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“mister o’rourke! you have to help me.”
i have been down this road before, johnny thought.
too many times.
but he turned and looked into the fog, in the direction of the voice.
a girl was standing in the shadows, and took a step towards johnny. at least she is not wearing a mink coat, johnny thought.
she was wearing a plain blue cloth coat, and an old fashioned round hat with a little feather in it and she looked like she just got off the bus from nowheresville…. except that she did not have a suitcase with her.
and she was young, maybe about eighteen, but johnny thought there was something familiar about her…
“don’t you remember me, johnny… mister o’rourke…”. she was saying, looking up at johnny with eyes as blue as the skies over nebraska an hour before a tornado hits.
“you seem to remember me, miss,” johnny replied. he looked around in the fog but did not see anyone or anything else.
“i’m betsy ross! rose ross’s sister! from back in coldwater. .. do you remember me now?”
rose ross… coldwater…. yeah, johnny remembered all right… what guy doesn’t remember the first girl that breaks his heart and throws it away like a broken beer bottle… any more than he forgets his first dog...
“i’m all grown up now,” betsy was saying. “sort of… i guess…”
“say! you are not mixed up with professor sturdivant . are you? or colonel mappington?”
“who? who are they? no, johnny … i can call you, johnny, can’t i…”
“sure, just like old times…”. johnny looked around again… still nothing he could see… but he could feel something…
“it’s about rose,” betsy continued, “she’s in trouble… big trouble…”
“right,” johnny amswered, “but let’s not stand here in the rain… i know someplace we can talk… let’s go.”
“sure, johnny, whatever you say. i hope it’s not to far away.”
“no, it’s just around the corner. it’s a nice place, where we can get a cup of coffee. real friendly… you’ll like it.“
*
sid’s diner was almost always empty. johnny did not know how it stayed in business and never asked. it was empty when they entered. the gray haired woman who was always behind the counter was there at her post. her name was grace and that was all johnny knew about her, including whether or not she owned the place or just worked there. he never asked her questions about herself and she never asked him any about himself.
“lousy night,” johnny said as he and betsy sat down at the far end of the counter.
“looks that way,” grace answered.
sid’s had lousy coffee but pretty good blueberry pie.
“how’s the blueberry pie?” johnny asked.
“fresh baked every day for fifteen years, same as always.”
“give us each a slice, and coffee.”
they waited until grace had brought them the coffee and pie. grace moved to the other end of the counter and johnny nodded to betsy.
“all right, what is the story?”
betsy took a swallow of the coffee and grimaced but did not say anything about it.. “rose is in trouble. big trouble.”
“you already said that. any particular kind of trouble?”
“she - she fell in with a bad crowd.”
johnny barely kept from laughing. rose fall in with s bad crowd? the rose he remembered back in coldwater nebraska was the last person in the world to fall in with a bad crowd…
15. the farmer's daughter
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