Dorothy Garlock - [Route 66] (42 page)

“Oh … oh! Don't be afraid!” She lowered her head and pressed her cheek tightly against his. Her warm breath caressed his ear. “I love you so much that every time I think about you leaving it's like a knife twisting in my guts. I love you so much that at times I feel light and bouncy, say and do foolish things. I love you because you're a bossy know-it-all. There is no one or nothing in the world more important to me than you, H. L. Yates. I'll spend my life telling you how high-handed you are and how much I love you, if you want me.”

“Want you? Oh, love, I want you so bad it's been eating the heart out of me.” His voice was a hoarse whisper. He pulled her face down to his and kissed her again and again.

“I want to marry you tomorrow or the next day at the latest. I want to hold you, kiss you and love you anytime I want to. I want us to be together from now until we're old and gray.” His hands caressed her buttocks and pressed her to him. “I'll take care of you, honey. I swear it. No one will ever say a harsh thing to you again. If they do, I'll tear them apart.”

She laughed happily. “I'll have to share you with JoBeth.”

“Only in the daytime. At night it will be just you and me.” He rolled her onto her back and leaned over her. “I want a dozen kids running up and down the stairs of that old ranch house. That means you've got to give me ten.”

He kissed her with such incredible sweetness that a swell of joy washed over her. Her hands went to his lean buttocks and pressed his arousal tightly to her.

“Then we'd better get started, my love. I'm twenty-two years old. We can't afford to lose valuable time.”

Epilogue

1933
Route 66
Near Sayre, Oklahoma

T
HE TRUCK CHUGGED TO THE TOP OF THE HILL; the gas gauge was on empty. The driver turned off the motor and the heavily laden truck rolled slowly down the hill toward the small building set close to the highway. For miles they had been reading the signs: CAR TROUBLE? NEED GAS? DEKE S GARAGE AHEAD.

The large doors of the small building were folded back, and a single gas pump stood in front. On the peaked roof of the garage were the words: DEKE'S GARAGE—GAS. Before the truck reached the garage there was another sign, yellow with big black letters: SEE THE WORLD S LARGEST RATTLESNAKE.

The truck made it to the edge of the drive, then refused to move another foot. A man in overalls and four children got out of the truck and pushed it off the highway.

A man came from the garage wiping his hands on a greasy rag. He wore cowboy boots and a big hat. His chin was covered with a healthy growth of whiskers. Even in boots he was not much taller than the eight-year-old boy who gawked at him.

“Howdy folks. Ain't no need to be straining yore guts to push that load. We'll put enough gas in to get ya to the pump. If you've a notion, ya can camp here for the night. Let the kids run a bit and the woman have a rest. Where you folks from?”

“Ringling.”

“Ringling? Is that right? Some folks came through the other day from Ringling. Stayed at the campground. Let's see. Seems like the name was Carroll.”

“Joe Carroll. They left a few days before we did.”

“Pa, can we see the snake?” A small girl a year or two younger than the boy looked expectantly up at her father.

The little man answered. “ 'Course ya can, darlin'. The dang thing is ten feet long if it's a inch. I call him Mr. Hoover, 'cause that's what he was, a snake in the grass that got us into this Depression. He's right here in the tank. I'll lift ya up so ya can see. I got a buffalo out back. I call him Mr. Roosevelt, 'cause he's full of…ah …something nasty, if he thinks the New Deal is going to put men back to work. I've not had time to put up a sign about the buffer yet. A while back I had a chicken with three legs, but the dang thing up and died on me.”

Deke held the little girl so she could look down at the huge snake coiled on the red Oklahoma dirt in the bottom of the tank. The other children crowded around.

“Now, darlin',” he said and set the child on her feet. “After I take care of your daddy, I'll tell ya how I come onto that big old ugly snake and wrestled him till I got him in that tank.”

“By yourself?” the boy asked.

“Sure. Ain't ya heard? I'm the best snake wrestler between here and California. Now, let's see what we can do to help your pa and I'll tell ya about it.”

References

Oklahoma Route 66,
by Jim Ross

Here It Is! Route 66 The Map Series,
by Jim Ross and Jerry McClanahan

Route 66 Travelers Guide,
by Tom Snyder

Route 66: The Mother Road,
by Michael Wallis