Annie stepped out of the packed truck stop in Shoyo Arkansas, her cane tapping on the sidewalk.
She smiled in an almost dreamy manner, the taste of the apple pie still lingering on her tongue.
She and her parents, John and Judy Anderson were enjoying their final week of their small town vacation.
Coming from the hectic rush of New York city, it was a good change for them.
John and Judy were chefs at a steak joint. Judy was head chef, and John was a Sioux chef. The running joke in the family involved the fact that Annie couldn't cook to save her life.
She grinned, thinking of the pasta that she attempted to make a week ago. It was less like pasta, and more like a gummy and gunky mess. Nope, she was more apt to set the place on fire than produce a good meal.
She crossed the street which lead to their summer house, took the key from under the matt, and unlocked it. The smells of a lasagna baking filled her nose, her favorite Italian dish, her Dad's specialty. Ignoring the lasagna, her thoughts turned to the day. It was June 17, and something felt off.
The news was talking about an army guy that fled an army base that was quite secretive, though they wouldn't give away his name, just the fact that he crash landed in a small Texas town called Arnette. Furthermore, the news was making light of the fact that the whole fucking town was quarantined. This sent up alarm bells in her head. Quarantine, that meant only one thing. Some fuckery in the form of a disease had gotten loose, and the government was trying to hush it all up.
No big deal my ass, she thought. Annie frowned, trying to fish the fragmented pieces of the story together. This seemed fishy to her. First an army guy flees for his life from California, gets sick along with his wife and kid, and they all die from this sickness. Then the government comes in and quarantines' the town and tries to keep it quiet.
She shook her head, still not understanding. There was one piece missing. What in the hell was an army guy doing in such a tiny town? Her journalistic mind began to race, trying to understand.
The question was why would he go all the way from California to a southern town with possibly family? She shook her head, having no idea.
She went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of milk, adding a generous teeth decaying amount of hursheys syrup. She took a sip and grinned. Pure chocolate, just the way she loved it.
Sipping at her chocoholic milk, she inhaled the scent of spiced lasagna, eyes closing in utter bliss.
Her parents were taking an afternoon nap, their snores issued from their closed door.
Smiling to herself, she drained the glass, washed it, and placed it in the dish wrack to dry. She wasn't worried about the lasagna, her Mom always set an alarm to wake her and John up from their naps. The thought of delicious pasta had her drooling. She turned her mind away from food, trying to forget the news. What was it to her to worry about a small Texas town and an AWOL army guy? She had articles of her own to write, stuff about the fourth of July fireworks back in New York, small stuff for a green, just graduating from college journalist such as herself.
She would leave the big stories to the seasoned journalists for now.
She was on Summer vacation, but if she was to be respected in the office as a journalist and blind person second, she would have to work hard. She had went through at least five applications, all of them stating that she wouldn't fit their news room, they were afraid that a blind person wouldn't be equipped for the job.
Prejudice pieces of shit, she thought, no wonder the employment in the blind community was so fucking low. She was grateful for the small newspaper that hired her. Her secret fear was that it was merely a trial basis. They would be waiting to see if she would fuck up, and then it would be bye bye job, and hello unemployment.
Shaking her head, she went to her makeshift office/guest room, placed a piece of paper in her braille writer, and began to bang away.
She was grateful that her parents were heavy sleepers, the brailler would not wake them. Once her copy was done, she placed it in an envelope to be sent to her editor. Thank God he could read braille, having a blind Mother.
Once he approved it, he would transcribe it into print, and it would be sent to bed.
Once her story was written, Annie grabbed her cane and wrote a note for her parents.
Going to mail story, and then have a beer down at Zacks. Once she stuck it to their door with tape, she was out, cane going tap tap tap on the sidewalk.
Zack's was a loud joint with Hank Williams playing on the juke box, and men playing pool.
The smell of beer and burgers filled the air. God, I hate country music, Annie thought, tapping her way towards where she heard the cash register.
"Ma'am, this ain't no fancy five star, go and find a table," said the clerk.
"Sorry, it's just I can't see, and need help fin ding a table."
"What's your name girl?" the man asked.
"Annie Anderson," Annie replied.
"I am Zack, owner of this honky tonk, how old are you girl? You look far too young for a place like this."
"I am twenty-two," said Annie, voice cold. "I can show you my ID." Zack took her ID.
"Brookland New York, on vacation." He sighed. "All right, I'll take you to sit by the deaf mute. He's deaf and dumb, but he can look after you."
"What is that supposed to mean? Deaf and dumb is a terrible thing to call someone. Just because he can't speak sure as hell doesn't mean he isn't smart."
"All right, I meant no harm," said Zack. "I think you two would get along, sense your both well… impaired." Annie had the sudden urge to slap him. Fucking redneck hick, she thought.
"Just take me to him and give me a beer," Annie snarled. Zack lead her to a corner table and showed her to a chair.
"Nick, this is Annie, I am hoping that you can look after her, see that she doesn't get into trouble. You two have something in common, she is impaired like you!" Annie winced at the loud volume of the man's voice. She absolutely hated the slow way the man was speaking to this Nick person. Just because he was deaf didn't mean he was stupid or slow. There was the sound of ripping paper and scribbling.
Annie grinned in triumph. Good Nick, you show him.
"How can a deaf mute write?" Zack asked. "You must be a genius." Annie spluttered in outrage.
"There is nothing wrong with his brain ass hole, now go and get me a fucking beer," Annie snapped.
Zack stomped away, and appeared a few minutes later with a mug of beer for her.
There was the sound of a loud sneeze nearby.
Annie sipped her beer.
"Hello Nick, I am Annie," she said, holding out her hand. Annie grinned. She loved the feel of Nick's hand in her own, it was a rough hand that was no stranger to labor.
He squeezed her hand twice before letting go, and tapping his finger nail on her folded cane.
"Yes, I am blind, if that is what you are asking," said Annie. Nick patted her hand before placing it on his head. She felt his nod, and nodded in return.
They sipped their beers as the horrible country music blared on overhead, and men ordered for more drinks and played pool in the corner.
"Can you get me another beer Nick?" Annie asked when her mug was empty. Nick squeezed her hand, and got to his feet. He hesitated for a minute before tugging at her hand.
"Do you want me to come with you?" He tugged at her hand once more in answer, tapping her hand with his fist.
"You are worried that a man will hurt me. Nick patted her hand.
"All right, I will come," said Annie, making sure he could read her lips.
She got to her feet, walking with him towards the counter. She was beginning to like him in spite their communication barriers.
He kept her behind him, making sure a drunk man wouldn't ogle her. They approached the counter and got their second beers.
They left Zack's about an hour later, both of them slightly buzzed from the beer. Nick offered to walk her home, which she excepted. He looped his arm through hers, and walked with her.
"You are very kind to me Nick, I'm sorry that I suck at communicating with you," said Annie. Nick gave her arm a gentle squeeze, hoping she would understand his thanks and reassurance that she wasn't a bother.
He walked with her, letting her steer him towards her house while she told him about her day.
"I'm telling you, Ma's truck stop makes seriously good pie. They didn't have chocolate today, so I got apple with some coffee instead. My parents are both chefs at a steak house in New York, a really good steak house too. It's pretty funny, me coming from people who are good cooks, you would think I could cook, but I am an utter failure at it." They both tensed at the sound and sight of running people behind them.
Before he could react, there were the four townies that Nick hadn't liked at the end of the bar. Before he could place her behind him, one of the men yanked Annie from his grasp. Her mouth opened wide in a scream he couldn't hear, but there was no mistaking the fear on her face.
He could see them struggling together, landing punches whenever they could. Nick was soon embroiled in his own fight, one of the me was wearing a school ring.
They both fought like mad, but they were outnumbered. Through his dimming consciousness, he could just make out Annie being thrown to the ground, passed out and looking terrible with a nearly broken nose and black eyes that would hurt like hell Nick knew.
He was thrown beside her as the bright tail lights of a car neared. The men scattered, and he fell into blackness beside her.
Annie woke up, screaming Nick's name. In answer, he woke with a gasp beside her.
"Nick?" she asked, voice high and frightened. Nick took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, keeping it in his own.
She appreciated the comfort as memories of the fight came back to her. She let out a frightened whimper at the sound of footsteps. Nick stroked her hair, trying to comfort her.
"My nose," she said. "Hurts." Nick turned her face towards him to have a look. She felt his wince.
"Is it bad?" she asked. He patted her hand, squeezing her shoulder. She was too tired to make out his meaning, but she appreciated the gesture all the same. They sat up on the cot they were squeezed on. Nick put a steadying hand on her shoulder as the room spun like a merry go round.
She felt his gentle squeeze on her shoulder, and heard him get up to use the toilet, then the sound of flushing.
He rejoined her a minute later as the cell door opened.
"Where is my cane, Nick?" Nick placed her hand on his head as he shook it. It was a no.
He hugged her as she let out a whimper of dismay.
They were soon interrogated by sheriff John Baker. She told him about being on vacation with her parents, while Nick wrote on some paper that John offered him.
"John and Judy Anderson," said John.
He was skeptical when Nick told John about them being at Zack's bar.
Annie scoffed while Nick wrote his response.
"A blind girl, and a deaf and dumb boy, both twenty-two years old," said John.
"Nick isn't dumb," said Annie coldly.
"I am sorry, I didn't mean it like it sounded." Annie could tell that he meant it, so she excepted his apology.
They were eventually let out, and were offered breakfast. Annie excepted some eggs and bacon, a small amount. She and Nick both excepted coffee, him black, her with cream and sugar.
"I see you drink it like a man," said John. Annie laughed, thinking of her Mom who also drank it that way.
"Good food, I like this truck stop," said Annie. "They make good pie."
"That I can agree with," said John. John asked Nick about the fight, and Annie guessed that Nick was telling him about the men.
According to John's reaction, Ray, the man with the school ring was his brother in law.
"Damn, that is some shitty luck, I feel for you man," said Annie.
"Don't I know it, five in the morning and my day is wrecked. Let me call your parents. Can you give me the number of the house you are staying in Annie?" Annie gave it to him, and he dialed.
John told her parents about the fight when they picked up.
"She and Nick are not too badly off, the Doctor left them some pills… Yes, you can come and see them… I am sure Nick will appreciate the thanks." John let out a loud sneeze as he hung up.
Annie's parents arrived about ten minutes later.
"Oh, Annie, thank goodness you are all right," said Judy, John squeezing her hand.
"Thank you, Nick," said Judy, turning so he could read her lips.
John Anderson began coughing, and Baker blew his nose.
Twenty minutes found Officer Baker along with Nick and Annie in his car. They were on their way to jail the men who beat them up.
John watched Nick and Annie out of the corner of his eye. They were quite sweet together, it reminded him of when he and Janie were dating.
Nick made sure she got into the car first, and crawled in after her. A gentleman, good. Nick could see that Annie was frightened and placed his arm around her.
She immediately relaxed under his touch.
"What is it that you do, Annie?' John asked.
"I am a journalist, just graduated with my bachelors' degree. I am now working for a newspaper." Nick patted her hand.
"I think he is trying to congratulate you on your accolades. Annie grinned.
"I also congratulate you. It must have been challenging being blind and in college," said John. Annie nodded.
"It was a challenge, some Professors don't like following the Americans with disabilities act. I graduated though and began job hunting. It took some time to find a job."
"I am glad that you are employed at something you love," said John.
"Thanks," said Annie. "I hope to get my masters in a couple years."
"That would be something, you will show them all girl. You are intelligent, you have that look, you and Nick both."
"What does he look like?" Annie asked. John smiled.
"Nick here is around five foot six with springy black hair, and intelligent brown eyes and with a skinny build, rather like you, except for your brown hair."
"He sounds handsome," said Annie. John laughed.
"I wouldn't know if he is handsome, but I will take your word for it girl." His laugh turned into booming coughs. Nick and Annie gave him sharp looks of concern.
"Ah, it's probably just a cold," said John. Nick and Annie wore looks of doubt on their faces, but dropped the subject as they pulled into the lumber yard for the first prisoner. They made it back with the prisoners to find John and Judy waiting for them. John Baker invited Nick and Annie out to supper.
"Mom, Dad, do you mind if I have dinner with Nick and John?"
"You go on," said Judy. "I think that your Dad and I are going to lay down. I am not feeling well, and your Dad looks as if he has a fever, and we've both been hacking our damn lungs out. I don't want you catching this. You don't look well either John Baker, you go home and sleep you hear me?"
"Yes Ma'am," said John Baker in his new nasally voice.
"We saved the lasagna I made for you when we get better," John Anderson croaked. "I have it in the freezer so it won't go bad. All we have to do is heat it up." John began to cough, horrible flemmy coughs that Annie didn't like. Judy began coughing as well.
"I'll be fine Momma and Daddy, you just get well," said Annie, trying to hide the fear in her voice. She felt Nick's comforting arm around her.
"We will sweetheart," said her Dad as soon as he was able. "Don't worry honey, have a good time with your new friends. You be good to my daughter you hear?" said John to Nick. Nick ripped out a sheet of paper after scribbling his reply.
"He says that he will," said John, reading it so that Annie could hear. "Good man." Annie waved goodbye to her parents, and left with Nick and John.
Nick helped Annie into her chair. Naked fear was in her eyes and he could feel her trembling. She scooted her chair close to his until they were touching.
Nick placed his arm around her, rubbing her shoulder, wishing desperately he could speak to try and comfort her. Nick placed her fork in her hand, closing her fist around it.
"Don't you worry, your parents will be just fine," said Jane, reading Nicks note. "You just eat up." Annie ate up, and so did Nick.
Janie made coffee for Annie to have with her cake.
"Coffee, Nick?" Janie asked. Nick nodded.
"He dranks his coffee like a man," said Annie, John laughed.
"Not bad for a New York yanky," he said before breaking into a coughing fit.
"Are you sure you will be okay down at the jail house Nick?" John asked when he could.
"He and Annie will be just fine, now off to bed with you Johnny," said Jane, entering the room with two mugs of steaming coffee. She handed Annie the sugar and half and half. The phone rang and Jane went to answer it.
"I would get someone else if I could," John fretted. "I am not feeling well at all, I feel as hot as a fire sale two days before Christmas."
"Nick and I will be just fine John," said Annie gently. "You get to bed and rest."
"I think I will," said John. Jane entered the room.
"That was your Mom Annie," she said. "She and your Dad want you to stay with us and Nick. I told her about Nick watching over the prisoners, and she said for the both of you to be very careful. She doesn't want you catching this sickness Annie, so she wants you to go with Nick." Jane took a deep breath.
"She wants you to know that she and your Dad love you very much, and not to worry. She thinks that they will beat it soon, and then you can come home and eat that lasagna." Nick could see by the concern on her face that Jane wasn't being truthful.
He supposed it was because her Mom didn't want her to over worry and rush back home.
Annie flinched at the pounding that was coming from the cell, the sound was going to give her a fucking headache. Nick squeezed her shoulder in sympathy.
"You don't like the vibrations, do you?" she asked. Nick placed her hand on his head so she could feel his nod.
"This is a good piece of pie Nick, and chocolate too, you remembered." Nick patted her hand. She had eaten a lot for breakfast that morning, Nick had prepared pancakes and eggs for her.
Dinner had been simple, a nice juicy burger with juicy tomatoes and pickle relish. Unlike the men in the cells, she had gobbled down what Nick had prepared, and he had made her a second one to her amazement.
Nick was a thoughtful and generous man, especially with the surprise chocolate pie.
Annie had thought that the apple had been the only pie there was, but Nick seemed to have found the chocolate, hidden away. The owner of the truck stop must have made it before he had gotten sick. There were really some kind people in this small town, Nick the kindest of all.
She and Nick sat together on a cot, enjoying their slices of chocolate pie.
"I love chocolate more than anything in this world," said Annie with a dreamy smile.
The clanging of the cell bar continued and Annie did her best to ignore it, focusing on the sweet taste of chocolate and whipped cream.
"Hey, mutie, you wanna drink?" one of the men roared. Annie jumped at the crash of the glass hitting the cell wall.
Nick stroked her shaking shoulder in reassurance as the men continued to complain.
"I'm on a hunger strike until you and that bitch let us out of here!" Annie was trembling. What if the men figured out a way to break out? The thought of what they would, and could do to her sent her heart rate sky rocketing, and breathing into quick panicky gasps.
Nick seemed to have the same thought and placed himself between her and the cells, hoping that would block her from view, but the men knew she was there all the same.
Small whimpers of terror escaped her lips. She didn't want to be here in the horrible and smelly jail house, she wanted to go home.
The room began to spin as she tried to scoop in air. Fuck, I'm having a panic attack. Nick acted quickly, pulling her outside. Nick held her as she began to weep.
Nick felt tears of utter frustration fall down his cheeks as he struggled to find the right way to comfort his new friend. The poor woman was shaking with silent sobs, pure terror on her tear stained face.
She deserved more than strokes of the shoulder and clumsy pats of comfort, she needed his words as well as his touch, but he couldn't fucking talk.
She had been nothing but kind to him, looking past his deaf and mute state, and he couldn't repay her with words, just with a game of fucking charades which she had to guess at. He could see that she was getting frustrated and tired of trying to guess what he was attempting to communicate, but she was too polite to say it.
A small part of him wondered if she would get so sick of it that she would want to leave him, but the rest of him knew this was false. She would have left long ago if this was the case.
They just had to find another way around their communication problem, but what god damnit?
Desperate to do something, anything, his lips met hers in a gentle but quick kiss. Her eyes widened for a second, and Nick began to pull away, afraid he had done something wrong.
She pulled him back to her, almost yanking them to the ground, and her lips were on his, and she was kissing him, shoving her tongue clumsily in his mouth.
He was surprised for a second, but quickly responded, all thought leaving him with just the comfort of the kiss.
He could see in her eyes that she had wanted the same. He closed his eyes, savoring the taste of her, a slight hent of chocolate. He could tell that she was inexperienced by the way she had been shy at first, but he gently encouraged her to keep exploring.
After a few minutes, they broke apart, foreheads touching.
"That was my first kiss," said Annie, almost shyly. "People have laughed at me when I told them." A thrum of anger went through Nick at her confession.
They had no right to laugh at her, there wasn't exactly a set time or a place to have your first kiss. She was far too kind of a person in his eyes for people to make fun of her.
"I suppose I should have had it by now, but I was so busy with my academics and trying to get into a good college, that kissing never came to my mind. I hope I don't suck at it." Nick shook his head and placed her finger on his lips in order for her to feel his smile.
He rather admired her for placing her education before the rest of it, she had drive to make something of her life, which a lot of people didn't seem to have.
"I liked that, it felt nice," she said. Nick nodded in agreement.
He knew quite well that friends didn't kiss each other, but he and Annie were in rather interesting circumstances. He hugged her, and gave her a quick kiss to show he liked it as well.
"Thank you, Nick," she said. "You are a good and kind friend." Nick nodded, took her hand, and walked with her back into the holding cells.