She was a waitress, and
she didn't want to be reminded by the asshole at table 19 as he got up without
leaving her a tip, he does it every morning - slurping his coffee - checking
out her ass, the cheap bastard. The place would fill with truck drivers, off duty cops and cheap girls, Anne wanted to do better, she was better, she hoped,
Anne was in her early
thirties something and she was way too old to serve jerk off's and mean enough
to kick his ass but it was more fun to slam his empty coffee cup in the dirty
dish plastic bucket as she wiped up his coffee drips.
Even at this time of
morning Anne put on her waitress smile and picked up the plastic bucket and
slammed it under the counter so the bus boy smoking in the kitchen could hear
the racket.
Anne was oblivious to
the country music playing but for some reason she could hum every song.
She was humming along to
the song she hated and realized she should have stayed a housewife with that
truck driving fool she married.
He would drive all night
and wanted sex every morning right after Anne made his breakfast.
Three years and two
months of breakfast table sex might be better than this hell hole called Galaxy
Diner Truck Stop, off route 11, the main road to nowhere and Anne was stuck on
this one way road.
She remembers Billy
tossing his coffee cup into the clean kitchen sink every morning and leaving
all the dirty breakfast dishes on the table, stuff he didn't eat moved to one
side, toast crumbs all over the table and sure the A.M. radio playing country
music, telling us the weather.
Anne would be running
around in her nightgown and the A.M. radio playing and Billy would walk right
past her and turn on the T.V. and at that moment in time she became wallpaper
unless he wanted to have sex or wanted his after breakfast beer.
Billy called Anne last
night from a pay phone and told her that he would be late, delayed at a
delivery, it was raining, the boss was mad at him and that he hated his stupid
job, driving a truck was too much work, he was going back to construction when
it rained he could stay at home and work on his old pickup truck.
What Billy didn't know
on this particular morning Anne had her bags packed and the little housewife
was gone when he left for work tonight.
She married a man named
Billy and he was a good husband through the honeymoon and maybe the first few
months. Now Anne realized that she
married a child for God's sake as she watched Billy watch T.V. with his driving
boots on the coffee table, realizing she was about to cry again, she had been
crying for days.
Anne was close to a
nervous breakdown because she learned all about it by watching Dr. Phil on
afternoon T.V.
Anne had been stealing
about fifty dollars a week for months now, checking out the newspaper want ad's
and the women's magazine articles were helping her cope with life and Billy.
Billy thought Anne was
out of her mind most of the time as she wanted to buy a little place down the
road, the one with the big oak tree but as Billy said; "he couldn't handle
the weight".
Him and his friend
Darryl always had money for beer and used truck parts and it wasn't like Anne
wanted to buy a mansion.
But Anne knew one thing,
when Billy called her late at night saying he was being delayed it meant he was
getting laid at some playboy truck stop with some damn waitress.
About five or six months
ago Billy called Anne explaining another delay at the port and Anne asked him
for the phone number.
"You can't call me
back Anne, I'm at work, I had to beg to use the damn phone" Anne remembers hanging up and going to the
living room and wondered why Billy was cheating, that was the night she started
crying in the dark and she really hasn't stopped yet.
Anne planned to leave
all the cheap fake jewelry that Billy had bought for her but she decided to
sell it on Ebay and keep the money.
Looking at him now,
"Billy, you better hurry and get to bed, you've seen that old movie
anyway".
Billy stopped at the
lowest stair step and leaned against the banister and gave her that look that
he wanted some truck stop sex.
She looked back at him
"I'll get back to you Billy" was all that Anne said.
Anne slept on the couch
that night and kept her panties on when she heard Billy trotting down the
stairs a few hours later. The
son-of-a-bitch was just dripping in his man jewelry which Anne knew must mean
date night for Billy, another sex delay.
That was the last time
Anne would see Billy except at the court house with him wearing his truck
driver blue jeans as she wore a nice pair of polyester paints to impress the
judge.
"I'm sorry baby
doll, can I have some coffee?"
"Uh-huh" was
all Anne could mumble.
"Thanks Hon!" the man said to Anne.
Anne must have been in a
daze and lost in thought, there she was at the Galaxy Diner Truck Stop with
this gorgeous man looking straight at her and seemingly hollering for coffee.
"I'm sorry, I was
kind of thinking about stuff." Anne was a little embarrassed as she
started mumbling again "Sorry Doll, it's been one of those mornings."
Anne turned and poured
his coffee and for some reason she never saw the gun pointing at her before it
was too late.
This guy better not be a
lady killer she thought when she noticed his adjustment to his pistol as Anne
watched with some approval, he pointed the pistol away from her.
"Hon, can I have
some cream and sugar please."
"What!" Anne's legs were getting weaker by the
second.
"Cream and Sugar
Anne!" "For my Coffee."
"Hon, how about the
cash in the register, kind of real quite if you don't mind." The gorgeous man was smiling at her not like
the guy at table 19 earlier.
"What!" "What did you say mister?"
"Anne, get me all
the cash." "I don't give a
shit Anne so keep your head about you." "If you do exactly what I say
Anne you'll be home in time for dinner and maybe your face in the newspaper." The man glanced around trying to forget he
just became a criminal.
"What!, O.K. I got
it I'll be right back, right back O.K., no big deal, relax." Finally ready to do what the robber wanted
Anne's legs just about gave away but managed her way to the cash register and
put all the folding money in both her hands.
Anne put all the cash in
his Wal-Mart bag as he directed and he leaned over the counter and gave her a
kiss on the cheek.
"You really did
good Anne." He tucked his pistol back inside his coat pocket and looked
around the almost empty truck stop diner.
"Bye Anne, and
don't wait up, it's going to be a long day for me."
"What!" It was
about all Anne could muster for a sentence as she watched the man walk to the
door and walk into the parking lot.
"See ya!" Anne almost shouted and suddenly realized she
had been robbed at gunpoint.
Anne saw the blue 1967
Corvette burn rubber as the robber pulled out on the main road out front.
It would be something
she would forget in about twelve minutes when the Sheriff asked her a thousand
or more questions.
"I've got nothing
else, except I about shit my pants."
Anne looked shook up so the Sheriff said she needed a little break and
he would be back in a minute.
The boss was on the
phone with the truck stop owner and then Anne got another surprise, Billy
walked through the door, wearing those same blue jeans, making her want to run
away.
Billy Clinton, that
son-of-a-bitch was coming to her rescue.
