This Town or That
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Chapter 21
Lee had just finished telling his version of a fable to Pepita as the three of them slept in the bed of the red truck. After saying 'The End', Lee continued staring at Pepita's sleeping form.
"Don't worry, she's asleep," interjected a feminine voice.
In the moonlight, he saw Amanda was looking right at him, a smile playing on her lips.
"That was some story..." she stated in a lowered voice, as darkness surrounded them.
Lee looked pleased, "Oh yeah? "
"Yeah,"concurred Amanda, smiling mischievously, "You told a great love story. And by love story, I mean the love between Prince Bam-Bam and his baseball bat."
Lee grinned, "Would you believe that was my first time making up a story for a kid?"
"Noooo! Really?" Amanda tone was sardonic, "That hardly seems possible!"
He let out a quiet chuckle, "It's funny how sarcastic people get when they encounter witty people!"
"Heh," She did that half chuckle/laugh that Lee found so endearing.
"Actually, Lee, you're doing a good job with Pepita,"she told him, "I think you've won her over."
Lee sat up taller, "No kidding?"
"Yeah, I'm impressed."
He wasn't sure what she meant by that. He tried to peer through the darkness to read her expression, but she was looking up at the sky and all he saw only the outline of her face. He wished he knew what she was thinking.
They sat together in silence for a time; sharing space and time.
At last, Amanda turned to him and commented, "You know, Lee, I like this. You. Me. The stars. The quietness."
Lee was in total agreement, "It IS rather nice here, isn't it? I'm glad we were able to share this moment together, too."
And then it was quiet again as Amanda tried to convince herself not to read too much into his words. But it wasn't working as emotions rose inside of her from feeling so close to him. She needed to get back to the safety net of her being his working partner.
"Lee?"
"Hmm?"
"Thanks for going on this mission with me. I know we're in the middle of nowhere with little food and danger lurking just around the corner, but truthfully, I never felt so safe."
Lee inhaled deeply, the night air feeling so clean and light in his lungs. It was nice for a moment in time to not worry about anything. He wished he could keep her...and the kid...forever safe. But nothing in life was a guarantee.
She was still looking at him, and Lee couldn't hide the seductive gaze he returned to her. They were held spellbound as the cloudless night loomed all around them, vast and cool, but they were only aware of one another.
What is happening? Amanda wondered, Lee is looking at me...with desire.
Meanwhile, Lee internalized, This is crazy. After all, this is Amanda sitting across from him.
Lee felt the situation was getting out of hand He didn't trust his feelings anymore.
I've gotta get away from this, he thought, as he stood.
"Are you leaving?"Amanda asked, trying to keep the disappointment out of her tone.
By then he had already jumped off the truck, but stood next to it while answering, "I, uh, just need to go do something."'
"But you're in the middle of nowhere!"
"Yeah, I know, but I just need to go do my nightly ritual of….one hundred push-ups before I hit the sack!" he awkwardly stated, pretending to warm up his arms.
"Yeah, right," Amanda stated, not sounding convinced.
"Really," Lee stated, "There's nothing like a workout to relax the body."
"Whatever. Just don't take too long," she warned him, and then she thought of something else, "...and afterward, if you happen to wander around the front seat and see some extra tamales floating around in my big bag, I wouldn't mind if you send one my way!"
Lee gave her one of his slow smiles, the one that often sent her pulse racing, "Sure thing! I could do with one myself! I swear, these tamales are like Mexican energy bars!"
Amanda laughed.
And all was right with the world again.
#
The first morning light hit the three of them soon enough, and Pepita practically jumped out of the blankets.
"Good morning, Señor Lee, Señora Amanda!" she eagerly greeted them, "Is it time we drive the red truck now?"
Lee moaned, not wanting to get up, so it was Amanda who answered Pepita.
"Good morning, Pepita," she yawned. As she slowly got up, she ran her hand through her hair, "We'll be heading out soon, but I think we should first get ready and then eat some oranges and sweetbreads for breakfast. We'll need our strength."
Half an hour later, they were all washed up and were enjoying breakfast at the back of the truck.
Amanda took another bite of her sweet bread, washing it down with some bottled water.
"Tell me, Pepita, did you ever have the opportunity to go to school?"
Pepita was peeling her orange and now looked up, "Oh yes! I was able to go for since I was five! I learned the English and also how to spell some! Plus I know much math!" her face then saddened and she dropped her head, "but then I had to quit to help Papa with the store."
Lee tried to cheer her up, "And I'm sure you were the brightest student there! That'll help you when you become a real truck driver!"
She brightened up immediately, "Really? You think so?" Pepita looked pleased. She stretched out her arms in a 10-2 position, as if she were holding onto an imaginary steering wheel.
"When I get big, I will be so smart that I will drive the biggest truck in town! Brummmmmmm!" she sounded off, imitating a vehicle's engine, "Brummmmm, Brummmmmm! See how good I drive, Señor Lee! There is no lead foot!"
Lee laughed.
Amanda watched the delight on Lee's face. He was not a natural with kids, but he had potential.
And she found herself falling more for him.
#
They continued to drive. It would be at least 3 hours before they reached the town of Zitapan to drop off Pepita. And once again, Pepita had trustingly tucked her tiny hand into Amanda's as they sat in the front seat.
Amanda sighed. She would truly miss Pepita once she was delivered to her aunt. And she wondered if Pepita would ever be reunited with her parents. Then she thought about her own family. When would she see Mother and boys again?
They had been traveling for a time up another mountain road, when fifteen minutes into the deep ascent, the truck betrayed them. It began to falter and sputter again, although Lee was almost flooring the accelerator. Filthy smoke began seeping through the slots of the rusty hood. He had no choice but to stop the truck and go out to investigate. He almost burned his hand opening the hood to discover the radiator had overheated. Smoke billowed out everywhere. Luckily, he did have water and coolant in the back of the truck.
"Of all the dumb things to happen!" Lee stated disgustedly, as he kicked one of the tires.
"Yes, very dumb, indeed!" Pepita stated, copying Lee, as she brought her little foot up and also kicked the tire.
"Lee! Don't be such a bad influence!" Amanda chided him while shaking her head at Pepita.
Lee was not in the mood to be lectured, "Believe me, being a role model is the least of my worries!" he told her in frustration.
"Don't act so grumpy!" Amanda stated as she stomped over to the hood of the truck.
"I'm not acting!" whined Lee.
Amanda ignored him as she hovered over the troubled truck's engine, while waving away the smoke away from her at the same time, "So what does this mean? Are we in serious trouble with the truck?"
"Not really. It just means we'll lose some valuable traveling time," Lee stated, not looking happy at all, "the radiator needs to cool a bit before I can pour some coolant and water into it."
"How much time should we have to wait for the car to cool down?" Amanda asked.
"Maybe half an hour or so," Lee explained, as he wiped his forehead.
"Then we shall have an early lunch!" Pepita announced. She ran and got the big bag and looked into it.
"But what is this that has happened?" she shockingly questioned.
Amanda asked, "Why? What is it, Pepita?"
A distressed Pepita answered with, "I have looked in our bag, and we have two tamales missing!"
Amanda and Lee tried to exchange confused looks, but they ended up snickering, as if they were sharing a joke.
"Well?" Pepita asked, demanding an answer.
Amanda asked, "Missing tamales, you say?"
Lee tried to keep a straight face as well, "You sure we are two tamales short? TWO? Wow, you sure are good with math, Kid!"
Pepita folded her arms and dramatically tapped her foot, "I already know that I know the math! You do not fool me! I think I am looking at two tamale thieves!"
Lee shrugged his shoulders, "Well, don't let it get to you, Kid. Things like that happen all the time when you're on the road. You know what they say: Here today, gone tamale!"
"Oh, boy..." Amanda rolled her eyes, "It's going to be hard taking a bad pun on an emptied stomach!"
But Pepita laughed, "You too funny, Señor! But do not worry about the missing tamales! We still have much, much food here!"
She came over with an armful of food, displaying a quarter of a bag of oranges, three tamales and a box of cheese crackers that they had originally missed, as well as some beef jerky, "Come, let us eat our banquet and be happy!"
#
After lunch, while outside the truck, Amanda and Pepita were playing cards while a short distance away, Lee was studying the map.
"Hey," he announced out loud, after studying the map, "I had hoped we could take a short cut to Pepita's aunt's house through the mountains, but it's obvious the truck isn't capable of going that route. So I checked the map again and Reymosa is not more than a two-hour drive in the opposite direction. I think we should go to Reymosa, first before continuing on to Zitipan to drop off the kid."
"What?" Amanda's head shot up immediately, "No, we can't do that, Lee! There is no way we can do that!"
"Why not?" Lee questioned, "Reymosa is all flatlands. We can go finish the mission first and then go to the aunt's house afterward."
Amanda told Pepita to play solitaire, a game Amanda had taught the little girl earlier. Then Amanda went over to sit across from Lee.
"Lee!" her voice was low but sounded urgent, "Tell me you're not seriously thinking about completing the mission before dropping Pepita off to safety!"
"Travel-wise, I think it's our best option," Lee reasoned, "we could reach there easily by early afternoon..."
"But that means Pepita will be with us!" Amanda pointedly stated. She took a quick glance over to Pepita before continuing on, "I can't BELIEVE you want to include Pepita in our mission! You DO realize, that since this is my last identifications, that person will probably be the bad guy, don't you? Pepita shouldn't be nowhere near us when all of this goes down!"
Lee pursed his lips as he listened to her and then argued, "It's not as if we'll be using Pepita as a human shield when we confront the impostor!" he countered, "we'll just make sure she's not anywhere near us when we make the bust!"
"Oh yeah," Amanda sarcastically disagreed, "It'll be that simple, won't it? Pepita will just stay right where you tell her to while we get the bad guy; just like how I always wait in the car because you tell me to!"
Lee lifted his index finger to make a point, "Hey! THAT is not my fault, and you know it! If you would have just followed my orders-"
Suddenly Lee and Amanda heard a little girl's voice cried out, "STOP! STOP!"
They turned to see Pepita rushing towards them, a distressed look on her face, "Why you two so mad together? Is it because of me? Did I do something wrong?:
Pepita's voice was shaking with fear, her eyes wide, as she stared down at Lee and Amanda.
Amanda's tone changed instantly, "No, no, of course you didn't do anything wrong, Sweetheart!" she assured Pepita, patting the ground to signal where Pepita could sit, "Come here and sit with us and let us explain."
When Pepita settled in with them, Lee could see tears begin to surface in the kid's eyes. Wiping them away, she shot an accusing look at Lee.
"If I do nothing wrong, Señor, then why must you be mad at Señora Amanda and why is she also mad at you?" she wanted to know.
"We are NOT mad at one another," Lee corrected her, "We are just, uh voicing our opinions loudly to motivate each other!"
Pepita looked puzzled at that explanation.
"Lee, the best way to make her understand is to just be honest with her," Amanda suggested.
"Yeah, okay," Lee stated, wondering why he had to be the one to explain to her, "Look, Kid, it's just...we had a disagreement because we couldn't decide what city to visit next. I wanted to go to the closer one so we could do our job, but Señora Amanda wanted to go to your aunt's place to make sure you are safe."
Pepita puffed out her chest, "But you do not have to worry about me! I can take care of myself!"
"Of course you can, Pepita," Amanda agreed, "but...it's not that simple. Where we are headed could be dangerous. Do you even know why you are traveling with us? Did your father explain it to you?"
Pepita's confident expression saddened as she explained "Papa, he say there are bad people in our town of Mayorita. He try to make town safe, but there are too many bad people. So he say I must go with you two good American agents to be sure I stay safe."
Amanda nodded as she took Pepita's hand, "Your father was so right, Pepita. We are here to keep you safe. But we are also here to complete our job as well, which is to get rid of a very bad man. Unfortunately, our truck is not very reliable in the mountains, so we may have to go to Reymosa first."
Pepita looked at Amanda with enthusiastic eyes, "Reymosa? I know of that town! It is big and busy. So much to see! Yes, I will go there with you! It will be adventure!"
Amanda looked uncertain, "No, Pepita. I don't think you understand the danger..."
But Lee interrupted her by touching her arm, "I'll handle this," he told a surprised Amanda. Then he turned to Pepita, "Kid, listen, and listen carefully. If we go to the town of Reymosa, you must listen to everything we say. If we tell you not to go with us, you must do that. It is very important you follow this rule. We have a mission to complete and we have been trained to do this job. But we can not do our job well if we are distracted worrying about you. You wouldn't want us to get hurt by the bad man, would you?"
Pepita looked so serious, "Oh no! Never I want that, Señor!"
"Good," Lee acknowledged, "So you understand why you must do what we say?"
Pepita watched him with pensive eyes. Then she nodded, "Yes. I will listen. I will do what you say, Señor Lee," she stated with conviction.
Amanda knew when she was beaten, "I guess we are about to complete the mission first, then," she conceded with a sigh, "So it's onto Reymosa."
"Yep, I guess so!" Lee victoriously stated.
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