Link to previous Chapter 9a
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Chapter 9b - 3360 words
They ate at a Mexican place in Albuquerque. The server put them in an out of the way booth, so Allison didn’t have to worry about her arms being being jostled.
‘You’re looking pale and sore again,’ Shonda said.
‘I am,’ Allison said. ‘I’ve got a brutal headache, and the painkillers have hardly touched it.’ She pushed her tamales round with her fork, taking a small amount and chewing gingerly. When she finished, she said, ‘I think that the travelling is catching up on me. I know we need to be back so you can get back to work, but if you’ve got the week off do you think we could take the day off travelling tomorrow?’
Shonda nodded. ‘Ally-Bee, we can take a couple of days if you need. It’s about sixteen hundred miles from here to home. So long as we’re back by Sunday, and I am at work Monday morning, we can do what we want. I’ve never visited New Mexico, so let’s take a day or two in Albuquerque and check it out. If that chocolate bar you bought is anything to go by, there’s some real nice stuff to have. And I think it’s one of the oldest cities out this way, so there’ll be tons for a history wonk like me to go look at while you rest up.’
Allison’s eyes puffed up and glistened with tears which she just managed to dab with her napkin. ‘Sorry, I’m---’
Shonda reached across the table and placed a hand on Allisons. ‘Ally-Bee, we’ve been friends since we were eighteen. The only way we could be closer is…’ She paused and stared at her friend, seeing the bruises and weariness from pain. ‘There is no way we could be closer. We could be blood, but that’s just an accident of birth. We chose each other as family and, while blood family can be hell, chosen family does what’s right for each other. If you’d listened we’d have done this trip ages ago but at least we got you out before…’ Shonda bit her bottom lip between her teeth. ‘Sorry.’
‘You got me out. You got me out and that’s the thing. Everything else I can let go of now. It’d be easy to get lost in the years where I didn’t and wouldn’t listen. But they’re gone. Now, we’re going to take Earl’s money as recompense and I’m going to…’ she paused because she’d suddenly realised what she wanted to do, and it wasn’t drive round in a camper van like she’d suggested yesterday. ‘I’m going to find some small town and buy a place with a nice big room I can use for a studio, and I’m going to paint, and paint, and paint. I’m going to paint big canvases with oils and acrylics, There’ll be half finished projects that sit there for weeks while I think about how to develop it, or am inspired to do something else.’ The clarity which had stripped away all emotional ties to Earl now laid out a plan for what was to come. It wouldn’t be immediate, she needed to be able to use her hands for a start, but there had to be some small town she could find to bury herself in and become the strange lady who lives by herself and does all the painting.
‘That sounds great. I was having difficulty seeing you as a nomad in a camper van. Where will you look to buy? It won’t be too far away will it?’
‘I’ve got used to California heat, so it’ll be somewhere warm, not back up north. Heck, I might take a look round here tomorrow.’
‘It’s too far away! We’ll find you somewhere in North Carolina, there’ll be some place with some space around it and a big south-facing room you can put picture windows in if they aren’t already there.’
Allison laughed at her friend’s enthusiasm and said, ‘Next you’ll be telling me you have somewhere already in mind. And we can buy it next week.’
‘No. Because for the next few months, or at least a good few weeks, you are staying with me, and we are going to get you fixed and relaxed and ready to look for the right place.’ Shonda stopped and frowned. She said, ‘But first, Ally-Bee, we’re going to go pour you into bed because you need some more beauty sleep.’
‘Yes. I hope the beds are as soft and comfortable as the one last night. Sorry, it’s early again, what will you do?’
‘Well,’ Shonda looked at her plate, ‘I already ate. So, I’ll take a walk, go for a swim in the hotel pool, and probably have a glass of wine in the bar. And if you’re awake when I come back to the room, we can watch crap telly until one of us falls asleep again.’
‘I’m-’
‘Aly-Bee, don’t you dare say ‘sorry’ again. After driving all day I need to stretch out, and I love that this hotel has a pool, that was severely lacking in last nights place and I regret it. You know, I swim three times a week. I reckon it’ll be a good way to help you get your strength back when the casts come off. C’mon, let’s get out of here. Talking about swimming has made you look worse.’
They paid and headed to the hotel. As with the previous day Allison was quickly in bed and drifting off to sleep.
On Monday Alison woke first, having slept the entire night. She almost felt rested. Her bladder also woke up and when she swung to sit up the realisation that there was still a lot of bruising, a lot of pain.
By the time she’d finished in the bathroom Shonda was waking up. She stretched, her duvet sliding down to show her naked torso. ‘Oops, sorry.’ She pulled the duvet up. ‘You slept well, or at least, you slept through me tripping as I came in the door last night.’
‘What did you get up to?’
‘I swam a lot of lengths in the pool. Had a sauna – yes, I know, I could have just gone for a sit outside, but it’s not the same and outside doesn’t have a cold plunge pool. And after that, I sat in the bar and drank Californian wine which had been chilled so aggressively…’ She yawned and waved a hand. When she’d finished she said, ‘Why don’t I shower and dress, and we go for breakfast, and then decide what to do. Have you had a look at anything?’
‘I only just woke up myself. But I thought we said I’d go look at realtors and see what’s on the market.’
‘Oh, you did not!’
Allsion laughed first and Shonda joined her, then said, ‘Look, I may be feeling just a little protective to my best friend. Right, I’m going to dress and shower – well, maybe not in that order – and then I vote we get breakfast and have a look at things to do.’
‘This is going to sound silly. But if we’re here for another night or two, can we find a storage place to put the bags in instead of the car?’
‘Sure. You worried about someone breaking into the car?’
‘It feels silly, but if we’re only in a place one night, then I figure it’d be bad luck for the car to be broken into, especially in a hotel car park. But being there for two or three nights may make it an appealing target.’
‘No, that sounds reasonable. Well, if we’re doing that, why don’t we just stay until Wednesday? That still gives us nearly five days to do the rest of the drive, and hopefully by Wednesday you’ll feel a little better for sitting in the car.’
The knowledge they wouldn’t be spending all day driving until Wednesday was a relief to Allison and she sighed, a sound which was a release of a tension which she hadn’t thought to be carrying but which now it had dissipated, she could tell had been worrying her. Maybe it was the cause of the pain in her head. She’d have to work on staying calm. The rest of the drive would be tough, but it was still taking her away from the cause of the problem, taking her towards a future she could look forward to, so long as she was cautious. She said, ‘It sounds great. Though you’re probably going to end up by yourself in the afternoon. If I rest then, maybe we can go for dinner together later.’
There was a storage place a few blocks away from the hotel and they paid for the use of the smallest unit, which was just under two-hundred dollars for the minimum four-week period. They drove round to the unit and Shonda shifted the five bags containing the cash and a box containing Allison’s jewellery and documents.
Allison sat in the car and watched. She’d made to get out and help, but Shonda had shut that down quickly, saying that straining her wrists was not on the day’s activity list. So, Allison sat in the car and looked around, wondering if anyone was watching and trying to figure out what two women were storing there. She couldn’t see anyone, but there were a couple of security cameras on poles. They were of the type with a dark wrap-around enclosure so you couldn’t see the direction the camera inside was pointing. But was someone sitting in the control room watching? The creeping paranoia dissipated a little when she remembered the control room was a couple of screens behind the desk where they paid the cash to a woman who looked to be in her early twenties and broke attention from their short interaction to check notifications which pinged through on her phone. Somehow, Allison couldn’t see her paying rapt attention to her and Shonda and speculating on them depositing nearly five million in cash into the unit that’d just been hired.
Shonda got back in the car and clunked the door shut. ‘Albuquerque may just be the hottest place on earth,’ she said. ‘I’d heard it was Texas, but I don’t see it can be any worse than this.’
‘Thanks for doing the lifting.’
‘You’re welcome. Now, what we gonna do? You want to go look at some paintings? I checked, there’s a bunch of galleries we can check out. Might be worth knowing about for when you’re looking to start selling all the canvases you intend to paint.’
‘A gallery or two might be nice – then a sit down for coffee and cake. And I never said anything about selling my paintings. I might just keep them so that when I’m a doddery old lady and they take me to put in a home, they have to weave their way through narrow walkways in the house between endless paintings stacked against each other.’
‘I think you might be over-thinking your future, and planning for the path towards crazy old cat lady a little too quickly. Luckily, you have me to save your sorry white ass.’ Shonda started the car and swung it round to head back towards the gate. ‘And coffee and cake is your treat today. I’m done carrying you on this trip.’
‘It always takes me a a few days to remember what a tight bitch you are.’
‘Oh, bitch yourself princess. Why don’t you just sit there in peace while I drive you around, your majesty.’
‘Hey, if Megan can become a princess there’s no reason you can’t.’ Allison lifted her arms up and said, ‘You just have to wait for me to get these back to working properly.’
‘Well, maybe I accept your apology and offer to make me queen, but you’re still buying the treats today.’
Allison turned to look at her friend, waited until Shonda glanced over, then batted her eyes wide and said, ‘I never danced for a real princess before.’ It was a line from a bad play they’d been convinced to go and watch while in college, a couple of friends were in it, and one was part of the writing team. The evening had been roundly terrible, but this line delivered in an earnest manner by a student faking a generic British accent had been the nadir in such a way that it became a part of the shared lexicon of nearly everyone who saw the single performance of the play.
Shonda snorted and had to correct the wheel to keep them going straight.
They went to three galleries. The third of them displayed the style of art that Allison worked in. She showed the owner, who happened to be running that gallery to cover an employee out sick, some pictures of her own work and he said to send some for display and sale when she was settled after her move.
When they left Shonda said, ‘I decree it now time that you provide coffee and cake. And then we can get excited about you bringing your art for the fine folks of Albuquerque to admire and buy.’
They went to a place on Lomas Avenue, near the botanical gardens and, despite the heat, sat in the courtyard which had adobe walls high enough to cast shadow as the afternoon sun began its fall from the meridian.
Allison rested with her back against the wall and stared at cactus which grew in the courtyard and wondered how often people jabbed themselves on the prickly spines which some of them had. Children and inattentive tourists she guessed. Locals would be wise to the sharp edges.
Shonda came out with their coffee and cakes on a tray. She looked at her friend and said, ‘When we’ve had these, I’m taking you back to the hotel. You look like that’s been enough adventuring for today. Time to do the resting you wanted.’
Allison nodded. She said, ‘The headaches back. I ‘ll sleep it off before we go for dinner. I’ll task you with finding somewhere nice for us to eat.’
‘What do you fancy?’
‘Right now, this donut is as much as I can think about. But a proper nice restaurant I think, where they actually cook food.’
‘I’ll do that. This is good coffee. I think I might get one of the cold brew drip boxes they sell for back in the room. It’d be good to have a nice coffee without having to go down to the restaurant, and the drip they serve there isn’t that great.’
Back at the hotel Allison took painkillers and got back into bed, wrapping the covers close round her and cocooning her head in the pillows.
Shonda took her gym wear and swimsuit to head for the hotels leisure facilities. ‘Are you sure you’re okay for me to go out again?’ She asked, concern for her friend welling up.
‘I’ll be fine. I’ll just get some rest. Have a nice swim,’ Allison said, her voice muffled by the cocoon of bedding she’d wrapped herself in.
When Shonda came back to the room a couple of hours later Allison was still asleep, she left her gym gear and headed out to have a look round the city and investigate places to eat. The Downtown area was a hub of culture and food and she wandered round the streets, dipped into a couple of museums, and checked out the look of some of the places to eat.
An elderly couple were passing by as she stood looking at a food hall which looked like it had several different options inside. ‘We can recommend Stackt,’ the woman said. ‘Tino’s Tacos are pretty great too,’ said the man.
Shonda looked round, surprised at the random suggestions. ‘Sorry, dear,’ said the woman, ‘you just looked as if you were trying to decide on what to eat.’
‘I am. Well, maybe on where more than what. My friend and I are coming out to eat later and I’m just having a look around. Are you locals?’
‘Oh, only for the last twenty-years or so. But we do like to eat out, so what kind of things do you and your friend like?’
Shonda smiled, remembering Allison’s instruction to find somewhere that cooked real food. She said, ‘We’re not massively fussy, but my friend want’s somewhere that is preparing the food fresh. So it doesn’t matter if the service is a little slower, but it does matter if they ship everything in frozen.’
The man looked at the woman and said, ‘Artichoke or Farm and Table?’
She nodded, her hair bobbing at the enthusiastic motion. She said, ‘Even on a Monday Artichoke might be booked, but there’s likely to be a spot at one of them. Do you still know the server at Farm?’
‘No, he left, he’s at a club now.’
‘Well, that’s a shame, you could have called him.’ She looked at Shonda and said, ‘There’s a place a few streets away called The Artichoke Rooms, or something similar, it’s on Central Avenue anyway. They might be too busy for a walk in, but worth looking at. The other one we’d suggest is a little way up town and it’s called Farm and Table, I forget the street right now, but there’s only the one. They might be more likely to have spaces. Now, do you want me to write those down for you?’ She began to reach into the bag slung on her shoulder.
‘No, I got them. Artichoke and Farm and Table. Thankyou. I’ll look at them just now. But tell me, which of them would you go to?’
The man said, ‘Farm and Table. Artichoke’s a nice place but can be a little,’ he furrowed his brow and thought for a moment, ‘formal. It’s popular with town councillors and university professors if you get my meaning. It’s great if you have a nice thing to celebrate.’
‘Well, that may just have helped me decide which to call first. Thank you so much.’
‘Oh,’ the woman said, ‘you’re welcome. It was nice to meet you. I hope you and your friend have a great meal.’
They shook hands and the couple carried on along the street. Shonda watched them for a moment before realising they hadn’t even exchanged names. She considered calling after them, but figured if they’d wanted to know her name, or share theirs, they’d had the opportunity to do so.
The number for Farm and Table came up with a quick search and she called. They did have availability. It was just a bit before five pm, she made the reservation for seven and headed back to the hotel.
Allison was still tucked up when Shonda got back. She called, ‘Hey, Allison, I’ve booked us in at a place at seven. I’ll use the bathroom while you come round.’
When she came out the bathroom Allison hadn’t moved. She thought about letting her sleep more, but the traffic reckoned it’d be thirty minutes to get there and that only gave about forty-five minutes before they had to leave. She went to the bed put a hand on her friend’s leg, shaking it and saying, ‘Hey, sleepy, time to wake up.’ There was no reaction. ‘Allison?’ Shonda pulled the cover down and Allison almost looked like she was sleeping peacefully, but there was an unnatural paleness to her skin. Shonda shook her shoulder. ‘Allison?’ There was no response and with a growing unease Shonda placed two fingers under Allison’s jaw, where she failed to find a pulse beneath the cool skin. She slid to the floor by the bed.
‘No, no, no. You got away, we got you away,’ she said. Tears were already streaming down her face. She found one of Allison’s hands under the covers and held it awkwardly because of the cast. She didn’t know what had happened but couldn’t think of anything but Earl’s abuse being the reason.
After a few moments she thought to pull her phone out and dial nine-one-one, the numbers distorted in her vision as the tears continued to flow.
Chapter End
I wrote this post about a story where I had a first chapter written. I'm trying to push on and finish a first draft in 2024.
If you'd like to be tagged in for future chapters, let me know.
Thanks
Stuart
Link to collated chapters HERE
Link to the short story which is the seed for this is HERE
Any LA based or knowledgable folks who want to pitch in on local things I get wrong, please do. I've never been and there's only so much I can learn on the internet.
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