What Can You Not Buy With Money?

We stayed there for a full two days, enjoying the small town of Foxfield and taking in the sights. There were many trails and parks to see, and we came across a good many of fellow tourists.

Vern and Lucy were happily reunited. And I must admit I’d rather always see them sucking face than fighting for a day. I had no idea what they did or said up on that mountain ledge, but when they finally came down after many hours of no response to our yells and calls, Lucy had a changed look that was no longer strained and tired. Vern looked relieved and he was back to taking pictures.

And speaking of pictures, there were enough group photos of us four that Vern had on rolls of film to fill twenty albums. Lucy was no longer as easily annoyed by Vern’s constant photographing and Walker didn’t seem to mind. In fact, whenever Vern would take a shot that involved both Walker and I, he’d swing his arm over my shoulder or give me a hug or a quick peck on the cheek. It was almost as though we really were going out.

I admit, I liked the attention. Maybe a little too much. All the contact and affection Walker gave me just made my heart quicken and fill me with that familiar feeling of hunger and desire. I felt like I was being treasured by an angel whenever Walker smiled at me. So whenever Vern asked for us to make a quick pose, I was more than eager to smile at the lens and see the bright flash.

I didn’t mind the idea of having my picture constantly taken because I imagined that when I was much older and too weak and feeble to go hiking on endless trails or climb up the steepest hills I’d be able to look back on them. And looking at those photos and realizing that I had done things in my life where I was constantly smiling and enjoying my existence would be the one thing that made me believe my life was completely blissful. A picture could make all the remorse inside of me just disintegrate.

But that night, we all decided that it was time to move on. We all checked out of our motel rooms, packed our belongings, and set out. As we were leaving the small town, we eventually came across a small diner that was open twenty four hours.

“Anyone hungry?” Walker asked as he slowed the vehicle down as we approached the small restaurant. It looked like a large trailer than anything else, with a neon sign that read, ’24 Hours’ in a bright blue and orange. The ‘u’ had died off long ago, so it read, ’24 Ho rs’.

My estranged sense of humor caused me to chuckle darkly. “I wonder if any of the twenty four are men.”

Lucy laughed and called out, “Yeah. I bet this is where Burgess lives his double life.”

Despite Walker tensing and throwing me a worried glance, I just burst out into laughter. I looked at him with a smile. “I’m starving.” All the concern vanished and he just smiled back.

“I’ll treat everyone,” Walker announced as he parked his car.

Everyone poured out of the vehicle and we all entered the small restaurant. It was empty, except for a single woman who was drinking a small mug of coffee and the few waitresses who were bored out of their minds. The smell of cigarettes was distinct, and now it was my turn to worry. Walker didn’t seem to suffer at the moment, though I could tell by the slight slump of a shoulder he was disappointed.

One of the waitresses came up to us with a coffee mug, her face tired from overwork and a pencil held behind her ear.

“Table for four?” She asked in a slow drawl, her body language relaxed and laid back.

“Yes,” Walker had a way of smiling sweetly at the lady and he added, “Non-smoking please.”

The woman was easily won over with his charm, though I swear I had no idea how he did it. He hardly said three words, and already she was chatting at him and he to her.

I wasn’t jealous or envious or even uncomfortable. I was just scared, as my own throat was itching at the taste of tobacco.

We all sat down to place our orders for drinks, but before the waitress could come and give us our coffee and water a noise began to erupt through the silent night.

At first I thought it was just a single motorcycle—something insignificant. Just a lone biker riding down the highway late at night.

But as the sound grew, I could tell there were more of them. And the noise increased and increased, the sound of screaming pipes and powerful engines declaring its dominance over the silence as the noise grew deafening.

We all looked around; Walker, Vern and I were confused as we tried to crane our necks over to a window to see what the ruckus was. Lucy hardly looked up from her menu, though at the corner of her eyes I could tell that she was tensed and ready to strike. Her shoulders were wide and her expression blinked thoughtfully.

“Sounds like Harleys,” she thoughtfully murmured, and when an explosion of motorcycles with their bright headlights poured into the diner parking lot she snapped her head to the window and a proud smile cracked onto her lips. “Nice.”

We all stared at the many bikers who were dismounting their heavily chromed motorcycles; dressed in heavy leather. A few wore sunglasses, regardless of how dark the night was. They all poured into the diner, all chatting noisily. On the back of their leather jackets was a clumsily sewed set of words, titling them, “The Rejected Saints”. Some of them had helmets, but they all had one thing in common: They didn’t look anything close to being Saints.

“Darleen,” One of the largest of the men, whom I assumed was the leader came over and slapped the waitress on the butt.

“Get off me, you bastard,” She swore and pushed him off of her.

“I love it when a lady plays hard to get,” the man teased and his ruffians all joined in boomed laughter.

“Great,” Lucy sighed as she stretched and leaned back in her seat. “They’re assholes. Figures.” Now disappointment was in her narrowed eyes, and she looked clearly disgusted.

As the gang dispersed throughout the restaurant, they were already causing trouble. They hit on all the waitresses to no end and kept giving the cooks a hard time about the speed of how the food was prepared.

The one lone girl who was trying to enjoy her cup of coffee was getting no peace from them.

“How’d you like to go for a ride?” One of the guys asked as he was leaning a little too close for the woman’s comfort. His eyes were like rabid wolves and he kept trying to take his hands onto her leg.

After a little too much touching, she quickly slammed her mug on the counter and slapped him across the face.

Enraged, he grabbed her by the wrist and snarled in her face. “Bitch!”

I threw Lucy a look, hoping she’d do something. She looked furious herself, her teeth grit and her fists clenched. After a few moments of contemplating, and after a few quick words to Vern about him needing to let her take care of this, she leaped to her feet and jumped toward him.

“Hey!” Her voice was like an arrow, her volume the bow. I could practically see the bow’s string being pulled all the way back to fire.

The man snapped his head up to look at Lucy almost in a daze, disbelief glinting in his small eyes. But then his snarl turned into a leering smirk. “Well now, hello there. No need to yell to get my attention.” He strode over to Lucy, his disgusting attempt at charm causing me to wince. “I’ll show you a good time,” he sneered as he put his hand up to touch Lucy’s face.

In a flash, his wrist was grabbed and spun around to his back. Lucy was quick, her movements fluid and she was a strong girl. Despite him being beefier and more solid, she was experienced in physical aggression. She slammed his face against the table, one hand pulling his wrist up the small of his back while the other was pressing the back of his neck against the surface of the table.

“No need. I'm having a good time already,” Lucy laughed, obviously feeding off of the tension that grew in the air. “But how about you play nice, or I’ll have to give you a crash course on manners.”

Surprisingly, the man’s friends all joined in the laughter. They were obviously enjoying watching their leader getting beat down by a pretty little lady.

“Take care of this bitch!” The leader snapped as he rolled his eyes to his gang. “Well? What are you waiting for?”

Walker and Vern were quick to get up, collecting their things as they prepared for an escape. Walker grabbed my arm and silently pulled me up to my feet. I quickly took some money out of my wallet and placed it on the table, paying for what little we ordered.

The gang was too preoccupied with Lucy to notice that we were shrinking to the nearest exit. But I watched as one man walked carefully over to Lucy, his face clearly cautious as he tried to grab hold of her. The moment he stretched out his arms toward her, she suddenly lurched her knee into his groin, causing him to fall over. She grabbed his hips, and pulled out a small keychain. She studied the keys, and immediately looked over at the many motorcycles that were parked there.

The other men were roaring in laughter, some of them beginning to approach Lucy.

“Lucy!” I called out, now worried. “Come on! Forget them!”

She looked at me, saluting me playfully as she quickly grabbed a chair and threw it against the nearest window. The glass shattered, raining sparkling shards. She quickly leaped out of the opening, sprinting to the throng of motorcycles.

“Don’t let her get away!” The leader snapped as he gingerly held his arm as he and his posse sprinted to their bikes.

“My bike!” The other man who’s keys were stolen screamed in protest as Lucy quickly straddled the specific motorcycle and quickly started the engine. It roared in a scream of pipes. In a flash, she quickly flew off of the parking lot, and escaped onto the high way.

I watched in shock as all the men quickly jumped onto their bikes, revving their pipes as they quickly followed in pursuit.

“Come on!” Walker called out as we all jumped into our van. My heart was hammering at a rate of millions of beats a second, my eyes widened by the initial surprise.

“She just stole a bike!” I stated the obvious in surmise. “They’re going to kill her!”

“Come on, let’s just go!” Walker ordered as we all piled into his van and he started the vehicle. He lurched us forward and we sped up to go down the highway where Lucy and the Rejected Saints had sped down.

After many minutes of fretting and searching for any sign of the cyclists, Walker’s phone went off. While speeding down the streets, he looked at his phone. “Lucy just sent me a text. She lost them.”

Vern and I both cheered, relief washing over us like fresh paint over a wall.

“Where is she?” Vern leaned over from the backseat, looking over Walker’s shoulder at the cell phone.

“A few miles away. She’s on a sharp left on Copper Mine Boulevard.”

After a few minutes of looking at every street sign, we finally came across the right street. And as we turned sharply, feeling the tug of gravity on our bodies, we looked afar to see our friend leaning against a parked bike. She was sitting against the seat, with her arms crossed across her chest.

We pulled up to her side. “Yikes, Lucy,” I rolled down the window and smiled at her. “I’m never bored when with you.”

Lucy smiled back. “What can I say? A boring life’s no life at all.”

“Let’s hurry, before those guys come back for us.” Walker quickly interjected. “We can get all cozy when we’re in Houston.”

Lucy took the keys to the bike and threw them randomly as far from the area as she could. After that, she leaped into the van and we made our escape.