"Is that all? Travis, tell him about the boyfriend! About the drugs!"

"What is that about drugs, Ma'am?" the officer asked.

"Her boyfriend there is a drug dealer! Shouldn't you check him out?"

"I think we already have him on our radar. Is his name Vance Campraseti?"

"Yes, that's his name." Penelope replied.

"And he lives in Arlington?"

"Yes."

"We already have a warrant to search his home. We have had it for months, but we are waiting on the right time to use it. We want to be able to catch him with overwhelming evidence."

"Then you need to search his house now! His back room is stacked to the ceiling with stuff!" Penelope said. "I know! I just left his house this morning!"

"Then I'll let our investigators know that. Please don't say anything to him that would tip him off."

"Don't worry about that!"

The Deputy glanced toward Vance, as he pa.s.sed his truck, but Vance was slumped down in the seat, trying to keep a low profile. As he was pa.s.sing Bob's truck, he stopped and looked at Bob with an icy cold stare, which made Bob wonder what they had told him. As the Deputies backed their car out, Travis walked out to Bob's truck.

"Travis, what did you and Penelope tell that officer?"

"Something that you ought to be scared of, Bob, the truth!"

"Well, tell Penelope that if she should change her mind . . ."

"Just get the h.e.l.l off my property, Bob!"

He left without further comment. Vance also fired up his truck, and was backing out. He stopped and spoke to Travis.

"Thanks for getting rid of Bob, Travis! He said more than once that he was going to kill me!"

"It probably wouldn't be a waste of sh.e.l.ls! Don't let the gate hit you in the a.s.s as you leave!"

"I didn't see a gate as I came in."

"It's just an expression. It means, get your 'big d.i.c.k' off my property, and don't come back!"

He left without comment, no doubt relieved to be rid of Penelope.

As the circus came to an end, and the clowns departed, Travis just shook his head at the day's events, and it was only noon. He still had to go to work, and he did not intend for Penelope to be here when he got back. He returned to the porch, where he told Janice to bring him the phone, and the directory, but didn't tell her why. "And tell Penelope to come out here too."

"I don't think she wants to talk to you."

"Why not?"

"Because you're a man. She doesn't want to talk to any man right now!"

"Then I'll talk to her! Get her out here!"

"Travis, be nice to her! She's had a really bad day!"

"So have I, and it's not over yet! I don't want to see her here when I get back home tonight!"

Penelope heard her from the living room, and responded, as she came out on the porch. "But you said I could stay here!"

"Yes, until you could talk to Herbert about coming back home, but I think we know the answer to that already! There's no need in you staying here, and I intend to find you a place to go, before I leave for work!"

"You said you have a spare bedroom!"

"I know what I said, but that was before I knew the facts! We have six teenagers in this house, who thankfully, are not home right now! They don't need to be exposed to this mess, so you are leaving! Okay, so you're not staying here, you don't want to go back to Vance, or your Dad, and Herbert won't have you back, so do you have any other ideas?"

"No."

"Then I've got one. There are a lot of drug and alcohol treatment facilities in the state. If you go to a Church run facility, it won't cost you anything. I intend to find one for you!"

"I won't go!"

"You'll go, or be out on the street! Now, do you have any preferences?"

"If I have to go to a place like that, I don't want to be in one around here, because my Dad will find me!"

"Okay, is Gadsden far enough away? Here's a place run by an order of Nuns in the Catholic Church."

"I'm not Catholic!"

"You don't have to be! They take anyone! And we won't tell anyone where you are, so your Dad will never think to look there."

"How would I get there?"

"Janice can drive you there this afternoon, after I leave for work."

"I can?" Janice asked.

"Yes you can! Penelope, gather your things together, while I call them to let them know you're coming!"

She didn't seem happy about it, but she had no other option, and went to obey. After she was out of hearing, Janice asked him, "Do you think this is the right thing to do?"

"It's the only thing to do! Those nuns probably have experience in dealing with people like her. I just want her out of here."

"To be honest, I do too, but I don't want to throw her out."

"This isn't throwing her out. But it's the best we can do for her, without getting in any deeper involved than we already are."

"I know, and I agree with you. Okay, I'll need gas money to go to Gadsden."

An hour later, when Travis left for work, Janice and Penelope also left for Gadsden.

8.

Travis finished his job at work early that night, and persuaded his boss to let him out of the mine thirty minutes early. Actually, he was worried about Janice, and how things had gone on her 120-mile trip to carry Penelope to stay with the Good Sisters in Gadsden. He really didn't like for her to be out driving at night like that, because there were so many crazies out there these days. So he was anxious to call and see how things had gone. He was halfway afraid that after he had left for work, Penelope had changed her mind, and backed out of going, and would still be there at his house when he got there. That would be a nightmare. He was relieved to hear Janice's voice on the other end when he called, but her tone told him that she was very upset about something.

"Travis, I am so glad to hear your voice! I need you here, so I can cry on your shoulder!"

Almost afraid to ask, he did anyway. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, that woman! That's what's wrong!"

"You took her to Gadsden, didn't you?"

"I started out to, but she talked me into making a stop along the way!"

"Please tell me that you didn't take her to a liquor store!"

"No, not this time. I've learned better than that now. No, after we got on I-65, she told me that she had a friend who worked at Logan's Road House Restaurant, on Highway 280."

"By 'friend', she meant some guy, I suppose?"

"No, she said it was a woman she used to go to church with. She said she wanted to stop there to see if this woman still worked there, because she was sure that this woman would let her move in with her, instead of going to live with the Nuns."

"Didn't you insist that she go on to Gadsden? The Sisters were expecting her there."

"My mistake, so sue me! I figured that as long as she was out of my house and being helped, I didn't care where she went! So I got off the interstate onto 280, stopped to get gas, and then carried her on to Logan's Road House."

"You do know that Logan's has a bar?"

"I do now! She told me to wait in the car, while she went in to talk to her friend. So I sat and listened to the radio and waited, and waited, and waited! I figured that she was having a long, heart to heart talk with her friend. I tried to call my sister, but I couldn't find my cell phone! I knew I didn't leave it at home, because I distinctly remembered taking it to the car. And then I noticed that all the change was gone out of my ash tray! Penelope must have taken it while I was pumping gas! I had been waiting for 45 minutes, and now I was mad, so I went into Logan's to see what was keeping her, and to see if she had my cell phone. I walked around the dining area, and didn't see her. I made a pa.s.s through the bar, and didn't see her. I went into the ladies room, and didn't see her. I even checked in the kitchen, thinking that her friend might work in the kitchen, but she wasn't there either!"

"And by this time you were getting pretty mad, huh?"

"Oh, I was furious! I thought she had skipped out the other door, with my change, and my cell phone! I was thinking about calling AT&T and reporting my phone stolen, when I pa.s.sed by the bar again, and there she was! I hadn't noticed her before, because she had obviously gone to the ladies room and dolled herself up! I had to do a double-take! She looked like a cheap prost.i.tute! And she was at a table with some strange guy, just laughing and drinking like there was no tomorrow!"

"What did you do?"

"I kept my cool. I smiled and walked up to her, and told her that we needed to be going, if we were going to get to Gadsden by a decent hour. She laughed at me and cussed me out!"

"You're kidding?"

"No! She told me in no uncertain words that she was a grown woman, and that she wasn't going anywhere that she didn't want to go! And then she said some really ugly things to me, which I would not repeat, even to you! And then this guy she was with, who she had just picked up in the bar, invited me to go home with them and partic.i.p.ate in a 'threesome'!"

"You've got to be kidding?"

"Would I kid you about something like this, Travis? Do you think I could make up something like this?"

"So you declined his invitation?"

"OF COURSE I DID! Travis, don't toy with me! I was really upset and embarra.s.sed, and I still am! They were laughing and making crude jokes about me, and I just couldn't handle it!"

"What did you do?"

"I grabbed my cell phone off the table, and left crying! When I got to the car, I threw all her stuff out in the parking lot, and came back home! I cried all the way home!"

"I'm sorry, Janice, but I'm glad you're okay."

"Oh, I'm fine! Just terribly upset is all. Tell me, Travis, and be honest: Do I have 'stupid' written across my forehead, or something? I honestly believed that I was helping Penelope, and then she did me that way! Do I have 'fool' written across my face? Can people see that I am so nave that they can take advantage of me that way?"

"No, Janice. You are a kind, helpful person. You go out of your way to try to help someone in trouble, no matter who it is! That's not a fault, it's a virtue, and it's one of the things I love about you! It's one of the many things I love about you! I may joke about you, but I admire the way you try to help people. If Penelope took advantage of your helpfulness and used you, it's not your fault, it's hers. She's the one who has 'fool' written across her forehead, because she doesn't recognize a friend when she sees one. So just chalk this up as a lesson learned, and go on. If she calls you later, wanting you to help her again, just remind her of what she did to you this time, and say 'no'."

"Well, we can't really blame her, because she has apparently been abused by everyone she knows, even her own father."

"Yes, we can blame her! We gave her the opportunity to prosecute her Dad, and she declined to do it! She wants to stay a victim!"

"But that's all she knows!"

"Then she can live with it! When she refuses help, and takes advantage of good people who try to help her, it's time to move on and help someone else. Someone who will appreciate your help. Now, what was the name of this guy at Logan's who made this indecent proposal to you? I need to pay him a friendly visit!"

"No, Travis! You don't need to go beat him up!"

"I said a 'friendly' visit!"

"I know how your 'friendly' visits go! No, it was my fault, because I was somewhere I shouldn't have been!"

"And he said something he shouldn't have said."

"I don't know the guy's name, or where he lives, Travis, so just let it go. Okay?"

"Did you check your cell phone? She may have left a number on there."

"Yeah, she called twenty different numbers, but I already deleted them! Just let it go, Travis! If Penelope calls me again, I'll give her a piece of my mind! I might even use some ugly words!"

"No you won't! I know you! You're too nice for that."

"Travis, thanks for calling. I needed to hear your voice. I love you so much! Everything seems better after I talk to you!"

"I love you too. I'll be home shortly, after I shower and do my paperwork."

"Would it be out of your way to stop by a store somewhere and get a gallon of milk, and the ingredients to make pizzas. The kids will be home tomorrow."

"I can stop at Wal-Mart in Bessemer. It's probably the only place that will be open at this hour."