Free Finding Somewhere by Joseph Monninger Page A

and put her cheek against his flesh. She hugged him before she sent him into the trailer. He went without a protest.
    “That’s a nice horse,” she said, her eyes full. “He’s a gentle thing.”
    “We want to thank you for everything you’ve done for us,” I said. “It really helped us out.”
    “It helped me out, too. You do me a favor and call home. And if you get a chance, I’d love to get a card knowing how you two fared. It’s like a story, and I want to hear to the end, ’cause it’s going to drive me crazy wondering about it.”
    “We’ll send a note,” Delores said. “I’ll make Hattie write it. She’s the bookish one.”
    Julie hugged us both.
    “You two stick together,” she said. “Don’t let a stupid boy get between you. You’re good friends. You stay that way.”
    We nodded. I climbed in behind the wheel and started up the truck. It knocked a little but then found its idle. Julie stepped back, and we rocked slowly over the grass and hummocks. Before we turned onto the highway, we turned and waved. Julie watched us go. She raised her hand but she didn’t wave.
    D ELORES DID HER TOENAILS MOST OF THE MORNING . S HE could take longer to do her nails than anyone I had ever known. She put on the radio, and we sang along when we knew the words. Delores said Ruby Red Party, her nail polish, smelled like old ladies. She waited until the road gotstraight and flat to do the edges. She hated messing up the sides. When she finished, she screwed the top back onto the bottle and moved her feet around on the dash until the sun hit her toes.
    “There,” she said. “I am more beautiful than ever.”
    “You’re nuts,” I said.
    “I’m going to turn on the phone,” she said. “Check to see if we have any bars. And maybe I can retrieve some messages.”
    “Okay.”
    “Where are we, anyway?”
    “We’re in Minnesota. We have been for a while.”
    “What do we have? Two more days, maybe?”
    I shrugged. Taking the back roads meant a longer trip.
    “Here goes,” she said, flipping open her phone and putting it to her ear.
    “Messages,” she whispered.
    She listened for a while. At one point she leaned forward and turned off the radio. She flicked at something on her foot, keeping it away from her toes. She nodded. Then she touched my arm and nodded again.
    “That’s awkward,” she said, flipping the phone closed.
    “What is?”
    “One message was from Paulette, going mental. Hersister Regina is pregnant and her whole family is going nuts. She wants to come out and join us. She said she could fly and meet us somewhere.”
    “That’s not happening,” I said.
    Delores shook her head.
    “Your mom called, too,” she said. “Just the usual stuff. She’s worried and wanted an update.”
    “What else?”
    “My dad notified the police. It’s turned into a big freaking showdown between my mom and him. I’m eighteen, though, so it’s not clear what they can do to us. You’re sixteen. That’s the problem. And my cousin Richard is being a dink about the horse trailer. Suddenly he needs it. He called and said he didn’t want to press charges, but he was thinking about it. What a bunch of ridiculous people.”
    “Maybe we should just get to South Dakota,” I said.
    “I have pretty toes,” Delores said, pointing to her feet. “No one can stop me.”
    “Do you think your dad really notified the police, or is it just a trick to get us to turn around?”
    “Hard saying, not knowing,” Delores said. “But here’s what I don’t get. No one cares when we’re around, but the minute we leave, we’re everyone’s top priority. It’s weird.”
    “You want the thing you don’t have.”
    “That’s for certain. I mean,” she said, shifting again to set her toes in the sun, “it’s not like we stole anything of value. Speed was heading to the glue factory. The stupid trailer was sitting behind Richard’s house with grass growing up through the floor. It’s all about power. Who