Free The Bootlegger’s Legacy by Ted Clifton Page B

old man she was like a fountain of youth. He dressed better. His clothes became more stylish and he paid three times what he had before for his haircuts. He thought he was looking pretty good.
    “You’re looking lovelier than ever.” Pat still felt a little funny saying these kinds of things, but he sure meant it.
    “Thanks, Pat. Look, I’m sorry about my little fit at Browns. You know, I haven’t seen you much lately and I guess it was starting to feel like you were losing interest. Well, I don’t know, I just lost it.”
    Pat was impressed at how well Sally handled herself. She was very young, but she seemed so mature. It occurred to him that some people were just older than others, no matter their age. Sally had a mature wisdom, but also a little girl’s joy in life. He was finding that he wanted more and more to be with her. Fully recognizing the folly in this, he still found he couldn’t help himself.
    “Sally, I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy with my business customers I haven’t had much time. That’s going to change. Why don’t you come with me on a trip to New Mexico? We can see each other more and have a lot of fun drinking margaritas and eating enchiladas. Maybe we can even find a place to go dancing—what do you say?”
    Sally let out a scream of joy that got everyone’s attention, and after some enthusiastic hugs and a few kisses she said, “Yes!”

Dallas, Texas / Oklahoma City, Oklahoma—Some Years Earlier
    Sally Thompson had to get away from her brother, Hank. Because either Hank was going to make her permanently crazy or she was going to kill him. Her brother thought he knew everything, and since their mother had died he’d taken it on as his personal responsibility, as the head of the family, to make Sally miserable.
    Sally lived in a rather shabby part of Dallas with her brother and sister in the apartment once occupied by their mother. Things had been different when her mother was alive. Her mother had loved all of her children, although she’d seemed to favor the girls. She’d fussed with them and hugged them—she’d been wonderful. Every day she’d made them feel special and loved. But then she had become ill—they’d said it was the flu—and in a matter of a few weeks she had died.
    The sadness Sally felt was physically painful. She had trouble just getting out of bed. Soon her brother started acting like he was in charge. He would yell at Sally that she had to find another job. He made her miserable. She had been fired from her previous job because she’d stayed home with her mom while she was sick. Her sister had helped, but she was still in school and said she couldn’t miss any more classes or their brother would kill her.
    Sally was an extremely attractive young woman. She had just turned twenty-three when her mother died. Her best years had been in high school, when it seemed every boy in school was attracted to her. She felt like she was a queen or something, with all of that attention. But even with all the adulation, Sally had remained aloof. She felt she was destined for something very special. After high school, Sally had no option but to find work to help support her family. She had never known her father, who apparently had left when Sally was very young. Her mother never discussed him.
    During the years after high school, Sally had been a waitress at several restaurants in her neighborhood. She gave most of her money to her mother, who would waste it on her big, useless brother. Sally always thought her mother seemed intimated by her brother—he had a meanness about him. Sally didn’t mind the work, even though she got tired of all the men making a play for her. There were many days when she deliberately didn’t make any effort to look good, just so maybe those lugs would leave her alone—it didn’t help.
    To appease her brother, she decided to go out and see if she could get another job. She thought she might go back to the last place and explain why she