Rosalind Read Online Free PDF Page B

between her legs and pushed down on the seat of the booth. She winced.
    "Everything okay?" the man asked.
    "I got to pee," she said.
    The man laughed. "I bet you do. Go on, now. You don't need my permission." She gracefully slid out of the booth and wandered to the back of the shop. There was a door that said Management on it, but she couldn't read it. The waitress saw what she was doing and walked over to let her know the bathroom was behind that very same door. Rosalind was weary of signs, not that she saw that many in her life. She smiled at the waitress and then went inside.
    She came out a few minutes later and sat back down in the booth. The waitress had already brought their food, and Rosalind dug right in. She slurped one of the egg yolks into her mouth from her spoon—a trick her mother had taught her at an early age—and chewed on the creamy, buttered toast that formed a heavenly combination in her mouth with the sweet, chalky yolk. She took a drink of the water and then shoved a sausage patty into her mouth, chewing it exactly three times before swallowing it. She repeated this procedure with her last egg, toast, and sausage while the man just sat there in awe.
    " You sure was hungry, huh?"
    She smiled at him with a full mouth of breakfast and decided that she liked him.
    "So, I need to get going pretty soon, you got anyone you can call?" he asked, taking a small bite of his sausage patty.
    She felt bad for not liking him at first. This nice man had brought her to town and bought her breakfast, and she did nothing but lie to him. She lied about knowing someone in a town she had never been to. She hung her head low.
    " Uh-huh. I can't really blame you, to be honest. It was cold out there and I mighta told someone I was the president of these United States if I thought it woulda got me outta this chill. But, I'm gonna feel real awful about leaving such a young girl in a town she don't know. Are you sure?"
    " Momma put twenty-three dollars in my suitcase," she said, finishing up the last of her toast and washing it down with the last of her second glass of water.
    His eyes widened and he dropped his fork onto his plate. The waitress look up from behind the counter and then back to her napkins and utensils. Twenty-three dollars wasn't much, but it was enough to get him to Indianapolis and the hell out of this miserable county, even in that gas-hog. A war was brewing inside of his head and the only question he had, the only shot that he could fire across enemy lines that would end it, was whether or not he could live with himself if he stranded a young girl in a strange town without any money.
    It was a quick battle.
    "Honey, why don't you go to the bathroom and clean up a bit. I can take you to Mary Peterson's boarding house and maybe she can set you up for the night while you figure out what to do."
    She pulled at her oily hair and admitted to herself that he might be right. She nodded her head and then slipped out of the booth and went back to the bathroom. She looked back at the waitress and she nodded for her to go on in.
    The man, once he was sure she was inside and couldn't see him, got up quickly and ran out to the back of the truck. He opened the suitcase and rummaged through it, searching for the money. After he didn't find a purse or any other conventional means of storing it, he searched the bottom of the container and underneath the pile of panties and saw it: a wadded up twenty-dollar bill. He stuffed the bill in his pocket and then shoved the items back into the suitcase. He looked back into the restaurant and didn't see any movement in the windows, so he took the suitcase and dropped it on that ground. She would need her clothes and after all, he wasn't a monster. He just needed a way out and you know what, he brought her this far, didn't he?
    The suitcase hit the ground and flew open, sending her clothes all over the sidewalk. He bent down to grab a few dollar bills that he had missed, but decided