I’m Fixing To Play Dead (Part 57)

The thought of starting a new life as a new person, really starting over, leaving everything about the past unto itself, and with Sissy being a part of it was just too much for me to even consider not doing it. I think I have mentioned before that she had that stupefying effect on me. So without considering any consequences or details I readily agreed to her plan. There was just one immediate question in my mind.

“Wait a minute,” I asked, “how am I supposed to get to Atlanta and back?”

“You can take the Jeep,” she answered. “You’ve got a driver’s license in case you get stopped, and you’ve got cash and a credit card to buy gas with. Plus you might need the room to bring back some of your stuff.”

Parting with Sissy didn’t turn out exactly like I would have wished. As soon as we got to her house she handed me the keys to the Jeep and said, “I’ll be looking for you before dark tomorrow. You probably need to get going because we both have a lot to do.”

Then she closed the door from the kitchen to the garage leaving me just standing there. I didn’t know what else to do so I got into the Jeep, backed out into the street and drove away.

It was a long and lonely drive home, during which my mind whirled around all kinds of imaginings and scenarios. Two hours later, well after dark, I pulled into my own garage at my house in Atlanta. I went inside and fell into my bed. I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in over a week, and that thing about being in your own bed got the best of me.

The next morning I woke up with a start and was shocked when I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost noon.

My first inclination was to leap out of bed and get moving, but on second thought I decided to languish there a little longer and enjoy the delicious feeling of waking up in my own bed. After a week of restless, anxious and dangerous nights, it was wonderful to just be there, stretching and feeling the touch of familiar sheets. “Okay,” I finally said to myself, “It’s time to get up and go get that driver’s license in my dead name, like Sissy told me to do.”

After a quick shower I Googled Georgia Driver’s License information and found the nearest location to me, but to my dismay, in the fine print where it listed its hours of operation I clearly saw that they closed at noon on Saturdays!

Now I didn’t know what to do. I thought about calling Sissy and tell her it would be Monday instead of today before I got back, but that just didn’t sit right in my mind—too much danger of being seen and recognized if I stayed here that long. Then I made a decision—I was going back right now.

Now that I thought about it I didn’t have to be my old dead self to tell the authorities the real story so Louise could be absolved of being charged with murder. I decided it would all work out if I wrote it down and sent it to the Alabama Bureau of Investigation.

They could even drag up Red’s body from the bottom of the lake to verify my story. That way I wouldn’t be implicated under my old name or my new one.

While I was gathering up the rest of my clothes I found myself wondering what Sissy was thinking when she came up with her plan.

The only other thing I took besides my clothes was a picture of Uncle Virgil sitting in front of his vegetable stand, back when life was simple. Then I peeked around all outside to make sure the coast was clear before I made my get away in the Jeep.

But I hadn’t looked close enough, because when I got pulled out onto the street, just as I was accelerating away, my neighbor came walking out toward his mailbox. I tried not to look at him as I drove by, but I couldn’t help but notice he was standing there staring at me with his mouth agape looking like he had just seen a dead man.

I drove until I found a Chick-fil-A where I secured two sandwiches and a large lemonade. I didn’t stop again until I was about half way to Montgomery. While I was filling up the Jeep’s tank with gas I was figuring it would only be about an hour before I would be rolling back into Sissy’s garage.

Miles later, there it was, the exit to Sissy’s house. I guided the Jeep onto the exit ramp with excitement surging through me. Down the ramp, onto the street and a few turns later there it was, the place of my dreams.

I knew something wasn’t right when I pulled into the driveway and the garage door wouldn’t respond to the automatic opener.

Something else caught my eye. It was a sign on the front lawn that hadn’t been there before. I exited the vehicle and upon close inspection saw that it was a realtor’s sign announcing the house was fixing to be for rent.