Coming Together - Bonnie Smetts

But I’m not thinking because I hear cracking and thudding and that girl is yelling. Roy’s talking low and not a lot. I can imagine he’s just trying to save himself from her. Like he’d done with me. Too many times.

I’m standing here in front of the trailer, beside my car, my Mr. Curtain car, until I see that I’m walking away, up the road. The darkness is after me again, but what am I gonna do. I’m not going to be waiting for that girl and Roy to get back to the trailer and me to ask, honey, can you please move your car so I can get the hell out of here?

I’m up on the road. It’s dark and I’m breathing shallow so nothing hears me. It’s so noisy out here the bugs and godknowswhat in the woods.

“Get me, come and please come get me,” I’m whispering so loud anybody can hear me. “Rand, please, please, please.” Of course Randy’s gonna come get me, she knows where to find me when I’m that desperate. I got Randy, my one friend in all the world, and she’s gonna come get me out of the dark. That’s why I can sit down here beside the road in a ball, and wait. I hold my breath because holding away my air takes my mind off all the noses around me. Come on Randy, come one Randy. Her husband already thinks I’m bad, bad. But for some reason, he likes me too, or at least doesn’t say a word when my life is getting in the middle of theirs.

And finally her lights, I see her lights bouncing down the road. The dust is flying up like a cartoon. I leap up and wave.

“Jesus, Rawl, did it ever occur to you to just stand by the side of the road,” she says. “Scared me to death, you jumping out like that.”

And I’m in her little red car, safe. “Rand, thank you, thank you thank you.” I could have said that a million times.

“So? What happened to your car?” she asks. And then I gotta tell her why I was out to Roy’s even though I’ve promise to be done with that man. “Some girl’s out there in the woods and she blocked my car and I’m not about to wait for us all to come together in front of the trailer to rearrange the parking,” I say.

And then I shut up.

“Rand, I don’t know what to say,” I say. I want to tell her how ashamed I am. That I’ll never get myself in this mess again. But I know that can’t be true. My car’s still sitting in front of Roy’s.