I’m Fixin’ To Play Dead (Part 38)
I’m Fixin’ To Play Dead (Part 38)
I figured my goose was cooked when I just about ran over that state trooper as I was making my hasty exit from the Fina gas station between Selma and Montgomery. I had gone in to pay while Louise pumped gas into the car in order for us to get to Montgomery before the law caught up with us in the car she had stolen. But now it looked like all that was for naught, because it seemed the law had already caught up with us.
What surprised me was the smile on his big, round and red face when he said, “Whoa! Slow down, son. No need to be in a hurry out here in the middle of nowhere.”
If he only knew, I thought. As I realized he didn’t know, I swallowed the big lump in my throat and said, “Excuse me, sir, I’m awfully sorry.”
“No problem,” he said. “Say, you traveling in that Lincoln Town Car out yonder?”
Almost involuntarily I weakly answered, “Uh, yes sir.”
“That’s a fine looking automobile. I plan to get me one when I retire. What kind of gas mileage you get?”
“It-it-it does pretty good out on the road,” I stammered as I slid past him.
“You have a nice night, neighbor,” he said as he tuned toward the counter and asked for a pack of Marlboro Reds.
I eased out the door and made my way to the car as fast as I possibly dared. My hand was still shaking when I got into the car and handed the keys to Louise. She took them, started the car, and eased out of the parking lot, looking cautiously back over her shoulder toward the trooper’s car.
Once we were out on the road she increased the speed dramatically. I watched the needle as it hovered at 80 and asked, “Do you think it’s a good idea to go this fast?”
“Got no choice now,” she replied. “That was a bad stroke of luck back there—that trooper seeing us. He checked this car out real good.”
“But that was only because he liked the car. He even asked me about the gas mileage,” I reassured her.
“You’re missing the point,” she said. “The fact is he saw us and he observed the car. When he gets back into his cruiser, sooner or later, he’ll listen to a radio broadcast describing us and this car. You don’t think he’s gonna remember it? I’ll bet you all the money you got in that suitcase in the trunk that he’ll be on our rear bumper before we get to Montgomery, that is if he can catch me.”
We drove in tense silence for a few minutes before Louise said, “And you know what else? You hurt my feelings real bad back there when you took the car keys. Do you think I really would have left you? I would never do that.”
“I didn’t think Leon would leave me either,” I told her.
“Well, I ain’t Leon. Think about the circumstances. All you did for Leon was give him a chance to make a little money. What you did for me was really something. I know you was chasing after your money, but after you got it you looked after me. You shot that redheaded devil’s tires out, scared him back into the men’s room and then you took me with you. I will never forget that and I’ll do most anything to make it up to you. Please let me.”
When Louise finished talking she was sniffling and I was feeling ashamed of myself. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry, Louise, but you have to understand—-”
“I do, I do understand,” she interrupted, “just trust me, okay?”
“All right, just calm down,” I told her. “I trust you and I can sure use your help, especially with getting me set up with some identification.”
“Sissy will take care of that. She’s my baby sister and you’re really going to like her.”
“How much further we got to go?” I asked.
“About 10 miles until we hit the city limits, but then it’ll take us another 10 minutes to get to somewhere where we can dump this car and get Sissy to pick us up.”
“Then we got it made,” I excitedly said.
“No,” Louise said as she adjusted the rear view mirror, “I don’t think so. I can feel that state trooper real close behind us.”
“Louise, I think you’re being a little too pessimistic.”
“Don’t be using no big words on me. I know what I feel. I feel it in my bones. He’s getting real close. We’re out of time and I’m fixin’ to get off this road right now!”