All Aboard! Romance on Route 66

by Waggoner, Robert C.

  Once he could talk he said, through flakes of bun crusted lips, “Lilly I promise to cut back once we are settled in and I don’t have the temptation of places like this sucking me in with the good smells of food. I’m ready to turn over a new leaf and it will be sooner rather than later.”

  Lilly answered after wiping his chin of mustard, “Slim, you are one of a kind and I’m so happy we met. Without you I would be headed for home about now and with nothing to look forward to but a dark house and cold kitchen. We didn’t even have a cat to have around for company. I’ve never had a pet. I want a farm with lots of animals and things like that.”

  “Now you’re talkin girl. Same for me. Let’s get this show on the road and head for our dream life.” With that, Slim finished off his dogs and root beer and they walked to the trash can where Smokey the Bear was holding a sign for “Put your trash here.”

  All the passengers saw Slim head for the bus and slowly they made their way back to their seats and the ride to Lebanon.

  Chapter 13

  Slim was first to wake up at eight and made his way to the bathroom to a wake up shower. The ride from the Ozark National Forest to Lebanon was uneventful. Most of the passengers slept missing the lovely scenery of rolling hills and pockets of woods. Farms nesting here and there reminded Slim of a place he would like to live. Animals grazed the fields in the twilight of the evening as they passed by. The sun was mostly behind him and off to his left as the going was a little slow due to the narrow country road. Driving into town he noticed more traffic than usual for this town of about ten thousand. Probably from the accident he thought. From his earlier phone call to Greyhound they had confirmed reservations at a small motor lodge on the edge of town headed north. After signing in and getting settled Slim and Lilly laid down to a much needed rest and it was then that Lilly joined Slim in the shower.

  Lilly said, “I’m hungry are you?”

  “Honey I could eat a horse.”

  “No doubt about that, but how about a half a cow and some baked potatoes with vegetables?”

  “If you insist,” he said tongue in cheek.

  “Turn around and let me wash your back and you can do the same for me,” she said with a husky voice. She started with his back and finished above the thighs spending more time in the sensitive area than usual. Slim rinsed off and left the shower without an accident which surprised Lilly. She heard him whistling a tune and knew he was coming to a peak in anticipation of dinner.

  Thirty minutes later they sat in a small café not so far from their room. A few of the passengers were quietly eating and talking to their husbands or seat mates, be it wives or girlfriends. Rick and Diane were nowhere to be seen. Al and Sue were drinking coffee and eating pie; Jasper and Frieda were paying their bill and headed back to the motel as they both looked tired to Lilly. Herm and wife, Lilly noticed were not there either, but Hugh and wife were having a good time eating. Slim was pouring over the menu as he said he had only eaten here a few times and couldn’t remember what the place was like.

  Slim had his back to the door and heard someone crashing through the door and run up to their table. Lilly of course had seen him come through the door with a look that he was being chased by ghosts on his face. Rick started talking before he reached their table saying incoherent words spilling from his mouth. Briefly it reminded her of Slim trying to talk with half a hamburger in his mouth. Slim dropped his menu and looked at Rich at almost eye level and said, “Slow down Rick. What is the problem here?”

  “I can’t find Diane,” he almost screamed. By now the restaurant was deathly quiet. Even the cook and dishwasher had stuck their noses out the door in the kitchen to see what the ruckus was all about. “I woke up from a nap and she was gone and so was her bag,” he said a bit more quietly looking around and noticing he was the center of attention as everyone was staring at him.

  “Sit down,” Lilly said with authority, “and start from the beginning.” Rick sat down and Lilly gave him her water. Rick took a big gulp and sat it down and then he gave them the story. Seems like Diane was very depressed and the closer she got to Chicago the less she would talk about what would happen when she arrived.

  “Next thing I knew when I woke up, she was gone.”

  Slim said, “I will take Al and go find her. You stay here and let us handle this. I know she couldn’t have gone far and hope she isn’t trying to hitchhike as that is never an option for a young girl.” Slim nodded to Al and they both walked out the door with Slim telling Al the short story.

  They were in luck as walking down the street a police car drove slowly by staring at probably the tallest man he’d ever seen. Slim flagged him down and told him the story. Both Al and Slim got in, but Slim had a hard time fitting in the back, and once in they drove north to see if she was hitching a ride. “Tell me again the story guys,” the southern drawl was dripping off his chin like a baby eating ice cream.

  Slim said, “She is about seventeen and very depressed. She is going to her aunt's house in Chicago and then on to college; we think maybe this is her first time away from home and is homesick,”

  Al tossed in his part of the game by saying, “She had a fight with her boyfriend on the bus and maybe she decided to teach him a lesson.”

  The overweight policeman replied, “That will set them off all right and it is my experience she is probably just outside of town sitting waiting for us to come get her.”

  “We hope so, she is a good girl and not stupid to hitch a ride by herself; especially at night,” Al said with less conviction than he wanted. Slim sat staring out the window with a big knot in his stomach. If she hitched a ride, it would not look good on his record and if something happened to her, he wouldn’t forgive himself. He was responsible for his passengers and this event hastened his desire to hang up his driving boots and make his life with Lilly.

  Diane sat on her bag on the side of the road. She had tears running down her face and then she remembered Rick sleeping and her sudden decision to run away. I can’t face my parents, she thought while slipping out the motel door with her bag. It took her half an hour to lug her bag to where she sat now in the cool of the evening listening to night sounds and the occasional car passing by. Once a pickup truck slowed down and stopped. The driver, an old man with a week's old gray beard asked her, “Hey miss, this is not a good idea you being out here at night. Why don’t you come home to my house and my wife and I will feed you supper?” Diane thanked him but told him she was fine and the driver took off shaking his head. Tears ran like rain down her cheeks thinking about her mother back home in California happy she was going off to college like a grown up big girl who, she believed, the grown up responsibility to live away from home. Her mother was wonderful and never yelled at her or told her what to do. She was her friend and how she could leave home not telling her about the condition she was in, made her cry harder. Her mother will be crushed and then she will worry and after that want her to come home and have the baby. No way am I going back there to have this baby, she scolded herself for thinking those thoughts. If my aunt will let me stay at her house in Chicago, that I think is the best idea as a car approached slowly from town. It looked like the car was pulling over and she got a little scared for her safety.

  However, when she saw the silhouette of a very tall man with two others she breathed a sigh of relief knowing it was Slim. That identity was confirmed when she saw him slip off the side of the road and roll to the fence next to the highway and the voice of Al laughing asking Slim if he was ok. Slim told them never mind he was fine and to make sure Diane was safe and not injured or something worse he thought while using the fence to stand up. Slim made his way up the slight incline to the road while Diane gave Al a hug crying big tears sobbing on his shoulder while the policeman walked back to his car carrying her bag. Al took Diane back to the car and after she was in the backseat, Slim struggled to fit back into the seat next to Diane.

  The policeman turned around and headed back to town sayi
ng, “Miss, I must give you a little lecture as that is my job. You should know better than to be out after dark, alone on a highway that may or may not have someone with less than good intentions giving you a ride.”

  Diane, through the hiccups said, “I’m sorry Mr. Policeman, I know better but I just lost my reasoning for a while. I thank you for coming and you too Al and Slim. I promise not to do it again.” The car remained silent back to the motel where Diane went to her room with Al carrying her bag. Slim had excavated himself out of the back seat and was damn glad he was upright again. Riding in a car was not for him. Every joint ached along with his pride having fallen down the bank rolling to the fence. Slim thanked the policeman and offered to buy him a cup of coffee as Slim remembered he hadn’t eaten yet. He looked at the restaurant hoping Lilly was still there. The policeman said he would meet him across the street and yes he would love a cup of coffee and piece of pie.

  Firmly in place with a table in front of him Slim told the story to Lilly and Rick. Rick wasn’t interested and when he found out she was back at the motel, he took off like a bear was chasing him and he was nearly hit by a car crossing the street at a dead run. Slim said with a grin, “I think all will be fine now. I’m starved,” as he picked up the menu and then put it down looking towards the waitress who was gabbing to one of her friends at the counter. Lilly told him to relax and take it easy she would be over in a minute and the policeman, whose name was Tyler was talking about his town and the terrible accident earlier today.

  “You know folks, it seems once a year we have a car load of kids either killed or badly hurt in the summer time. Today was no exception and we here in Lebanon have to tell the parents about the accident. Well, never mind let me tell you something of our town and area.” Tyler told them the history of the town and the many small farms around the area. The people were friendly and like most small towns, in times of trouble band together and share what they have. Most are related one way or another and few outsiders come into our town and live. We love to have more people move here and as we are the county seat, we have a lot to offer in the way of cheap land and most of our food stuff we grow or raise right here in the county. Summer time we get lots of tourists flocking to the Ozarks and camping in the national forest. Route 66 has been good to us and now that the interstate will bypass us in the future, our town will probably not grow much.” Tyler sipped his coffee and hung his head. To Lilly he seemed like the kind of people she would like to live around. Slim was listening with half an ear and finally the waitress came over to take his order.

  Back in the motel room with Slim lying on the floor, Lilly was talking about what a nice town this was. “Slim, we need to find a town like this one and settle down and enjoy our days among caring people. California is not the place to live compared to this fine country. I can’t wait until we travel around after we get to Chicago and married.”

  Slim muttered his agreement and the next time she looked at him he was sound asleep. For once the swamp cooler was working good and not so noisy. Lilly took a shower and then curled up next to Slim and when she woke in the morning, she felt wonderful and refreshed. Slim was gone as usual checking on his precious bus she noticed. She had slept so soundly she never heard him take a shower as she saw his towel on the floor and water everywhere from his too tall body. She cleaned up his mess and got their things ready for another day’s journey up Route 66.

  After packing up she went out the door meeting Jasper and Frieda. They asked her to have breakfast with them and she readily agreed. Walking into the restaurant the smell of bacon cooking greeted their noses. Jasper took a deep sniff and smiled at the thought of bacon on his plate. He’d read that Missouri raised the finest tasting pigs in the country. If the smell was anything like the taste, he couldn’t agree with them more he thought.

  Lilly loved the small restaurant atmosphere. As she looked around her eyes took in all the people and the noises coming from all directions. At the counter two farmers by the looks of their coveralls and leather shoes with a light green color around the soles gave her a clue they were farmers having coffee and no doubt discussing the price of crops or animals leaving no question about the weather. The weather was always the topic of conversation as their livelihoods depended on the weather. Next to the farmers a woman dressed for an office job was jabbering a mile a minute to the waitress about who knows what. Maybe they were bad mouthing their husbands or kids or the job or something like that. On down the line a business man in a suit and a nicely dressed man in casual clothes, a shop keeper maybe, was reading the paper and having breakfast. The waitress named Mildred, as she heard customers saying her name calling for more coffee, obviously knew everyone here except the bus passengers. Conversation was flying around like a flock of crows and the sound was about the same.

  Lilly thoughts were broken by a young girl standing at their table waiting for their orders. Lilly quickly told her she wanted poached eggs and toast with a side of bacon. Jasper and Frieda thought that a good idea and told her they would have the same. Slim rang the door bells as usual and made it to the table without mishap for a change. Before he sat down he told the girl he would have bacon and eggs and make it a double please. Lilly kept her mouth shut and Slim gently, if you could call it gently, eased down onto his chair and thirty seconds later, had his legs in place sticking past both sides of Jasper. By now they were used to his height and made room for his long legs. He smiled and said good morning and sipped his coffee. Slim was polite and waited for the conversation to go around before he spoke up. Jasper asked him, “Slim where do we go from here and where do we stop for the night again?”

  Slim said, “Well, as our original schedule was upset by breakdowns and weather delays, we will just mosey on up the road and have lunch in Arlington and then spend the night in St. Louis. St. Louis is a really nice city and we will get in there early enough for us to spend a lot of daylight hours looking around at the sights.”

  “Sounds good to me and if it fits your schedule, maybe a stop by a nice creek or river along the way to stretch our legs would be nice sometime this morning,” Jasper said knowing that the trip was coming to an end and he wasn’t looking forward to the end coming at all. Slim noticed, looking around at the other passengers eating, all was rather quiet and somber. Lilly noticed that Slim was feeling their remorse of the trip ending soon. She wanted to tell him to not worry, but instead she spoke up telling them what a nice day it was for a ride up the state of Missouri and let’s be thankful we were spared the terrible accident yesterday. Just then breakfast arrived and Slim and Jasper sat up and took notice. The climate changed as the smell of bacon drifted into Slim’s long nose. He rubbed his hands and made ready to do battle with the plates in front of him. Lilly smiled to herself and daintily ate her breakfast like she was taught by her mother.

  Breakfast consumed, Slim looked around to Lilly’s plate to see if a morsel or two might be left for his still hungry lips. Alas, Lilly fooled him and had cleaned her plate. Then from under her napkin, she produced two pieces of toast and gave them to him. Slim dug into the strawberry jam jar and smacked his lips over the toast.

  Walking out the door Lilly noticed what a beautiful day it was in late summer. The sky was a hazy light blue with high cirrus clouds stretched across the sky like her mother making bread dough with a rolling pin. A soft wind was blowing and a few dust twisters, or dust devils ran down the street taking with it some left over paper. Walking across the street to the motel, Lilly held Slim’s arm and said, “Slim, we must do something to cheer up this crowd of passengers.”

  “I have an idea and let me see if I can figure out how to make it work. I will tell you later,” as they opened the motel door to get their bags ready for the next leg of the journey.

  At nine am they left behind Lebanon and traveling north. All of the passengers were quiet as a church after service on a Sunday. Slim felt responsible as this was supposed to be the trip of all trips for Greyhound. He’d called his boss before leav
ing and told him the story of his passengers feeling down in the dumps. His boss suggested that in St. Louis they take an extra day and he would have some media there for interviews about their experiences so far. Slim thought that an excellent idea and before he told the passengers he wanted to wait until the right opportunity. While he was on the phone, Lilly was getting ready to leave the motel room and Slim decided he would surprise her too.

  Crawling up the narrow road at thirty five miles an hour he had the mike in his hand describing the landscape and trying to raise the spirits of his clutch of friends. “Folks, we are in some of the loveliest terrain in America now. As you can see these rolling hills and small farms give us a picture post card on what America is all about. The backbone of America with some of the friendliest folks you will ever meet. Literally they would give you the shirt off their backs. I remembered one time some years ago with a full bus load of passengers in the dead of winter, all four drive wheels chained up and then having a front tire go flat. The road, as you can see is very narrow and I couldn’t pull off the road. I set out flares, but the traffic was almost nonexistent. Apparently a farmer not so far away saw the flares and came to investigate to my everlasting gratitude. The farmer and his two husky boys took one look and in no time they had changed my tire and we were off again. I tried to pay them, but they wouldn’t take any money only telling me that is what neighbors are for: to help someone in trouble. About a year later, I saw the farmer in Arlington. I was having breakfast and he came up to me and told me he was the farmer who helped me with the flat tire. I shook his hand and told him that Greyhound had been trying to find out his name and address so they could send a letter of thanks to him and his family for helping out in a time of need. He said, “Ah shucks, twernt nothin. Us’nes take it all in a day’s work.”