by JM Addison
*
In the early morning, Mara awoke and stretched. Her joints protested in agony. The jarring from the crash left her pretty sore. She had to find a place to clean up, dress her wounds and get something to drink. Her sleep was fitful in spite of her exhaustion. Although sheltered from the cold, the hay did not provide much warmth, especially with her wet and bloodstained clothes. She climbed down the ladder and was surprised to find a boy tending to the farm animals. She must have really surprised him because he dropped the shovel he had been carrying and took a little jump back. He starred at her with his mouth open. She guessed he was probably around 13 or so, probably out doing chores before school. She realized that she must be quite a sight – blood matted into her hair. Wet and stained clothes.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” Mara began, “but I need a little help…” The boy simply turned and ran from the barn. That went over well. Now what? She followed the path the boy had taken and in the dawn light caught a glimpse of him entering the house just across the yard. She approached the house and as she drew closer a woman, probably the boy’s mother, came out. She didn’t say anything to Mara, just looked.
Mara began again, “Excuse me…”
The woman cut her off, “Look, I don’t know who you are and you look like you could use some help, but I don’t know about letting you in here. I would be happy to call the police or an ambulance or something if you like.”
“I understand I look like quite a fright, but I was run off the road and spent the night in the woods,” she lied. “I’ve got broken glass from the car window stuck in a few spots, a cut in my head from the door frame of the car and I’m tired, wet and hungry. An ambulance sounds nice, but I don’t think it is really necessary. If I could just wash, get into something dry and get some food I would really appreciate it.” After a slight hesitation, she added, “I could pay you…”
Apparently her story was believed for the woman invited her in. “There’s a bathroom down that hall. I don’t know if we have any clothes for you, but I could loan a robe so you can get out of your wet things.”
Mara was grateful for anything at this point. She accepted the offer of the robe and turned to go into the bathroom. The woman seemed to soften a bit and said, “My name is Sally by the way.” She had an easy smile, long dirty blond hair and was slightly overweight. Mara guessed her to be in her late thirties.
Mara hesitated to give her name for a moment but then extended her hand and simply said “Mara.”
Sally showed her where some of the first aid supplies were and left Mara to shower and dress her cuts. Getting the fragments of glass out of her side was quite painful and she couldn’t suppress an occasional yelp. She didn’t have a brush in her purse so, after showering, she wasn’t sure what to do with her wet hair. She tried her best to run her fingers through it to straighten it. It was pretty painful where she banged and cut her head.
The bathrobe was actually pretty funny. Two of her could have been covered by its girth. She sort of wound the excess material around her and tied the belt.
Looking in the mirror, she could hardly recognize the image. Dark circles under her eyes, cheek and eye bruised and slightly puffy. Her lip looked a lot better but her hair didn’t turn out right. However, anything was an improvement. As she finished she thought she could overhear Sally talking to someone. As she emerged from the bathroom, Sally was just hanging up the phone.
‘Great’, Mara thought, ‘who was she talking to on the phone’? The more people learned about her, the more likely she would be discovered by the people who were after her.
Sally had some breakfast set out on the table for Mara. She didn’t particularly care for oatmeal, but it was hot and with maple syrup mixed in, it wasn’t bad. Mara greedily ate and finished her orange juice. Sally came out of a hallway that apparently led to the rest of the house and said, “I got your clothes washing. I hope the use of the water didn’t affect your shower any. I wanted to get your clothes in the dryer as soon as possible.”
Mara wondered about Sally’s last name. She knew the names of most of the families around here and would probably recognize the name of this family, but she didn’t want to be put in a position to reveal her last name to Sally. The less said the better. She got her purse and fumbled through for some money.
“Hey listen…” Sally began, “forget what I said earlier, it’s just that you can’t really trust people these days. You look like you could really use some help and I’m glad to do whatever I can. You don’t need to leave me any money.”
“Oh!, I really appreciate all that you’ve done. I feel so much better. But… I want to use your phone to make a couple of calls and one of the calls is to Massachusetts. I insist on at least paying for the cost of the phone call.”
Mara pulled out a five and simply laid it on the table. After a brief hesitation, Sally responded, “Sure, the phone’s right there.” She indicated a phone on the wall in the kitchen.
“Do you know where my coat went too?” Mara asked. “It’s have the number I need in one of the pockets.”
Sally got it from a hanger in the hallway where she hung it to dry and brought it to Mara. Then Mara dug through the pockets and pulled out the business card Dell gave here along with a key. She had forgotten that the emergency key from her mother’s porch was in her hand as she was surrounded by the thugs yesterday. She must have slipped the key into her coat pocket and never realized it..
It was a little after eight so she figured it would be a good time to try to reach Dell, so she called the number on the card. After a second ring, a female voice answered, “Bedford Police Department, how can I help you?”
“Hi, could I speak with Detective Taylor please?” Mara asked.
“I’m sorry, detective Taylor is not available right now, can someone else help you or I would be happy to take a message?”
“Actually, I would be happy to hold until he can take my call.” Mara persisted.
“To be honest, he isn’t in yet. Could I have your name and I will have him get back to you as soon as he arrives?”
“Oh. This is Mara Chandler, but I’m not at home. I’ll try again a little later.” She abruptly hung up the phone. She wasn’t sure what to do. She was hoping to get a little help from someone. She felt uncomfortable hanging around here and imposing on the hospitality of Sally and her family. She went back and sat at the table and finished off the last bit of her breakfast.
