Top was down on my 54 Olds, but that wasn't making it no cooler. Air conditionin's broke too, so that didn't help none. I was setting there, one arm on the door, motor idling -- all set to roll. "OK Mama, I better get going, Lawrence probably rolls up the carpet at sundown. And I got me over two hundred mile to get there." Mama gave me a kiss, and Daddy shook my hand.

    "I'll write, soons I can." I yelled as I gunned it and headed out the driveway. I looked back in the mirror, and they was just standing there in front of the house, if Daddy'd had a pitchfork it would have looked like that American Gothic picture.

    I checked the glove compartment, to make sure I got the $5,000 that Daddy gave me to cover me until I could find work -- half of what he saved away for seed. Reckon they'll have to get a good price for the crop, even then they'll have to scrimp some more to plant come spring. Heading up the road, I took one last look at that hot dusty field, at the old International tractor which about wore my butt off year after year. Me, I was heading for success.

#

    When I got the acceptance letter in the mail from The University of Kansas -- the one that said I was enrolled in their agricultural program -- that made Mama smile, Daddy was happy too, because if I got me some learning, I could make the farm productive.

    The Brochures that come with the letter said: 'The University of Kansas is a major educational and research institution with more than 28,000 students and 1,900 faculty members.' Then it went on about the main campus in Lawerence, and about their agricultural program. I even got me one of them red Jayhawk decals, I stuck it on the windshield, down low over on the right hand side.

#

    The radio was on loud, so I could hear the music over the wind that was whipping my hair about. I was just singing along with the songs like some damn fool, all set with my big plans. But when I got to US-54, I headed South to State Route 5. I was hoping to make Oaklahoma City by nighttime.

    Then I started to think about the letter and the brochures; all lies damn me. I guess I first got the idea, sitting up on that damn tractor; bouncing all over the place, sweat running down into my eyes, making streaks in the dust on my face.

    I had took a creative writing class for my elective in the senior year of high school, an I done some research in the school library on writing acceptance letters. Damn, I even found samples that was almost exactly what I needed, it's amazing how good looking a letter you can write if the school computers is hooked up to a good printer.

    I sent off to the University of Kansas for the brochures to make it look real good, an here I was starting off with nothing but lies, but it set me free. The only truth I told Mama and Daddy was 'I'm gonna write, soon's I can.'

#

    I had it all figured out, I was going to Hollywood. Now I ain't no stupid wet behind the ear pretty boy. I knew I didn't stand no chance on acting. My sights was set on bigger fish, I figured to be a director.

    First got that idea when Uncle Walter visited us back a year ago. He brought along his video camera and he let me use it -- tickled him real good how I was filming this, filming that. Mostly round the farm, and it was good stuff too. Other times up in Eldon, I'd get folks to say some lines. Everbody said I was good, and they was right.

    OK, so I didn't actually have no video camera yet, but I had me a plan. I got me a old Royal typewriter over at the local antique mall and I had stashed it in the trunk of the Olds, behind my box of clothes.

    I figured to do some freelance writing on the way to Hollywood. Over 2,000 mile on the road, just take my time, bound to get some inspiration -- an I got straight A's in creative writing. So, what I planned to do was to think up stories as I was driving along the road all day. Then at night when I stopped to rest, I would write em up with the Royal and mail em off.

    Wandering Hearts Magazine pays ten cent a word, and I figured by the time I reached Hollywood I'd of written maybe a hundred thousand words -- worth $10,000 if I sold all of em. I'd put my Daddy's name as the one to make the checks out to, an I'd put his address on the stamped envelopes. I figured before long the checks would start rolling in, and by the time Daddy figured out that I wasn't at Kansas U, he could see the wisdom of what I done, and he'd get his $5,000 back, even more. He would sure be surprised.

    Same time, I would start on a screenplay; pick up a video camera, and film a rough of the screenplay for the producers to see when I got there to Hollywood. I figured they would at least buy the story, maybe let me direct it. No telling what that could bring.

#

    First day I thought up me a good story as I was driving along. Wind in my face reminded me of a tornado, so thats what I come up with.

    There was this little farm town and the bank had everybody's money -- mortgages, seed loans, that sorta thing -- farm folks hurting. So, the way I thought it up, this bank gets robbed and the bank manager gets shot -- justice for the people. But these robbers, they was bad, so as they is making their getaway, along come this tornado. Swooped em up high in the air, car going round and round, robbers screaming their guts out. And then, their car rips apart, an all that money come floating back down out of the sky -- right back to the farm folks.

    I typed that up in the Motel 6 that night and mailed it off the next day.

#

    So there I was, heading west on I-44 towards Amarillo, just thinking up my next story when I seen her. She had sandy colored hair, an was wearin' a white dress with all kinds of flowers on it. From what I could see, there wasn't much under the dress except her.

    She was sitting on this blue suitcase along side the road, holding up her thumb. Well, I drove on by, minding my own business, but then I got to thinking. Out here all alone, she might not have real good luck with somebody else -- so I turned around and went back.

    "Hey!" I said, "Looking for a ride?"

    "Hey to you too," she looked at me, giving me the eye, "you look OK, sure I would like a ride." She threw her suitcase in the back seat and got in. "Name's Bella -- Annabele." She held out her hand and I shook it.

    "Sean Bradford." I said as I pulled back onto the highway. "Where you headed?"

    "Nowhere special, just this way." She waved her hand up the highway. We drove on for a minute or two then she pointed up ahead and said "Oh, there he is. That's my boyfriend, we had car trouble. Stop and get him. OK?"

    I looked up the road, an I seen him, standing there just waiting, so I nodded my head, and I started to slow down. But then I took a good look, an just sticking out behind his leg, I could see the end of a lug wrench.

    The way he was holding it gave me a bad feeling, so I goosed the Olds, and we went flying on by. I heard him yell "Bella!" as we roared outa sight. Last thing I saw in the mirror, he flung the lug wrench down on the road and it bounced back up and nearly hit him.

    Now I figured to let Bella out, maybe half a mile up the road, expecting she'd be pissed at me. But she let out this whoop, and said "Keep on going!" Then she started to laugh.

    By now whatever story I had thought up was gone, and all I could think of was getting my heart slowed back down. I looked over at her with a questioning look on my face.

    She looked at me. "He isn't my boyfriend, he's my brother. And this was almost his car." She patted the seat. Then she looked me in the eye, "He wouldn't have hurt you though, he just wants a car."

    Well that didn't clear things up too much, so she went on to explain, and I figured I had my next story.

#

    Bella and her brother Judd was living with their Mama on a small farm here in Oaklahoma. Their Daddy had died, and the farm was gone to weeds. But Bella's Mama was gettin' along on a welfare check, enough to pay the rent to the bank that owned the farm. But when her Mama up and died, the bank told em to leave when the rent checks stopped coming.

    Before Bella's Mama had died, she told Judd to watch out for his sister, and according to Bella, he done way more than that -- more than was right. So for the last couple of weeks, they was out doing whatever they could to survive. Then Judd decided they was gonna steal a car an head west, maybe to Los Angeles. Bella wasn't happy with all this, but she needed Judd, because he was all that was between her and an empty stomach.

    Now I come along, and I guess I looked better to her. Anyway, she told me she was real glad I come along, and that I had figured Judd out. She said she was afraid that if she told me what Judd was going to do, I would have put her out of the car, and then Judd would of got real mad at her.

#

    That night, we stopped at another Motel 6, and it turned out Bella could type even faster than me. And she could spell lots better too. So, I told her the story the way I figured it out, changing the names and such, and she typed it directly as I talked. I'd like to say that there was more than typing that went on, but I could tell that Bella wasn't of the notion, so I just left her alone, and nothing else happened.

    In the morning, we stopped at a Hardee's on the interstate and had breakfast. We was just laughing and talking like we knowed each other for years. Bella liked my plan for writing and we decided to pool our resources and go on to Hollywood together.

    Then we looked out the window as this motorcycle -- a big Harley -- pulled up next to my Olds and stopped. Bella's eyes got real wide and she said "Ohmygosh, that's Judd!" Sure enough, and he was looking the Olds over real good. Then he reached in the back and got Bella's suitcase and put it on the Harley. Then he started over to the front door of the Hardee's. I gotta admit, he didn't look that big the first time I saw him.

    When he was coming in the front door, we was already out the back. We hightailed it over to the Harley, and Bella grabbed her suitcase while I cut the sparkplug wires with my pocketknife. Then, just to be sure, I pushed the Harley over on its side.

    "Hey!" Judd yelled, and come running across the parking lot. But the Olds started on the first turn of the key, and we slung gravel all over the parking lot.

#

    Next couple of weeks, we spent a lot of time just driving the side roads. I wasn't in no hurry, I had a lot of writing to do before I got to Hollywood. Besides, we figured Judd would be out on the highway looking for us, so we would just lay low.

    Me and Bella hit it off real good, we made a good team. And man she really could make that old Royal fly. I'd just let my imagination run wild, all day long, and we musta drove every back road in Oaklahoma. Then at night, we would pull into a field, or into some woods. Before the sun went down, I would tell Bella my story, and she would type it up. Then we would sleep in the car with the top down.

    Finally we got on over to Amarillo, and I bought me a second hand video camera. I hadn't thought much about my screenplay, but I figured I better get to working on it. Every day we would cover some more back roads and Bella would just film everything she saw. I just kept on thinking out my stories, and trying to get my angle on the screenplay. I looked at Bella, and thought about all the stories I had wrote, and I thought 'Lordy things couldn't have gone much better.

#

    We was maybe fifty sixty mile outside of Albuquerque, Bella was playing with the video camera, an I was deep in my thoughts when I heard the sound of a Harley motor, sounding all lopsided like they do. I didn't think much on it cause there was lots of Harleys out here on the road, so I pulled over a little to let it go by. But, as it come up on my rear fender, the Harley come to life, letting out this roar, an my side mirror busted all over the place. Bits and pieces was flying everywhere.

    Bella screamed as Judd roared by, and she dropped the video camera over the side. My heart got to pounding like crazy while I was gathering my thoughts back into my head. Then before you knowed it, here come Judd back the other way. Bella yelled "Ram him!" and I was thinking 'not a Harley, maybe one of them Japanese motorcycles, but the Harley was half as big as the Olds.'

    When Judd got closer, I could see he had a shotgun pointed at us. I yelled "Duck!" and I got down low, trying to steer straight. Two blasts of the shotgun blew the hood off, and it went right on up over the top of the windshield, hinges just popped loose. I could see it in the rear view mirror, sliding down the highway behind us as Judd turned around again. Then all kinds of steam and water come up over the windshield, and the motor started clanking something awful -- but we was still moving.

    Then the steering got real wobbley, and it was all I could do to keep it on the road. Bella was all screaming and shouting, then she jumped over the seat into the back. Judd was coming up again, taking a good look at us. I guess he was gonna come along side, maybe shoot me, I don't know.

    Then as he got beside us, I seen Bella stand up in the back seat, and she was holding the Royal over her head. All my papers that was under it went flying out all over the highway, and she just chunked the Royal down on Judd. I heard this loud crash, and the Harley went whipping around and run off the road between two trees. A big cloud of dust come drifting out of the trees, and I seen what was left of the Royal just go bumping on down the road, bits and pieces flying every which way.

    I was able to keep the Olds going for about four mile before it give out. Smoke come pouring out of the oil filler, and steam come out of the radiator. I tried starting it again, but it wouldn't even turn over. The motor was froze solid. We just pushed it off the road over behind some sagebrush. I opened the trunk, and put some of my clothes into Bella's suitcase, then Bella saw my toolbox and she took a screwdriver out and took off the license plate. I just looked at her.

#

    Well, I guess Bella knowed what she was doing, because before long we come to a house. Over at the side of the house was a 55 Cadillac, just waiting for us.

    Bella took out a coathanger from her suitcase, and opened the door. Then she took out a safety pin from her purse, and before you could say it, we was driving down the road in that Cadillac.

    She had me pull over at a rest stop, and she took the license plate from the Olds and wired it over the Cadillac's plate with the coathanger. "They won't be looking for this license plate." She said.

    That night, we stopped at another Motel 6. Bella fell asleep right off, but me I just laid there with all kind of thoughts running around my head. Was Judd dead? That old Royal had my fingerprints and Bella's all over the keys. All my papers all over the road, what was on them? I couldn't remember if my name was on them or not. Finally, with the sun about to come up, I got to sleep.

    The banging on the door was what woke me up. I yawned, and looked at my wristwatch. Then everything come back to me -- Just as Bella woke up with a lungfull of screams. I was trying to think what to do now, when Judd decided it for me.

    The door come crashing open, and there was Judd, his face looked like ... well it looked like it had been hit with a old Royal typewriter. He was holding the license plate up and grinning through busted teeth, he said "This is your'n, and she's mine!"

    He took one big punch at me and Bella screamed at the top of her lungs. I went crashing down, blood coming out my mouth and things started going black. The last thing I saw was Judd grabbing Bella by the arm and dragging her on out the door kicking and screaming.

    I was just getting my head clear, and getting myself back to my feet, when I heard the Cadillac go screeching out the driveway. I just stood there in the doorway as people come out of their rooms to see what had happened, then I went back in and put my boots on.

#

    I found Judd's Harley back behind the motel, covered up with a canvas. It had a big dent in the gas tank, and the fenders was all crooked, but it looked like it was all there. So I jumped up on it and give the starter a kick. It fired right up, and I went roaring on out the driveway. I didn't know what I was gonna do, but I owed Bella something. I looked at the tire marks the Cadillac had made, and I turned to follow in the direction they went.

    I followed the highway for about five miles, when up ahead, I seen a bunch of flashing lights. All kinds of New Mexico State Police cars got the road near blocked completly off. So I slowed down, not knowing whether the Harley was registered or not.

    As I got up to the police cars, I could see the Cadillac, it had been run off the road, and a policeman was crouched down, holding a gun with both hands, pointed at Judd's head. Judd and Bella was both sitting there with their hands in the air, Bella's face was beet red and all wet from crying, but I could see sort of a smile when she saw me pull up. She didn't take no notice of me though, and there was damn sure nothing I could do, so I just asked one of the policemen directing traffic what was going on. He said they had apprehended some stolen car suspects and he told me to move on, so I did.

#

    I rode on down the road, maybe five mile or so and I parked back behind a Union 76. I went into the bathroom and scrubbed the blood off my mouth and checked for loose teeth, but there wasn't none. I checked my wallet, and there was about eighty bucks in it, the rest was locked in the glove compartment of the Olds. I had plumb forgot about it in all the excitement.

    So all my plans was scattered up and down the highway, Bella was gone, and I was about out of money. Besides that, I was probably in possession of a stolen motorcycle. I decided I best get back to the Olds afore they found it, and get my money back out of the glove compartment. So I turned around and headed back the way I come. When I got back to where the police had stopped Judd and Bella, they was gone. There was only one police car left and the Cadillac was being hooked up to a tow truck. By the time I got back to the Olds, there was another police car, and they was towing the Olds out from behind the sagebrush, so I just rode on by real slow like.

    With all that had happened, it would seem that I might have me another story, but by now I was just about storied out. All I could think was 'Lordy I got myself too far away from the farm!' So just like that, I decided to git on home.

    Maybe some of the money from the stories was coming in by now, and everything would be all right. I checked the license plate of the Harley, and the tags was current, but it was still probably stolen, so I decided to travel by night.

#

    The two days it took me to git home, I had lots of time to think. I figured that Judd was alive, so they wasn't gonna bother fingerprinting no Royal; and all the papers -- that would just be littering; didn't know what they would think about the Olds. But they caught Judd driving a stolen car, and Bella's fingerprints was probably all over it too, so they's probably going to jail. And if I got caught with the Harley, I would probably go to jail too.

    By the time I got back to the farm, I was sweating bullets. It was nighttime when I rode the Harley up onto the birm around the pond. I pushed it on in and watched while it sunk down into the mud. Then I went to the barn and laid down in some straw to sleep. No point waking Mama and Daddy up this time of the night, I'd explain it all in the morning.

#

    The sun was shining on my face all nice and warm like. I rolled over on my back and stretched. When I pushed the pitchfork over with a crash, I sit up and looked around to the barn. Best sleeping I had done in three days and I plumb forgot where I was. I got myself up and went on over to the corner of the barn and took a piss, then I wiped my hands on some straw and decided it was time to go face the music.

    I walked around to the front of the house, and I climbed up the steps to the porch. I knocked, and waited a few minutes. Then I knocked again; I noticed that it was awfully quiet, Daddy usually has the farm and weather station going on the radio. Maybe it was Sunday and they had gone to church -- I wasn't even sure any more what day it was. I waited almost five minutes, and then I tried the door. The door wasn't locked so I went on in "It's me, Sean!" I yelled so I wouldn't surprise em.

    That was when I noticed the front room furniture was gone. I just looked around at the bare walls and I felt sorta lost. I went on into Mama and Daddy's room and it was empty too. Then I run upstairs to my room, and my stuff was still there. Whole house was like that, empty. I went on into the kitchen, and all the drawers was empty. I opened the icebox, and it was running. There was a slab of grits there, so I grabbed it and bit off a hunk. Then I saw the shoebox on the counter top, with a note on top.

    'Sean:

    'Me and your Mama are gone. We worked real hard to make this farm something for you. But now that we know what you done, well it's up to you to keep it if you want.

    'When we started getting those letters from Wandering Hearts magazine, your Mama got to wondering about you at college. So she called, and found out that you wasn't enrolled. But I guess you already know that!

    'Your letters are all here, in the box. We left the farm, and your room for you, we sold everything else. All our love and all our thoughts is to the road ahead. We bought a motor home and you will never see us again.

    'My only hope is that you come back, and see this note and what you done before the house falls to dust.'

    That was all Daddy wrote. I opened the box, and there was about thirty rejection letters from Wandering Hearts magazine. And under all the letters there was this payment booklet for the mortgage that Daddy had taken out to buy the motor home.

    Right then, all my lies come down on top of me and I just sit on the floor and bawled like a baby. After a while I just stopped, and I got myself up and made myself walk around the farm. The old International tractor was right where I had last seen it and I just climbed up on it for a spell. I went to start it, but the battery just cranked once and died.

#

    I didn't do much the next week, I took the farm truck into town and got some groceries, but I wasn't very hungry. All the animals was gone, and the crops wasn't looking too good. Then one day, I checked the mailbox, and I about fell down on my butt. There was the usual junk mail, and a electric bill that said 'past due', but there was three letters from Wandering Hearts magazine, and they wasn't no self addressed letters neither.

    Well, I couldn't wait to get to the house to read the letters -- don't know why I needed to wait, but that's how it went. I ran into the house, and opened the letters and all three was contracts for some of my stories. I let out a whoop, and I went running around the house like a wild indian. The next three weeks, letters come every day, and I had me enough money to pay the mortgage, even enough to pay the electric bill.

    Then the letters stopped, because that was all the stories I had wrote. So I figured that I better get back to work doing some more writing. But try as I could, I just couldn't get no ideas. So just like that, it looked like my writing career was done.

#

    I was sleeping, in my own bed, which even now felt better than anywhere I had slept for the past three months. It was morning -- about ten o'clock -- and I hear this banging on the front door. I got up, and I got dressed, then I went and opened the door.

    It was Bella and lordy she looked good. She yelled "Sean" and I yelled "Bella" and we was just giving each other bear hugs.

    "I kept your address when I was helping you write those stories" she said, "just in case we got separated."

    She filled me in on what had happened. They had arrested her and Judd, charged them with car theft. They didn't have no bail, so they was kept in jail until the trial. Judd did the first good thing I heard of him doing, and he took the blame for stealing the car. So he went to prison for two years, and they let Bella go. Bella took the Greyhound, and come down here to look me up. And I was glad she did.

    Well, that was the spark that got me writing again, and I borrowed another typewriter. We was back in business. So for the next two years, we made enough money writing to keep the farm, and we was even thinking about getting married.

#

    Then one afternoon, there come a knock on the front door. Bella was in the kitchen, so I put down my proofreading, and I went to the door. I opened the door, and that broken toothed grin made me think about the shotgun that was hanging over the fireplace, and how far away it was.

    "Sean? It's me, Judd -- Bella's brother. I come to see you."

    I just stood there, slack-jawed, not knowing whether to run or to fight. Judd just looked at me, a twitch in his jaw. Then Bella made the decision, she grabbed the shotgun and said

    "Move over a little Sean, so I can get a real good aim."

    Judd looked at her and said "Now Bella honey, I ain't come to cause trouble. I just want to see my little sister."

    Bella just looked real cold at him and said "Judd, I ain't Bella honey to you. And I ain't never paid you back for the things you done to me. So, if you got any beliefs in you, you better get down on you knees and make your peace, and you ain't got much time to do it." She pulled the hammer back on the shotgun.

    I would have expected Judd to plead or something, but he said "Bella, I know what I done was wrong. And I know you got the right to even things up. But what I done to you, wasn't nothing like they done to me up in that prison. They done more to me than you can ever do with that shotgun, so if that is what you want to do, go ahead. But before you do, I gotta say I'm sorry for what I done, and I know first hand what you went through." Then Judd closed his eyes, and there was tears in the corners of em.

    Bella thought for a minute, then she lowered the shotgun. "What you come here for then Judd?"

    "I met a fella in prison, we got to be friends. He's getting out in a month, and he wants me to come out to California with him. He has some money saved up, and he wants to open a bar. I was just gonna gather up my belongings and get ready to go out there with him."

    Bella said "So?"

    "Last I saw, Sean here had my Harley, I just want it back. I won it in a poker game right after Sean picked you up. It's the only thing I ever owned outright, and I figure to sell it to help pay my share of the bar."

    That was the first time I had thought of the Harley since I sunk it in the pond. "Might need some fixing up." I said to Judd.

#

    Well Judd and me pulled what was left of the Harley out of the pond. Then we loaded it up into the back of the old farm truck that Daddy had left behind, and I signed the truck over to Judd, which settled us up even.

    "Don't see how you're going to fix it up." I said to Judd.

    "I'll think of something to do with this old rusty hog." Judd said and he drive off.

The End

    Copyright 1999 -- Ian Bradford Lyonn -- all rights reserved