Ch. 37
Eureka!
The next morning I was awake before dawn
and sat in the Road Warrior and was wondering what I had agreed to. I felt like
hell as my bones ached and I had to use the bathroom and after that couldn’t
get back to sleep, tossing and turning knowing Darla would probably be up soon.
The door to the bedroom was slid shut and I never heard her use the bathroom or
in fact anything from in there. It’s as she somehow slipped out through the
closet and outside the back access door and stole my Jeep and headed into town
and is now sleeping away in a comfortable bed in the Sheraton. While I get the fold
out couch bed with that god awful bar in the middle of my back that is supposed
to provide support but instead is like a spear of pain. It just isn’t fair I
thought as I started coffee since I couldn’t sleep, I was here first. It’s my chivalry that gave her the good bed
to sleep in. The least she could have done was refuse, but instead greedily
accepted the bedroom as hers. Damn women I thought as they are always taking.
Guess I will learn some day and quit being so giving.
As soon as the coffee started brewing it
was no time before Darla finally slid open the door to the bedroom and appeared
to in fact have spent the night in the Road Warrior as her hair was standing
straight up on her head in an almost laughingly manner . I smiled and said ‘good
morning’ assuming she never looked in a mirror before coming out into the day. She
looked at me and said.
“Please don’t look at me till I have had some
coffee.”
I said to her. “Kinda touchy this morning?”
and chuckled a little at what I said.
Darla says. “ I don’t do well till I have coffee, in fact
I don’t do nothing till I have had my first cup.”
“Let me get you a cup,” I said as I rose to
grab her a cup and continued. “How do
you take it?”
“Usually
intravenously,” she said,” but since you lack the tools, then how about 2 creams
and about 3 sugars.”
I grabbed a good look at her and they say
you judge a woman’s beauty by how well she looks in the morning and Darla
passed the test excepting the hair thing. Her raw beauty was only detracted by
a few age lines at the corner of her eyes and even though she slept all night
had no bags below her eyes. I still couldn’t figure out her age and would try
my best through conversation today to find out just that one piece of information.
Not that it mattered to me but at same time had no desire to go too far out of
my age range if I was going to date a woman, again if she was even emotionally capable
of even wanting anything to do with me beyond a professional basis. It is kind
of an unusual arrangement we have starting here for working purposes and don’t
know really what to think. But if she is at least twenty years younger I don’t
think I could date her. Nineteen, maybe, I say to myself and chuckle.
I served her coffee as she sat down in
the captain’s seat and tucked her legs under her. She had on a long night shirt
that barely covered her legs as they were folded beneath her. A small amount of cleavage was exposed causing
me to avert my eyes from hers as I offered up a fresh cup coffee syrup to her.
It was slightly viscous and reminded one of cream colored maple syrup after
adding the condiments per her orders. I watched her reaction as I was adding her
sugar and she made sure she was given the full allotment of sugar as if it was
gold I was pouring into her cup.
She sipped gently at the coffee and a wide
smile came across her pretty lips indicating I had done my job well and said ‘thank
you’ as she eagerly supped her coffee. Becoming more alive by the minute as if
the sugary mess stimulated something in her inner psyche and soon she was
beginning to come around and asked what the plans were for today.
I returned with. “Well we had discussed
moving on down the coast and exploring some more. Isn’t this great we get paid
to travel the country in a motorhome and visit all the places I always wanted
to. Don’t know how you feel, but I am kind of looking forward to this more each
day. So you think you can drive this thing?”
Darla quickly comes back with a, “Hell no.
don’t think I am even going to try.” I laughed never expecting her to come back
with that response.
I said “Well I was first on board and I
should have dibs as to who gets to ride in passenger seat and since I drove
this thing all across the country I feel it is your turn now.” I teasingly
laughed at the thought.
She looked at me and said “Guy it’s too
early, are you serious?”
I said. “Not really but would suggest you
do learn sometime as you never know when you may have to.”
She returns with. “I have Enterprise Rental cars 24 hr. hotline
number and they will deliver me a car anywhere I want, and I have plenty of
money to pay for it. So there!”
I laughed and continued ribbing her saying,
“Well I would hardly believe you would back down from a challenge I guess I
misjudged you.”
She laughed at that thought heartily
exaggerating how misinformed I was and came back with. “Well I accept the
challenge and think I have handled it pretty well. You really don’t want me to
drive, we will never get anywhere. I hate driving a car. I lived 10 minutes
away from Gunnite and it would take me a half hour to get to work and most of
the time I walked. Everyone thought it was for my health. It wasn’t I just hate
driving. I am too cautious and take forever. I have been pulled over ten times
because I was taking too much time at a four way stop near my house. Police
thought I was drunk or high because I sat there terrified. One even suggested I
just take a taxi he was getting tired of pulling me over. I hate driving. Now
do you want me to drive?”
I laughed and said. “Guess not but maybe we
can work on all those fear issues you have about driving.” I said. “So have you
been like this all these years?”
Darla took a long sip of coffee slurping a
little as she did and said. “Yes for 32 years since I first had my license I
have been a passenger for the most part. It was hard after my ex and I
separated as I then had to do all my driving. Needless to say I was confined to
my house for a long time until I finally decided I needed to get out more and
started venturing away on little trips. That is why I would get up so early at
the hotel because I take forever to get anywhere and figured I wanted to
impress you with an early show up, so would bust my butt to get out of the
hotel and be able to meet up with you before noon. I was only so glad when Ann
mentioned me pairing up with you. I think if I had to drive everywhere and stay
in hotels then I would have went back to Ohio and gave Ann back her money or
seen if there was some other way to work with you. So thank you again Guy for
allowing me to come with you and if you think I am going to drive the Road Warrior
, it may be only because we took a wrong turn and are on a trip to hell or at
least we will be.”
“Wow two cuss words from you this morning.
You are tarnishing my image of you. I think your halo slipped a little.” I
jokingly said. Now knowing that she was roughly fifty, I felt we were within
that 10 year age limit as I was 60 and we really were not that far apart in
age. And she does have a sense of humor. It seems she awoke with a feisty side
to her. She smiled as I made the little comment about her swearing and said.
“Well you know what I have to say about
that don’t you. Nothing but I do have something to show you.” She slowly puts up three fingers on one hand
with her little finger folded across her palm along with her thumb then with
the other hand, peels down the index finger on one side, and by now I knew what
she was doing as again she peels down the ring finger and folds it into her
palm along with the index and little finger and thumb leaving the middle finger
fully exposed and staring at me. I laughed as she did.
“Wow
you do know how to hurt a Guy, so to speak. Don’t you?’ I said.
She laughed. “Why Guy I would never hurt you. She said teasingly.
So what’s up for today I want to take a shower and have some breakfast? Let’s
get this show on the road. God I feel like a gypsy. Need one of those flowing
paisley skirts and a crystal ball so we can travel around the country telling
fortunes and reading palms, are you game? Must be the road life I guess and I only spent
one night in this thing.”
I was having a good time talking to her and
asked if she wanted another cup and she heartily said yes and a little more
sugar please. I laughed at that thought. Knowing that if it was me I would look like the Pillsbury Doughboy in no time if I drank
coffee like that. I offered her another cup of syrup and told her of my plans
as apparently it was up to me to determine where we were going as she wasn’t
going to be much help in that department.
“We are heading down to Fortuna and stopping
there for a few days at the River Walk RV Park in Fortuna, California. We are going
to stop first in Eureka and have dinner at the Eureka Inn where President Reagan,
of who I’m not that fond of, and Sir Winston Churchill, whom both had ties to this
place, as both frequented and stayed at the inn and hotel in diplomatic trips.
They say it has a unique interior that is grandiose at the least and should be enjoyable
to see. Then we will head to the River Walk RV park as it is in the heart of
one of the best stands of California Redwoods and is along the Eel River. Also
there is gambling casino close to their if you like that.”
Darla says, “Never really was much of a
gambler and prefer to keep my money but like to see different things.”
“They also have a lot of coastal features
and old Victorian mansions to visit. So we can probably spend a couple days, to
a week seeing all there is to see and checking out property. Does this sound
like a plan to you?”I asked of Darla as she uncrossed her legs and was
nurturing her second cup of coffee as she stood up and asked if it was ok if
she showered first. I said no problem and she disappeared into the bedroom and
returned with clothes and a shower kit and a makeup bag and soon I heard the
shower going.
Oh
the sounds of a naked woman showering in my presence had not been heard for
some time and I just sat there and imagined too much. I had to shake myself
loose from my thoughts and think about some breakfast and was soon peeling a couple
of potatoes and was frying some eggs. I
buttered some toast and she stuck her head out the bathroom door and asked what
I was cooking and I said breakfast and she needed to hurry. She dropped what she
was doing and sat down and eagerly ate. Then returned to the bathroom to pick up
where she left off vowing to wash the dishes.
I went outside and hooked the tow bar on
the Jeep to the rear of the Road Warrior and hit the button for the awning to
retract and then made sure all the compartments were locked and placed our
trash in approved receptacles sorting out the recyclables. I returned to the inside
of the Road Warrior and Darla was out the bathroom and had finished doing the
dishes and was looking great with shorts showing off tan athletic looking legs.
She had a loose open top barely showing any cleavage and I deemed her safe to
be with me in my mind. It is one thing when I can see cleavage but another if I
have to imagine. When I see cleavage, that is all I think about and I’m always
trying to sneak a peek. It is bad I know, but a male thing I am sure. And women
play you for it knowing how to get your attention, but Darla was playing it
safe and I liked that considering our situation. I just didn’t want to give her a wrong
impression of what a dirty old man I really I am.
I grabbed my stuff and headed into the
shower after showing Darla how to access the computer and satellite to check
her message’s in her email. I also showed her internet sites I bookmarked of
places to visit around Fortuna I discovered, and that she also may want to see.
I showered and stepped out of the bathroom as she was finishing on the internet,
I asked if she was ready to go. She said
‘Onward wagon master’. I went outside and unhooked the umbilical’s providing
power to the Road Warrior and giving us sewer and water and soon was stepping
into the cab again as the footstep retracted automatically as I closed the door.
The Road Warrior was ready to go, and I guess both Darla and I was too. She sat in the front
passenger captain seat and looked like a little girl going for her first bike ride
as I pulled the Road Warrior out of the campground lot onto the access road and
was soon heading towards the gate of the RV Park and past the towering redwoods
guarding the entrance to the RV Park and soon was on the Redwood Highway
heading south. Life couldn’t be better for me at that point. A beautiful day, a
beautiful woman to share it with and good company to boot also as we engaged in
chit chat as we looked at the scenery unfolding before us. I don’t recall ever
feeling like this before and tried to burn this image into my mind.
That was until I saw that white Vulcan
motorcycle in my rear view creeping up on the road behind me. The rider was a
woman with long brown hair as it stuck out from under the white helmet. It sure
looked like Leann was back there tailing me I thought. My heart sank .(to be
cont.)
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