Lesser Evil

Chapter 17

Comet

Sometimes a bad experience will haunt memories, the present is made worse when bad karma appears in the flesh. 1976

We tried to talk it over,

but the words got in the way -

Leon Russel The Masquerade Carpenters Now and Then


Lesser Evil

“Hey Gene, you live out toward the Parker place, don’t you?”

“Yeah, the orchard is just a mile from home.”

“This little gal needs a ride out there.”

“Sure, once I get my fuel cans filled; I will be heading back out there.”

“My old truck may not be the best taxi, but taxis are little rare out here.” Gene threw her pack in the back, he thought it was bigger than she was.

They drove most of the way in silence. “I guess you are a friend of Carol’s, she sure has worked hard out there. It is starting to gain a lot of visitors in the fall. She must have inherited some work ethic from her grandparents.”

“Do they only sell stuff in the fall?”

“No, Parker’s Produce is getting more things all the time, but apples and cider are the biggest thing for them.”

“Thank you, ten miles would been a long way to walk.”

“Especially, with that pack I don’t know how you can lug it.”

“I’ve been hitching rides; I usually don’t carry it too far.”

“Hitchhiking is rather dangerous for anyone, especially a girl. I bet your folks would wish you weren’t doing that.”

“They don’t know, but I am heading back home, now”

“You know Carol when you were in college?”

“I wasn’t. Carol was working at the college and taking classes at the same time. A group of us were sharing a place. Some of us were trying to grow garden things. Flowers seemed to be easiest to sell.”

“I found out Carol was out here and wanted to stop by on my way home.”

“I’ll drop you off up by the house. The Parker Place has a long lane.”

Gene got out and took the pack out for her, “Have a nice visit”

“Thank you, Gene I appreciate it.”

“Easy enough, say hi to Carol.”

She knocked but no one seemed to be home, she opened the unlocked door and called out, but no one answered and then returned to the porch and sat down. She hoped Carol would at least let her sleep in a barn or something there seemed to be several buildings. She dozed off leaning against her pack. Carol came driving in from pruning raspberry and blackberry briars. She had decided to try to grow and keep them in some semblance of rows in the draws. She was hot, dirty, tired, and scratched. She approached the sleeping form on her porch. Sam went over gave a sniff showing little interest then went off to get water. Carol recognized her about the time the sleeper awoke and looked at her. Bliss was not the last person Carol ever wanted to see again; she was the second to last. “Bliss, you are one damn lucky bitch. If I owned a gun this county would be investigating its first murder in twenty years. As I am deciding if I want to kill with my bare hands or some type of farm tool, maybe you should start explaining, why you are here, how you got here, and what do you want?”

“Carol, I came to say I’m sorry, I know I was so wrong and I’m sorry. I’m hitching back home. Beth at the ‘Tomato Ranch” knew you were running a farm here. I don’t want anything other than to say I’m sorry and maybe sleep in a barn or something tonight.”

“Where’s home Bliss?”

“New York”

“A long way to hitchhike, you’re going get raped or killed. I suppose I can save myself the guilt and let some serial killer knock you off.”

“Yeah the rape thing already happened. A guy picked me up drove out to nowhere. He had pulled off my baggy shorts. I keep a small knife in my vest, I had my hand on it. When he was ready to force it into me, I sliced the knife across his neck. He grabbed his neck and I jumped up grabbed my shorts and ran. He had this diesel and had just left it running. I peeled out of there. I drove back up to the truck stop where he had turned out into the back country. I grabbed my pack asked the kindest looking trucker for a ride. I think my desperation and maybe the blood won him over. He threw my pack and me in his truck and we left. He told not to say anything. He didn’t want to know my name or whatever fight I had been in. I dozed as he drove for most of the night. "

“Well Bliss I am sorry that happened, but have you killed a man now?”

“I don’t know, maybe I didn’t look back.”

“OK, why don’t you come in. I need a shower. After that you can take one while I fix something to eat, then you can go back to the I’m sorry part of this conversation.”

“These potatoes and peppers are good, thank you. I am sorry; I know we robbed you. Cosmo had me convinced you owed it to him. I was with him for three years then he dumped me. Actually, he just abandoned me in some park in Oregon. “

“On his way to a Zappa concert I suppose.”

“Cosmo had been following Lowell George and he got to load stuff at concerts. I think he had some new scheme, but I wasn’t included obviously”

“When I ran off with him, he wasn’t Cosmo just David. It was fun for nearly a year. At the ranch I got the job at the college and began to earn a degree. I earned enough at the college administration office to pay the cash part of the trade on his new van. He began banging you after that and he didn’t care if I left. I moved in with a friend I worked with at the college. I was making a new life on my own. I felt abandoned by Cosmo, as well.”

“He liked being called Cosmo, calling him David really pissed him off.”

"You went to the bank, impersonated me, and drained my account. I was really devastated. I filed a police report, but you two were long gone. I think the police and bank thought I was just another Hippie and not worth much effort. I never expected or wanted to see you again. Now five years later you’re here.”

“I just hoped I could tell you in person before I get back home. Not sure anyone at home wants to see me, but they should know I am still alive. I will have to try to find a job, maybe some family will let me stay in their basement. I don’t suppose rolling doobies is a marketable skill, I am good at it. You are not going to call the police on me, are you?”

“No, you are having a lot tougher time than I am. If you are getting on with your trek you will need some clean clothes You can use my washer and dryer to get them clean again.”

“Thank you, can I help you tomorrow? Gene said you work very hard, maybe I can do a little payback for the food and clean clothes.”

“Gene my neighbor?”

“He said he lived about a mile away.”

“Glad you didn’t kill him and steal that beater truck of his.”

“He didn’t try to rape me.”

“No, he would never do anything like that, he is a very kind man. He never treated me like some three-eyed alien. He just treated me like any other neighbor. You see, I was the city girl, who probably was starting a Hippie Commune. Girls didn’t belong in this man’s world. It was the way some people treated me when I first came. Of course, my family has been here a long time, most people accept me, now as simply eccentric. You can work with me tomorrow and I will help you get a plan. Bring your pack and I’ll show you the washing machine. Put those in this bucket, we’ll soak them in this enzyme stuff. It cleans stuff even when dirty beyond recognition.”

Carol decided the clothes Bliss had on, should be in the bucket. She threw her a sweater and shorts she had folded in the laundry room. “May as well soak what you’re wearing. Put these on and let’s take a walk outside. I should show you the real beauty of being here.”

“The stars, so many of them. I haven’t seen such skies in a long time. A couple of times in a park in the mountains. Hey, a shooting star it was green.”

“Yes, I am always thrilled. When I came here as a kid, we would take an old blanket and lay out and watch the skies.”

“You grew up here?”

“No, this was just a summer visit to my grandparents. I am very much a city cousin as any of the locals will point out.”

“Carol, I didn’t think about having to stay here. I guess I envisioned just saying sorry and moving on. This place is so far away from an Interstate.”

“Bliss that makes it even better. I love the isolation. We share the same great mistake in common, let’s try to not make others. Tomorrow while you’re helping maybe we can plan a better way to get you home.”

“Hey there’s another one, very bright.”

“If only you could put them in your pocket.”

“My mother used to sing that song.”

They simply experienced the sky silently for a long spell lost in their own thoughts. The beauty of the earth and heavens was a common connection, their only human connection. Any words had ended with I am sorry, I was wrong. Carol thought on Bliss, as she enjoyed the night sky. She didn’t have much time for Bliss and very few thoughts.

“I am going back in it is getting cool. I need to sleep. You can sleep on the couch there are blankets folded over the arms.”

“Far better than most of my nights, lately. I am going to stay outside a while, maybe I can get one for my pocket.”

“Meteorites are very hot and rare. See you in the morning then.”

Carol came in; she put all the keys and her billfold in her bedroom. Sam followed her in and took his place on the floor. She also put a hall tree in front of the door. If Bliss did enter her bedroom in the night, she would have time to react. Sam had never proved to be much of a watch dog. Bliss you were very wrong, that is a fact. Sorry is the only communication we will ever have. Maybe, she was on a road to recovery, and maybe she was still a thief, con artist, and slut like she had been when Carol knew her.





photo James Martin Phelps