Just Past Oysterville: Shoalwater Book One Read Online Free PDF Page B

morning, Cassie turned west again,
crossing the featureless plain in a mile-eating gait that warmed
her quickly. Her watch read eight o'clock when the sun and the
hiking had been enough that she stopped to remove her jacket.
    She considered unrolling her sleeping bag to
dry, but decided to wait until she was tired enough to need the
rest.

    *

    By ten, Cassie had skirted the town of
Willcox. Finding her way back to Interstate 10, she topped a rise
and saw, a half-mile up the road, a small gas station and grocery
store. Stepping off the highway and behind a cluster of brush, she
unlaced one of her hiking boots. From the back of the boot, just
above her heel, she removed a plastic sandwich bag filled with
cash. Cassie had read a story in junior high about an old hobo who
befriended a young boy while riding the rails. The hobo, wise to
life on the road, told the boy to always split up his money,
keeping a few dollars in his pocket and the balance divided and
hidden in his shoes. This way, if robbed, chances were that you
wouldn’t lose all your money. This had seemed like sound reasoning
to Cassie, as well as adding a little spice to the adventure. Now,
however, after removing a ten-dollar bill and replacing her insole,
she felt a little foolish, teetering as she laced up her boot,
hiding behind a bush in the middle of the empty desert.
    With cash in her pocket, Cassie hiked to the
little market where she bought a loaf of bread, a package of
bologna, and a couple of candy bars. She stopped at the hotdog bar
and slipped a handful of mustard packets into the pocket of her
shirt. The cashier didn't notice. After she had paid for her
groceries, the old man behind the counter directed her around to
the back of the store for a water hose to refill her bottles. There
was no rest room.
    "Employees only," the manager had grunted in reply to her
question, still not looking up from his fishing
magazine.
    Cassie used the hose to wash her face and
arms, letting the cool stream flow over the back of her neck until
she felt refreshed. The rivulets of water were already disappearing
into the parched soil when she coiled the hose back up and,
munching on a thick sandwich, started back toward the road. Cassie
had worried the cashier might ask her who she was or where she was
headed, but he hadn't. She felt secure that he wasn't a very
gregarious fellow and that her passing would be quickly
forgotten.
    As she started back down the highway, a semi
truck pulled out of the westbound lane to stop, in a cloud of dust
and the squeal of air brakes, in front of the gas pumps. A
middle-aged man wearing a bright red baseball cap over his long,
blond hair climbed down from the cab and, after stretching a bit,
walked into the store. A thought struck Cassie, as she stood there
looking at the dusty blue cab, and she turned and walked back
toward the truck. She was standing near the bumper when the driver
returned, holding a paper grocery bag in one hand, and fishing in
his pocket for his keys with the other.
    "Excuse me," Cassie whispered, then louder,
"Excuse me!” The driver stopped and looked up, seeing her standing
there for the first time.
    "What’cha want, kid?" He asked, still
searching for his keys.
    "Are you headed to Phoenix?" Cassie asked,
trying to sound nonchalant.
    "Yup."
    "Could I catch a ride with you?"
    The driver shook his head, "Nope,
sorry."
    "Maybe just to Tucson?"
    "Can't do it kid," he said,
pointing to a small sign on the door of the truck, "company rules.”
The metal plate read Employees
Only!
    "I'd give ya a lift if I could, but I'm not
going to risk losing my job."
    Cassie was stunned; her master plan for
crossing the distance between here and Long Beach was crumbling
before her eyes.
    "Do all trucks have that rule?" She asked,
her voice starting to waver again, as the man pulled a rattling
ring of keys from his pocket.
    "Most of 'em," the driver called back,
climbing into the cab and slamming the door. "You might try to find
an