby blushed again and grabbed his belt to flex his muscles a little more. "If your serious, I can only pay you is a dollar twenty-five an hour, but you can sleep in the truck and eat from the wagon for free."

"Casey, your mom's waiting on you in Sante Fe." Owen reminded her.

Casey assured him. "The circuit goes to Sante Fe, I can see her then. Besides, my momma will be happy to hear I got myself a summer job."

Casey's devil may care attitude was unreal, but not unexpected. It didn't surprise me that the girl we thought we were taking home to see her momma would run into some rodeo guy along the way and decide to switch gears and take off with him. She was always a free spirit like that. Like the wind, she didn't care where she was going just as long as she was going somewhere and with someone.

Owen pulled me away from the crowd and quietly asked, "Are we really going to let Casey run off with this guy that she just met?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "This is who Casey is and that's what Casey does. I don't think there's anything we can do to stop her."

Owen seemed genuinely concerned. "Well, if there's nothing we can do to stop her; I'm going to do something to help her. We'll swing by a store and make sure she has a few more changes of clothes and things she'll need while she's on the road. I hate for her to be left somewhere all alone with nothing to her name and no one to count on."

"Since Casey here is gonna be my right-hand man for the summer ya'all can stay another night if you want. No charge for the room." Toby told us.

"Groovy!" RJ proclaimed, "and ya'all can join our pool party too. We're grillin' hot dogs."

Owen ran his hands through his hair. This sudden change in plans was stressful for him because he wasn't confident it was the best decision for all of us.

Casey noticed and tried to put his nerves at ease. "You did promise me a pool party!"

Owen looked off into the distance, thought about his options, then told our friend. "Fine, we'll stay, but we are going to find a department store around here to get you a few changes of clothes and a bathing suit!"