Escaping the Past

“Last night?” Lou searched her mind. “Oh, that. No. I’m not mad about that.”

“Well, are you ready to run?” he asked.

“What? Yeah. Sure. I guess,” she replied absently.

“You sure there’s nothing wrong, Lou?”

“Yeah. Positive.” She turned and started to jog slowly, picking up the pace as she went. She felt like the run would never end. She needed to get back to the house so she could look through the photos. Lou had not seen her mother’s face in seven years and had nearly forgotten what she looked like.

They finally rounded the last turn and Lou dropped to a slower pace. Brody broke in to her thoughts. “You’re awfully quiet. Sure you’re not mad at me?”

“No. I’m not mad at you.” She managed a fake smile.

“Boy, you look sincere,” he mumbled.

Lou didn’t stop to stretch but walked right into the house and up the stairs to her room.

Jeb looked at him. “What did you do to her now?”

“Hell if I know,” Brody replied.

****

Lou closed her bedroom door behind her with a resounding thud. She took the envelope from the back of her shorts with trembling fingers. She opened the envelope and dumped the pictures onto the bed. Emotions overwhelmed her as she looked through the photos. These were from a different time, a different place. They depicted a sullen girl who no longer existed. Lou was no longer a teenager, no longer a kid. She was a mother. A good employee. A part of a family.

Oh, God, a family! The pictures showed her old family. They showed her mother, heavily made up, big hair, smoking a cigarette. In some of the photos, she was in various stages of undress as she worked at the strip club. They showed her wearing tiny shorts and tube tops sitting on the steps of the trailer because there was no air-conditioning inside.

Then Lou thought about the family she had now. Sadie was like a mother to her and Jeb was the father she never had. Having him around, she felt safe during waking hours, like she was never alone. She had Mrs. Wester, who had financed her education and given her a job and a home. She had John, who was like a playful younger brother, and she had Sarah. Sarah was the only thing she took with her the night her mother died.

Now, someone wanted her? Who? Why? What am I going to do? She touched the photos that showed her past. And then thought about her future. The two didn’t meet anywhere in the middle. How long could she run from the past before she got too tired to enjoy her future?

Lou gathered the photos together and glanced at them one more time. She placed them back in the envelope and slid it between her mattress and box spring. She went downstairs to join the family in the kitchen.

****

“Did you tell her I want it back?”

“Yeah, Boss. I told her.”

“What was her response?”

“She swears she doesn’t have it,” Wesley responded quietly.

“Doesn’t have it?” His boss exploded. His fist hit the desktop and glasses rattled. Pens danced and rolled off the table. “Of course, she has it! If that little bitch thinks she’s going to use it against me, she has another think coming.”

“I don’t think it will come to that,” Wesley stuttered. “I’m going to give her a couple of days and go back to see her again.”

The boss said quietly, “She’ll be sorry she ever ran from me. Just as sorry as her mother was.” His meaty fist hit the table again.

Chapter Twelve

Brody spent his Saturday with his mother, reading to her and watching her sleep. She continued to go downhill and was sleeping more and more. After dinner, Lou and Sarah knocked softly on the door. Lou poked her head around the corner. “Knock, knock,” she whispered, peering in at the hospital bed.

Brody touched Mrs. Wester gently on the arm. “Mom, you have company,” he said quietly. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled warmly at Lou and Sarah.

“Look who’s here,” she said. “Two of my favorite people.” She took Lou’s hand in her own. Sarah leaned over the side of the bed and presented her with a new card to add to her collection. Mrs. Wester managed a weak smile in return.

With the innocence of youth, Sarah started telling Mrs. Wester about her day and about Girl Scouts. She finally began to tell Mrs. Wester about the upcoming Father-Daughter dance at school. She told Mrs. WesterJohn was going to be her pretend Daddy f