Short Story by Harrison Lowe

Previously, Bennie was on the road back to Oklahoma when he decided to make a short stop at the famous Navajo flea market. There, he renewed an acquaintance with Yvonne Manygoats, the lovely niece of Charley, the medicine man who recently performed the Ceremony. Not only did he make a short stop, he ended up staying another night.

As we continue the journey...

CAUTION: ROAD CONSTRUCTION. by Harrison Lowe

Early next morning, Bennie woke to the crowing of a rooster in the distance. He slowly peeked from under the covers. The room did not strike a familiar look that he could recall. Panning the room, he noticed the dirt floor and the log-roof ceiling. After another sound of the rooster, he got dressed and looked out the one window above the bed. Then there was a knock at the door. He scrambled to put his shoes on, then walked to the door and opened it. The lovely Yvonne was standing in the doorway with a tray of food. He couldn't help but notice her smile, it was brighter than the sun and almost mischievous.

Yvonne fluttered her eyes, "Can I come in?”

"Can I come in" struck a cord. Last night, just as he was about to fall asleep she had come to him with the same question in the same tone. Or did he just dream that she did? At any rate, Bennie gladly opened the door wider and she walked in with the food.

“I thought you'd like some breakfast before you get going today."

Bennie looked around the room, "Wouldn't you think the house is better for sitting and eating? I mean there isn't a table or chair in here."

"Yes. But I wanted to spend what little time we had together, alone." She laid the tray on the bed and went to the house and came back with a chair and little TV tray. She sat in the chair and Bennie sat on the bed and ate.

He asked about Charley, “What’s your uncle going to think about this?”

“He wants me to be content and happy.”

They talked and laughed. She suggested they do like at wedding receptions, and so he played along. Arms wrapped around at the elbow with fork and cake to each other's mouth.. After they finished eating, they both sat on the bed like two kids, legs hung over the edge.

Bennie cleared his throat, "About last night", but before he could finish, she quickly pressed her finger to his lips. Playfully, he opened his mouth as if to bite it. She giggled and said, "Let's let last night be."

"What do you mean, ‘let it be?’ I had this dream that...hey, did something happen?”

"I don't know. What do you think?" She is offended that something so wonderful could be compromised to a question, if it did or didn't happen. She stood up, wiped the toast crumbs to the floor. He is now confused like he might have said something wrong. She walked to the door, and turned, "Here’s a clue. Just like last night you got a little messy.” She tossed him a cloth napkin, and said, “Go wash yourself." and she stormed out of the Hogan.

Bennie is stunned. It finally dawns on him that last night wasn't a dream like he thought. Suddenly a devilish grin escapes him. The day now seems to have great powers to live for. He feels like he could climb Mt. Everest right then and there. He feels like Gene Kelly singing in the rain, he feels like Rocky Balboa, he swings his arms to the rhythm of the 1812 Overture, like a conductor. He decides to clean up as she suggested.

Bennie opened the door and took a deep breath of the new world, he gazed out to the landscape and beyond.

There were chickens near the door steps, a dog laying near the front door of the house. The rooster is standing atop the hood of an old abandon Chevy Impala coupe, flapping his wings. He looks like he has been in too many cock fights, but is ready to crow again. Bennie grins at the serene feel of the outdoors, and nods his head that this could be heaven for him.

He put his bag in his car. The dog finally gets up and ventures over to Bennie to sniff his jeans. Bennie thumps his nose and the dog backs away. Yvonne and Charley come out and assure him the dog is harmless.

"Well, Bennie. Get a good night's sleep?” asked Charley, like a doctor to a cured patient.

"Sure did and thank you for letting me stay the night.", said Bennie with delight. He takes Charley's hand and gives it a firm shake.

"It was nothing. You made it happen."

Bennie gives him a puzzled look like maybe he knows something. "It’s giving me a new outlook on life. Charley. I can't tell you what it feels like, almost like a new spirit has emerged from this ground I am standing on, like magic, you know"?

"You sound like those councilmen during election season", chuckled Charley and they both laugh. Yvonne stands back and listens in. The two shake hands again. Charley said there are some things he needs to finish up in his tool house and excused himself and left Yvonne and Bennie to themselves.

The two young adults stand a couple of yards apart, stealing looks at each other. A slight breeze brushes her hair across her face. He walked over to her and tenderly brushes back her hair.

She reaches into her pocket and gives him a piece of paper with her address and phone number on it.

"There's a note in there too, but don't open it till you're way down the road. Ok?"

She tells him about the problem with calling, says the reception is poor. So poor that she has to hang the cell phone on a tree branch in order to get good reception. Then she leads him to the tree branch she is speaking of. Something about the technique she describes almost makes him laugh. The more she describes how she ties the cell phone to the branch and points it in a certain direction, Bennie finds it difficult to contain himself. Soon they both break into laughter.

She tucks her hand in his back pocket and draws him closer to her. They stand still and look into each other’s eyes. She tugs again, "Hey Ben, give me something of yours to remember you by".

He thinks for a moment and points to the sky. "See the moon? How it is shaped now? It's a quarter and tilted down like it is pouring out something. My Grandmother told me that it's pouring out cold air. And that the nights will be cold. When it's like that, I will be thinking of you. How's that?”

"That's so sweet. I like that." She wraps her arms around his waist to savor the moment.

They hug and he gives her a small kiss on the lips. "I better get going", he says and pulls away.

He walks to his car, just before he opens the car door, he looks back to her but she is gone. He gets into the car and drives off.

As he drives down the rugged dirt road, his eyes get misty. He wipes his eyes with his shirtsleeve. Then he stops the car and takes a picture of the slight faded moon. He sits there for a long time before he starts the car again.

He comes to the flea market but it is empty. He walks the grounds for some time before he gets back on the freeway. He can see the faint moon following him as he turns east towards Albuquerque. He pulls into a gas station just east of Gallup and fills up.

The drive so far seems like he has been driving several hours but it's been just over an hour since he left Yvonne, he can’t get her out of his mind.

He is passing through Grants, New Mexico when ahead there is police roadblock and several cars and semi-trucks are pulled over. Officers with shotguns and K-9 inspect car after car. They have the truck drivers open their trailers, they are looking for something or someone. It comes Bennie's turn to show his I. D. and open his trunk. They say there are two escapees on the loose from the county jail, and they are armed and dangerous. That bit of information brings back horrible memories of his traumatic experience back in Oklahoma. Only this time he is glad that it is not for him to deal with. They wave Bennie through the roadblock.

Bennie looks back through his rear-view mirror and the flashing lights slowly disappear behind the horizon. Then he steps on the gas to make up time from the delay of the roadblock. Some thirty miles later the radio station begins to fade in and out. He slips in a cassette tape to pass the time to Albuquerque. It is near noon when he comes to the city limits. He decides to continue onward to Amarillo, Texas and calculates that it might be around 6 or 7p.m. when he gets there. Maybe get a hotel when he arrives he thinks. But before that happens, he fills up again. So just east of the city limits before the Sandia Mountain Pass, he stops to gas up. While he waits for the gas to fill up, he takes out the piece of paper Yvonne gave him. He is anxious to read what she has written besides the address and phone number.

She writes that it wasn't a coincidence that he came, it was her Uncle Charley’s medicine

that brought them together, and she finishes the note with, “I hope that you will be coming back soon, I will be waiting.”

That sends chills up Bennie's neck, to think that she would write something that they had no control over. He recalled during a brief break, at the Ceremony, that there were eerie moments, something about Charley that felt strong. Beenie told Charley he felt a presences standing behind him. He also remembered what his Grandmother told him when they were looking for a medicine man. Sometimes Medicine people use their powers for more than healing. Sometimes they abuse their powers. She said the ones to look out for are the young men learning the ways; they get distracted with worldly things. He thinks back, maybe it was Charley standing behind him when he finished the Ceremony. Charley could be in his early 50's. The thought that Charley would abuse his powers wrinkled Beenie's respect for Charley. But Bennie quickly put the thought out of his mind, "Impossible. He wouldn't do that, not with his niece and all. No!” Just then, the gas nozzle clicks to snap him out his tormenting thoughts.

Back on the road again, still his imagination running wild to the point it clouds his head and is ruining the good thoughts he had of Yvonne and Charley. He wishes he had never opened the note. He could burn the piece of paper and be rid of it, but he doesn’t want to lose her number or the address but then he doesn’t want to have the words she wrote on it. He tries to think of what he could do,. "But what?", he yells. Suddenly, an answer comes to him, he takes out his cell and dials.

His sister answers, “Hello, who is this?”

“Hey, Sis. It's Bennie, Listen. I need your help".

"Whoa!. It must be something important for you to call me. It's usually the other way around."

"Okay. You got me there. Just talk to me. Tell me what your day was like today, anything. Just talk my ears off like you do sometimes. Okay?"

"What's going on? You in some kinda trouble or what?"

“Don't ask questions. Just talk, Okay? At least till I can get my head back on straight. Do that for me. Please."

"That certainly is a strange request coming from you but OK.”

They talked for the next twenty minutes about this and that. Then Bennie feels he has calmed down enough that he can hang up.

He passed a sign that reads Oklahoma 236 miles.

TO BE CONTINUED- Bennie finale