In the Claws of an Angel
Chapter Three.
"Wait... You said a voice told you to help me?" I clarified slowly.
Logan nodded as he chewed a mouthful of food. "Does that sound like something I'd just make up for shits and giggles?"
I shook my head in response, severing a tiny piece of pancake with my plastic fork. I stabbed it, lifted it to my mouth, and chewed it slowly. "Was it a man's voice?"
Logan lifted his eyes to look at me for a second, seeming a little suspicious of my question. He had finished his pancakes, so he picked up a strip of bacon and crunched into it. "Mhm..."
I looked down and pushed the last few soggy pieces of pancake around on my plate, feeling bashful and anxious under his gaze. "Did he have an accent...? British...?"
This time, Logan sharply snapped his head up to look at me. His eyebrows were scrunched up, his lips slightly frowning. I could feel my cheeks warming in a rosie shade of pink.
"...Uh huh," He replied to me after a pause, "So you can read my mind too, huh?"
"No, but I think someone else out there can." I said to him, "...Both our minds."
"Wait, both our minds?" Logan asked as he set his plate down in the grass, "What are you talking about?"
"I, uh... I heard it, too..." I stammered as I bashfully glanced up at Logan, "It was talking to me while I was asleep... That's what woke me up."
"You're not fucking with me, are you?" Logan asked as his hazel eyes narrowed
"No, I really did hear it." I insisted seriously, "Whoever it was knew my name... Did he know yours?"
Logan stared at me for a few seconds before nodding slightly. He finished his bacon and set the now empty plate on the ground. Another breeze passed through again, and I was happy I had the leather jacket wrapped around me. I noticed the hairs on Logan's arms raise up from the chill.
"Yea... He knew my name." He muttered to me, "Told me things about myself that no one would ever be able to know..."
Logan paused and looked up at me.
"Then he started telling me about this girl... That I needed to find her, that she was this way, that way... Drove me nuts for weeks. When I sat next to you at that bar..."
He paused again and I found myself staring at him, the orange glow from the campfire illuminating his scruffy face and chizzled torso. I shifted in my chair a little bit as I focused on his words again.
"He just kept telling me 'there, follow her, don't let her leave'... I don't know why, but here you are."
My mind was baffled as I turned this new information over in my brain. He had been hearing this voice for weeks, and basically tracking me... And the same voice was talking to me, now? What the hell was going on?
"Whoever it was didn't speak to me until last night..." I spoke up quietly. "He just told me to stay here... That I was safe with you. I thought it was a dream, but..." My voice trailed off as I picked at a thread in Logan's jacket.
We were quiet for a minute or two, just staring into the fire. It crackled and popped in a lively way, and I could feel a little heat warming my bare legs.
"Well this is getting a little weird for me," Logan announced as he stood up, "I'm going back to bed. You shouldn't stay out here much longer, either."
And with that, he turned and walked to the camper, disappearing inside. I turned back to the fire, gazing off into the golden embers... This really was weird... But it was either stay with Logan, or go back to fending for myself.
The smartest choice wasn't exactly clear to me yet, so I did the best I could in the moment. I stood up, kicked dirt over the campfire to extinguish it, then queitly made my way back inside.
I flopped down on the couch, glimpsing at the digital clock which read 3:55 AM. I sighed and closed my eyes.
I knew I wasn't going to get much sleep, but I had to at least try.
~~
The old blue truck rattled as it plowed over an Alabama backroad riddled with potholes. It was about one o'clock in the afternoon, and we had been driving since about eight in the morning... Crossed over the Mississippi / Alabama line two hours earlier.
Logan and I had the windows rolled down and Johnny Cash playing on the truck's old radio. The summer air whipping through the cab felt amazing as it brushed my hair from my face.
I could suddenly smell the strong aroma of smoke, and turned to Logan. He had just lit a cigar, and puffed on it a few times. He didn't notice me looking, luckily, so I just turned my eyes back out the window.
We came to a fork in the road, and Logan slowed the truck to a stop so he could read the sign posted. It was a wooden sign in the shape of two arrows pointing in opposite directions. The one on the top pointed to the right, and read: ERIKSON --- 7 1/4 miles. The one on the bottom pointed to the left, and it said: CONTINUE TO HIGHWAY 9 --- 17 miles.
Logan cranked the steering wheel to the right, and I watched the sign fade in the rearview mirror as we accelerated down the road. I guess we were heading to Erikson... Wherever that was. But, I just sat back and watched the trees and pastures full of grazing cattle roll by. I was simply along for the ride.
~~
"I need some stuff from the store." Logan grumbled to me as we finally pulled into Erikson, a tiny little podunk town; even smaller than the town in Mississipi I had fled from. "You need anything?"
I gave Logan a blank stare as he waited for my answer, but I didn't know what to say. He raised his eyebrows at me in an attempt to coax my voice out of me, but it didn't work. I simply shook my head.
"You don't need any..." Logan asked slowly, seeming to search for the right words, "...Lady stuff?"
Instantly my face burned red. I reached up and tamed a strand of hair that was fluttering in the wind, tucking it behind my ear. I could tell he felt just as bashful as I did, but he was way better at hiding it.
"Uh... n-no, I'm good." I stammered as my eyes danced around the cabin of the truck.
Logan grunted in response and said nothing more on the subject. We were pulling into the parking lot of a small general store. There were a handful of old cars scattered in the parking spots, and Logan whipped to a stop next to a red station wagon.
Logan took a few more puffs off his cigar, letting the thick, sweet smelling smoke waft out the open windows before he rolled them up. He stubbed the half burned cigar out in his truck's ash tray, then tucked it in the pocket of his blue flannel shirt.
We popped open the doors and hopped outside, slamming them shut behind us.
Logan peered across the hood at me,nodding toward the store, and I trailed along behind him as we walked across the parking lot. I stayed a few steps behind him, admiring his toned rear end showing through his snug jeans. Logan glanced back over his shoulder to make sure I was still following, and I quickly averted my eyes.
The automatic doors slid open as we approached them, welcoming us inside. Logan reached out and grabbed a shopping cart from the bunch and reeled it into him, then headed for the cold food aisle to the left.
I walked along quietly with Logan as he browsed the selection of cheese and lunch meat. He quickly settled on honey ham and provologne, tossing both packages into the cart.
As Logan continued to the end of the cold food aisle and took a right to grab a loaf of bread, I wandered away from him. I straggled two aisles over to where the canned food was.
In the middle of the aisle was an elderly woman, standing on her toes and struggling to reach a can of spinach on the top shelf. She muttered and cursed under her breath, giving up and placing her hand on her strained lower back.
She tried to catch a store clerk passing by to help her, but he just strolled on past, too distracted by the headphones lodged in his ears.
"Oh, dear..." I heard the old woman sigh in defeat as she stared up at the cans.
I hid myself behind the end cap of the aisle, glancing back and forth between the woman and the can of spinach that she was still struggling to grab.
"Give it a shot, Ana..." I whispered to myself as I cleared my mind of everything but that can.
I concentrated as hard as I could, tuning out all the little noises of the market; Shopping cart wheels skating across the tile floor, soft beeping as items were scanned by the cashier, the occassional price check called out over the intercom... And slowly, the can began to wiggle. I felt my stomach flutter as the can lifted from the shelf, but I didn't lose focus.
I guided the can with my eyes, picturing it floating right to the old woman's hands... And what I invisioned in my mind became reality. She gasped and held her hands out, staring with wide eyes as she grasped the can out of thin air... And I let go.
A huge smile creeped across my face when I realized I had had another successful experience with my telekinesis. It was times like these that gave me faith in conquering my mutation and making it an asset to my life, instead of a burden.
Suddenly the woman caught sight of me. My heart jumped into my throat and I shrunk back behind the end cap, but she simply leaned to her right a bit and kept her eyes on me.
I expected her to scream out and call me a freak, but instead she smiled.
"Did you get this spinach down for me?" She asked in a delicate voice as she placed the can in the cart.
I gulped and stepped out into the open. I nodded my head shyly when I realized she wasn't afraid.
"My, my..." She breathed while shaking her head at me, her smile widening, "That's quite a gift you have, sweetie."
I warily stepped a bit closer to the woman, pretending to be interested in the cans of peas on the shelf in front of me.
"I wouldn't call it a gift," I replied softly, "It's more of a problem."
"Why on Earth would you say that...?" She asked me. There was a tinge of sadness in her voice.
"I can't always control it like I did just now," I informed the woman, "It usually scares most people away."
The woman's sad expression transformed back into a smile as she gazed up at me with her stormy gray eyes.
"Well, I think it's wonderful." She exclaimed, then glanced behind her like she was checking to see if we were alone. "Let me show you something."
I stared quizically at the elderly woman as she dug in her big purple bag, finally pulling out a small packet of seeds that read "Assorted Wild Flowers" on the front.
She reached for my hand and gently turned it over so my palm was facing upward. I tilted my head to the side as the woman sprinkled a few seeds into my open palm before dropping the packet back in her bag.
She glanced behind her once more, then placed her palm over mine, clasping my hand between both of hers.
I gasped as a soft glowing light began to emit from inbetween the cracks of our fingers, followed by a warm tingly sensation in my palm. After a few seconds, the woman pulled her hands away and smiled up at me.
My eyes twinkled at my palm, staring at a small bunch of pink, yellow and white flowers taking the place of the seeds. I realized that this woman was a mutant as I looked up from the flowers and into her warm, kind face.
"Wow..." I breathed to her, "That's amazing."
"But so is your gift, dear." The woman insisted, "Just like the souls of human beings, each mutation is beautiful and unique, and we are blessed to have them... Never be ashamed."
I nodded to the woman, and she placed a gentle hand on my cheek before turning and wheeling her cart down the aisle. I stared at her as she made her way to the end and turned to the left, heading toward the check out lanes.
Her words seemed to echoe in my head as I glanced at the flowers again, feeling myself softly smile. Who knew a stranger could make me feel so at ease with myself?
But I knew that feeling would be ripped away from me the second my telekinesis slipped... Instead of thinking about that, though, I dropped the flowers into my jacket pocket and strolled over to the snack aisle at the front of the store.
They had a pretty good selection of chips, cookies and cakes, and I felt my.stomach growl. I had always been a junk food junky. I gasped as I laid eyes on a box of Cosmic Brownies, which I was especially addicted to. I grabbed the box and looked it over, reading the price tag: $2.49
I pursed my lips, knowing I didn't have any money, or my duffle bag to simply slip then into like I usually did. Plus, I didn't want Logan to know I had a shoplifting habbit.
"Jeez, there you are," Logan's voice spoke from my left, catching me off guard and making me flinch. "I thought you went back out to the truck or something."
I turned to face him.
"Sorry, I uh..." I stumbled over my words.
"Relax, I'm not looking for an apology, I just didn't know where you were." Logan assured me, "You like those?"
I blinked at him a few times before I realized he was talking about the brownies in my hands.
"Um.. yea, but I was just looking at then." I replied casually as I set the box back in its place.
Logan raised an eyebrow at me before reaching out and snagging the brownies off the shelf again, tossing them in the cart. I tried to protest as he reached for a bag of BBQ flavored chips and tossed them in, too, but he cut me off.
"What do you like to drink?" He asked me as he pushed the cart forward, "Soda? Juice?"
"Really, I'm okay, I don't need-" I tried to convince Logan I didn't need anything else, but he just halted the cart and gave me a look that said he wasn't buying it, "... Rootbeer..."
He nodded and we headed to the drink aisle. Logan scooped up a 12 pack of rootbeer, a 6 pack of Budweiser, and a gallon of sweet tea the was on sale for a dollar.
After a stop in the personal hygene aisle for Logan's shaving cream, razors, and deoderant, we headed to the check out lanes.
Luckily, no one was in line, so we scooted right up to the cash register.
"How are ya'll doin' today?" The smiling cashier greeted us. She was a young girl, probably about 16, with blonde hair, brown eyes and freckles dusted across her nose.
Logan glanced at her as he slapped the cheese and lunch meat onto the belt. "Fine."
I kept my eyes down and listened to the soft beeping of the cash register as items were scanned. I grabbed the bags and placed them in the cart, and the cashier gave Logan the total: $38.42
I watched as he pulled out his wallet and handed the girl a 50 dollar bill. As she calculated the change, I couldn't help but wonder how Logan got his money.
The cashier thanked us as she handed Logan a few bills and some coins, then bid us farewell as we grabbed our bags and walked out through the automatic doors.
A green truck slowed to a stop and waved us across the crosswalk. Logan nodded curteously to the driver as we walked past, heading straight for the truck.
Logan popped the door open to the camper, climbed inside with his bags, and told me to hand him up the rest.
"...Thank you." I said quietly as Logan took the last bag from me.
He hopped down out of the camper, shut the door and looked over at me.
"No problem, kid." He mumbled while giving me a nod, "Just speak up next time. Now c'mon, let's get going. I don't like staying in these small towns for long."
Next time? That meant he wanted me to stick around...
With that, Logan pulled out his keys and walked to the driver's side door. I made my way to the passenger side, hearing the click of the doors unlocking. I grasped the handle, popped the door open, and slid into the bench seat.
When both our doors were shut and the engine was pumping, we were on the move again, headed out of town and back to the highway.
We drove along for an hour or so in calm silence, not even the radio made a peep. The windows were down as usual, and Logan had almost finished that cigar. He took two more quick puffs before flicking the stub out the window.
I watched it bounce on the pavement for a split second in the passenger side mirror. After two bounces it exploded into a cloud of embers, then disappeared.
I sighed, feeling a sleepy spell wash over me. I propped my feet up on the dashboard, snuggling into the crook of the door. Suddenly, I remembered something... I reached into my jacket pocket and gingerly pulled out the tiny flowers.
They were a little wilted, but still beautiful... I smiled softly as I thought of the kind old woman's smiling face.
I gently rubbed the delicate petals of the flowers before concentrating hard on them. I felt my mind grasp them and gently lift them from my palm, swirling them about, almost like a dance... Then, just as quickly as I'd controled them, I lost my mind's hold and the flowers were swept up by the wind and carried out the open window.
Just like that, they were gone... But the magic of the woman's words stuck with me, echoeing inside my brain as I quickly drifted off to sleep...
"Just like human souls..."
"Every mutation is beautiful and unique..."
"We are blessed to have them..."
"Never be ashamed..."
~~
Logan nodded as he chewed a mouthful of food. "Does that sound like something I'd just make up for shits and giggles?"
I shook my head in response, severing a tiny piece of pancake with my plastic fork. I stabbed it, lifted it to my mouth, and chewed it slowly. "Was it a man's voice?"
Logan lifted his eyes to look at me for a second, seeming a little suspicious of my question. He had finished his pancakes, so he picked up a strip of bacon and crunched into it. "Mhm..."
I looked down and pushed the last few soggy pieces of pancake around on my plate, feeling bashful and anxious under his gaze. "Did he have an accent...? British...?"
This time, Logan sharply snapped his head up to look at me. His eyebrows were scrunched up, his lips slightly frowning. I could feel my cheeks warming in a rosie shade of pink.
"...Uh huh," He replied to me after a pause, "So you can read my mind too, huh?"
"No, but I think someone else out there can." I said to him, "...Both our minds."
"Wait, both our minds?" Logan asked as he set his plate down in the grass, "What are you talking about?"
"I, uh... I heard it, too..." I stammered as I bashfully glanced up at Logan, "It was talking to me while I was asleep... That's what woke me up."
"You're not fucking with me, are you?" Logan asked as his hazel eyes narrowed
"No, I really did hear it." I insisted seriously, "Whoever it was knew my name... Did he know yours?"
Logan stared at me for a few seconds before nodding slightly. He finished his bacon and set the now empty plate on the ground. Another breeze passed through again, and I was happy I had the leather jacket wrapped around me. I noticed the hairs on Logan's arms raise up from the chill.
"Yea... He knew my name." He muttered to me, "Told me things about myself that no one would ever be able to know..."
Logan paused and looked up at me.
"Then he started telling me about this girl... That I needed to find her, that she was this way, that way... Drove me nuts for weeks. When I sat next to you at that bar..."
He paused again and I found myself staring at him, the orange glow from the campfire illuminating his scruffy face and chizzled torso. I shifted in my chair a little bit as I focused on his words again.
"He just kept telling me 'there, follow her, don't let her leave'... I don't know why, but here you are."
My mind was baffled as I turned this new information over in my brain. He had been hearing this voice for weeks, and basically tracking me... And the same voice was talking to me, now? What the hell was going on?
"Whoever it was didn't speak to me until last night..." I spoke up quietly. "He just told me to stay here... That I was safe with you. I thought it was a dream, but..." My voice trailed off as I picked at a thread in Logan's jacket.
We were quiet for a minute or two, just staring into the fire. It crackled and popped in a lively way, and I could feel a little heat warming my bare legs.
"Well this is getting a little weird for me," Logan announced as he stood up, "I'm going back to bed. You shouldn't stay out here much longer, either."
And with that, he turned and walked to the camper, disappearing inside. I turned back to the fire, gazing off into the golden embers... This really was weird... But it was either stay with Logan, or go back to fending for myself.
The smartest choice wasn't exactly clear to me yet, so I did the best I could in the moment. I stood up, kicked dirt over the campfire to extinguish it, then queitly made my way back inside.
I flopped down on the couch, glimpsing at the digital clock which read 3:55 AM. I sighed and closed my eyes.
I knew I wasn't going to get much sleep, but I had to at least try.
~~
The old blue truck rattled as it plowed over an Alabama backroad riddled with potholes. It was about one o'clock in the afternoon, and we had been driving since about eight in the morning... Crossed over the Mississippi / Alabama line two hours earlier.
Logan and I had the windows rolled down and Johnny Cash playing on the truck's old radio. The summer air whipping through the cab felt amazing as it brushed my hair from my face.
I could suddenly smell the strong aroma of smoke, and turned to Logan. He had just lit a cigar, and puffed on it a few times. He didn't notice me looking, luckily, so I just turned my eyes back out the window.
We came to a fork in the road, and Logan slowed the truck to a stop so he could read the sign posted. It was a wooden sign in the shape of two arrows pointing in opposite directions. The one on the top pointed to the right, and read: ERIKSON --- 7 1/4 miles. The one on the bottom pointed to the left, and it said: CONTINUE TO HIGHWAY 9 --- 17 miles.
Logan cranked the steering wheel to the right, and I watched the sign fade in the rearview mirror as we accelerated down the road. I guess we were heading to Erikson... Wherever that was. But, I just sat back and watched the trees and pastures full of grazing cattle roll by. I was simply along for the ride.
~~
"I need some stuff from the store." Logan grumbled to me as we finally pulled into Erikson, a tiny little podunk town; even smaller than the town in Mississipi I had fled from. "You need anything?"
I gave Logan a blank stare as he waited for my answer, but I didn't know what to say. He raised his eyebrows at me in an attempt to coax my voice out of me, but it didn't work. I simply shook my head.
"You don't need any..." Logan asked slowly, seeming to search for the right words, "...Lady stuff?"
Instantly my face burned red. I reached up and tamed a strand of hair that was fluttering in the wind, tucking it behind my ear. I could tell he felt just as bashful as I did, but he was way better at hiding it.
"Uh... n-no, I'm good." I stammered as my eyes danced around the cabin of the truck.
Logan grunted in response and said nothing more on the subject. We were pulling into the parking lot of a small general store. There were a handful of old cars scattered in the parking spots, and Logan whipped to a stop next to a red station wagon.
Logan took a few more puffs off his cigar, letting the thick, sweet smelling smoke waft out the open windows before he rolled them up. He stubbed the half burned cigar out in his truck's ash tray, then tucked it in the pocket of his blue flannel shirt.
We popped open the doors and hopped outside, slamming them shut behind us.
Logan peered across the hood at me,nodding toward the store, and I trailed along behind him as we walked across the parking lot. I stayed a few steps behind him, admiring his toned rear end showing through his snug jeans. Logan glanced back over his shoulder to make sure I was still following, and I quickly averted my eyes.
The automatic doors slid open as we approached them, welcoming us inside. Logan reached out and grabbed a shopping cart from the bunch and reeled it into him, then headed for the cold food aisle to the left.
I walked along quietly with Logan as he browsed the selection of cheese and lunch meat. He quickly settled on honey ham and provologne, tossing both packages into the cart.
As Logan continued to the end of the cold food aisle and took a right to grab a loaf of bread, I wandered away from him. I straggled two aisles over to where the canned food was.
In the middle of the aisle was an elderly woman, standing on her toes and struggling to reach a can of spinach on the top shelf. She muttered and cursed under her breath, giving up and placing her hand on her strained lower back.
She tried to catch a store clerk passing by to help her, but he just strolled on past, too distracted by the headphones lodged in his ears.
"Oh, dear..." I heard the old woman sigh in defeat as she stared up at the cans.
I hid myself behind the end cap of the aisle, glancing back and forth between the woman and the can of spinach that she was still struggling to grab.
"Give it a shot, Ana..." I whispered to myself as I cleared my mind of everything but that can.
I concentrated as hard as I could, tuning out all the little noises of the market; Shopping cart wheels skating across the tile floor, soft beeping as items were scanned by the cashier, the occassional price check called out over the intercom... And slowly, the can began to wiggle. I felt my stomach flutter as the can lifted from the shelf, but I didn't lose focus.
I guided the can with my eyes, picturing it floating right to the old woman's hands... And what I invisioned in my mind became reality. She gasped and held her hands out, staring with wide eyes as she grasped the can out of thin air... And I let go.
A huge smile creeped across my face when I realized I had had another successful experience with my telekinesis. It was times like these that gave me faith in conquering my mutation and making it an asset to my life, instead of a burden.
Suddenly the woman caught sight of me. My heart jumped into my throat and I shrunk back behind the end cap, but she simply leaned to her right a bit and kept her eyes on me.
I expected her to scream out and call me a freak, but instead she smiled.
"Did you get this spinach down for me?" She asked in a delicate voice as she placed the can in the cart.
I gulped and stepped out into the open. I nodded my head shyly when I realized she wasn't afraid.
"My, my..." She breathed while shaking her head at me, her smile widening, "That's quite a gift you have, sweetie."
I warily stepped a bit closer to the woman, pretending to be interested in the cans of peas on the shelf in front of me.
"I wouldn't call it a gift," I replied softly, "It's more of a problem."
"Why on Earth would you say that...?" She asked me. There was a tinge of sadness in her voice.
"I can't always control it like I did just now," I informed the woman, "It usually scares most people away."
The woman's sad expression transformed back into a smile as she gazed up at me with her stormy gray eyes.
"Well, I think it's wonderful." She exclaimed, then glanced behind her like she was checking to see if we were alone. "Let me show you something."
I stared quizically at the elderly woman as she dug in her big purple bag, finally pulling out a small packet of seeds that read "Assorted Wild Flowers" on the front.
She reached for my hand and gently turned it over so my palm was facing upward. I tilted my head to the side as the woman sprinkled a few seeds into my open palm before dropping the packet back in her bag.
She glanced behind her once more, then placed her palm over mine, clasping my hand between both of hers.
I gasped as a soft glowing light began to emit from inbetween the cracks of our fingers, followed by a warm tingly sensation in my palm. After a few seconds, the woman pulled her hands away and smiled up at me.
My eyes twinkled at my palm, staring at a small bunch of pink, yellow and white flowers taking the place of the seeds. I realized that this woman was a mutant as I looked up from the flowers and into her warm, kind face.
"Wow..." I breathed to her, "That's amazing."
"But so is your gift, dear." The woman insisted, "Just like the souls of human beings, each mutation is beautiful and unique, and we are blessed to have them... Never be ashamed."
I nodded to the woman, and she placed a gentle hand on my cheek before turning and wheeling her cart down the aisle. I stared at her as she made her way to the end and turned to the left, heading toward the check out lanes.
Her words seemed to echoe in my head as I glanced at the flowers again, feeling myself softly smile. Who knew a stranger could make me feel so at ease with myself?
But I knew that feeling would be ripped away from me the second my telekinesis slipped... Instead of thinking about that, though, I dropped the flowers into my jacket pocket and strolled over to the snack aisle at the front of the store.
They had a pretty good selection of chips, cookies and cakes, and I felt my.stomach growl. I had always been a junk food junky. I gasped as I laid eyes on a box of Cosmic Brownies, which I was especially addicted to. I grabbed the box and looked it over, reading the price tag: $2.49
I pursed my lips, knowing I didn't have any money, or my duffle bag to simply slip then into like I usually did. Plus, I didn't want Logan to know I had a shoplifting habbit.
"Jeez, there you are," Logan's voice spoke from my left, catching me off guard and making me flinch. "I thought you went back out to the truck or something."
I turned to face him.
"Sorry, I uh..." I stumbled over my words.
"Relax, I'm not looking for an apology, I just didn't know where you were." Logan assured me, "You like those?"
I blinked at him a few times before I realized he was talking about the brownies in my hands.
"Um.. yea, but I was just looking at then." I replied casually as I set the box back in its place.
Logan raised an eyebrow at me before reaching out and snagging the brownies off the shelf again, tossing them in the cart. I tried to protest as he reached for a bag of BBQ flavored chips and tossed them in, too, but he cut me off.
"What do you like to drink?" He asked me as he pushed the cart forward, "Soda? Juice?"
"Really, I'm okay, I don't need-" I tried to convince Logan I didn't need anything else, but he just halted the cart and gave me a look that said he wasn't buying it, "... Rootbeer..."
He nodded and we headed to the drink aisle. Logan scooped up a 12 pack of rootbeer, a 6 pack of Budweiser, and a gallon of sweet tea the was on sale for a dollar.
After a stop in the personal hygene aisle for Logan's shaving cream, razors, and deoderant, we headed to the check out lanes.
Luckily, no one was in line, so we scooted right up to the cash register.
"How are ya'll doin' today?" The smiling cashier greeted us. She was a young girl, probably about 16, with blonde hair, brown eyes and freckles dusted across her nose.
Logan glanced at her as he slapped the cheese and lunch meat onto the belt. "Fine."
I kept my eyes down and listened to the soft beeping of the cash register as items were scanned. I grabbed the bags and placed them in the cart, and the cashier gave Logan the total: $38.42
I watched as he pulled out his wallet and handed the girl a 50 dollar bill. As she calculated the change, I couldn't help but wonder how Logan got his money.
The cashier thanked us as she handed Logan a few bills and some coins, then bid us farewell as we grabbed our bags and walked out through the automatic doors.
A green truck slowed to a stop and waved us across the crosswalk. Logan nodded curteously to the driver as we walked past, heading straight for the truck.
Logan popped the door open to the camper, climbed inside with his bags, and told me to hand him up the rest.
"...Thank you." I said quietly as Logan took the last bag from me.
He hopped down out of the camper, shut the door and looked over at me.
"No problem, kid." He mumbled while giving me a nod, "Just speak up next time. Now c'mon, let's get going. I don't like staying in these small towns for long."
Next time? That meant he wanted me to stick around...
With that, Logan pulled out his keys and walked to the driver's side door. I made my way to the passenger side, hearing the click of the doors unlocking. I grasped the handle, popped the door open, and slid into the bench seat.
When both our doors were shut and the engine was pumping, we were on the move again, headed out of town and back to the highway.
We drove along for an hour or so in calm silence, not even the radio made a peep. The windows were down as usual, and Logan had almost finished that cigar. He took two more quick puffs before flicking the stub out the window.
I watched it bounce on the pavement for a split second in the passenger side mirror. After two bounces it exploded into a cloud of embers, then disappeared.
I sighed, feeling a sleepy spell wash over me. I propped my feet up on the dashboard, snuggling into the crook of the door. Suddenly, I remembered something... I reached into my jacket pocket and gingerly pulled out the tiny flowers.
They were a little wilted, but still beautiful... I smiled softly as I thought of the kind old woman's smiling face.
I gently rubbed the delicate petals of the flowers before concentrating hard on them. I felt my mind grasp them and gently lift them from my palm, swirling them about, almost like a dance... Then, just as quickly as I'd controled them, I lost my mind's hold and the flowers were swept up by the wind and carried out the open window.
Just like that, they were gone... But the magic of the woman's words stuck with me, echoeing inside my brain as I quickly drifted off to sleep...
"Just like human souls..."
"Every mutation is beautiful and unique..."
"We are blessed to have them..."
"Never be ashamed..."
~~