Purgatory Road by Samuel Parker

Author:Samuel Parker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Married people—Fiction;Hermits—Fiction;Suffering—Fiction;Mojave Desert—Fiction;Mystery fiction;Christian fiction;FIC030000;FIC031070
ISBN: 9781493406029
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2016-11-10T05:00:00+00:00

43

Laura sat on the porch, staring in disbelief into the wasteland of the Mojave. Her mind was blank as she was unable to piece together the thousand fragments that swam around inside her head. Molly sat close by but did not talk to her. She seemed to know the times it was best to be quiet, a rare trait for a teenager, and thus she held her tongue. Boots came walking across the front yard, kicking up dust with every step.

“I don’t see him. He just didn’t go for a stroll, it seems.”

“You have to go after him, Boots. He doesn’t know what he’s doing out there,” Laura whispered as she imagined Jack dying a myriad of different ways and hating herself for enjoying some of them.

Boots stood in his familiar pose, his cheek filled with his hobby. “Seems to me, Laura, that he doesn’t want me coming after him. Seems he likes things his own way.” He turned and spit behind him in deference to the ladies seated on the porch.

Molly’s widened eyes bounced back and forth between the two of them.

“He’ll die out there,” Laura said.

“If that’s the way he wants it.”

“That’s not what he wants. He probably thinks he is trying to help.”

“You give him too much credit. Naw . . . he’s gone to save himself. Left you here on your own. What kind of man does that? Not a good one, I say.”

“Please, Boots?”

The old man removed his hat and wiped the sweat from his brow. He looked up at the sky and then back to the porch, pondering the situation. “It’s getting hot out today. Probably fry him up real quick.”

Molly and Laura stared back at the old man, surprised that such easy talk could come in such a dire situation.

“All right, I’ll go get him. But not right now. Naw . . . I think a man like that deserves to stew a bit. Make him think about what he’s done.”

“But—” Laura began, but was cut off by a wave of Boots’s hand.

“That’ll be the end of that. Now . . . you don’t worry about him. I’ll get him back.”

He ambled off behind the cabin as if out for a morning walk, leaving the two women sitting on the porch.

Molly moved her rickety chair a little closer to Laura in a small attempt to offer comfort. “I’m sure he’ll be all right.”

Laura didn’t answer, but looked down as a tear dropped from her cheek.

“Jack seems like a strong guy. I’m sure he can take care of himself.”

“That’s one thing he’s good at . . . taking care of himself.” Laura tossed a sideways glance at Molly. “He’s perfected that art for many years.”

Molly sat back, watching her, a patient look on her young face.

Laura rubbed her legs and sat up a little straighter, preparing to recite the script that she had worked on for a long time. The great venting. “Jack is very good at that. Always has been. When he gets something in his head, he can be a very determined man.

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