Gary’s House
Wed. June 30, 1982
Mid-afternoon
The ringing tone sounded once in Shelley’s ear as she held the receiver to her head, then again, and then a third time. Come on, pick up, she thought impatiently. Then, after the ringing tone sounded a fourth time, Shelley heard a familiar voice answer, “Hello?”
“Hi Mom! It’s me, Cathy.”
Shelley thought she heard gasp, and then, in a voice that quavered like she might have been laughing, crying, or maybe a little of both, her mother Melissa replied, “Oh my God, Cathy, is it really you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Mom. I…”
“Oh, thank God!” Melissa said. “Where are you? Are you coming home?”
“I’m in Texas, Mom. I don’t think I should come back, at least not yet. Not if Tony’s still around. Has he given you any trouble?”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle. He came here looking for you the night you left, but it was after you called me. I had the door locked and I didn’t open it, and I told him to leave or I’d call the police. He beat on the door for a couple of minutes and did a lot of yelling, but then he left. Since then I’ve seen him drive past the house slowly a few times, especially in the first few days after you left, but he hasn’t actually stopped here; I think he was looking to see if your car was in the driveway. I wish you’d never gotten mixed up with him!”
“Yeah, me too. I know you never liked him,” Shelley said, and then sighed. “What can I say? You were right. He was a snake in the grass, and I didn’t see it. I know better now.”
“I hope so. So do you have food and a place to stay? What are doing for money?”
“I got a job working as a carhop at a little drive-in restaurant called Speedy’s. It doesn’t pay much, but it’s better than nothing. And I’ve got my camera, so I started doing a little freelance work for a local newspaper. I’m hoping that might lead to a steady job with them as a reporter.”
That last comment seemed to surprise Melissa a bit. After a short pause, she said, “Really? A job with a newspaper? Is it one I would have heard of?”
“No, it’s just the local newspaper for a small town. But it’s a start. I sold them some pictures I took at a local festival, and they said they’d consider buying more pictures from me in the future. Then I sold them some more pictures of some local news events, and they invited me to write some articles to go along with the pictures. So who knows? Maybe I’ll end up being a full-time reporter for them.”
Shelley thought she heard her mother breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank God for that. I…I was afraid you might end up walking the street…”
“What? You mean as a hooker?” said Shelley, a little louder than she meant to.
“Cathy, you don’t know how often that happens to girls who run away. They’re out on the street, with no place to stay and no food to eat. They get desperate, and it’s an easy way to make some quick cash…”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that with me,” said Shelley, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice. The last thing she wanted was to get into a shouting match with her mother. She took a quick breath to calm down a little, and then said in a quieter voice, “Seriously, I’m not going down that path. I have prospects…”
“So where are you staying? Did you get an apartment or something?”
“I’m renting a room from a guy I met here; he has a house with…”
“You mean you’re living in a house with a man you just met?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“Cathy! I thought you said you knew better now after what happened with Tony, but now I find out your shacking up with some stranger…”
“Mom! It’s not like that!” said Shelley, trying to keep the heat out of her voice. “I’m just renting a room in his house; I’m not having a relationship with him! Besides, this guy is nothing like Tony. Tony always seemed cool and rich and sophisticated, but underneath it all he was really just a jagoff. But Gary on the other hand is really nice, and he’s a perfect gentleman. You know what he does for a living? He maintains the mechanical animals at the local Chuck E. Cheese’s n’at. He’s done a lot for me, and I think you’d like him if you ever met him!”
“Okay! Okay! You’re right; I don’t know him, and maybe he’s fine. All I’m saying is be careful, and don’t let him take advantage of you.”
“I won’t, Mom” said Shelley. “Really, it’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry, Hon, I just worry about you.”
“Mom, I wonder if you could do me a favor. I seem to have misplaced my car key, but there’s an extra in my room at your house. I was wondering if you could drop it in an envelope and mail it to me.” Shelley hoped her mother wouldn’t ask for an in-depth explanation of how she’d lost her key. She didn’t want to tell her that she’d been kidnapped and had her keys taken, especially after her mom had just said she worried about her.
“Uh, okay, let me make sure I can find it. Where do you keep it?” Melissa asked. Shelley described where she’d put the key in her bedroom back home, and waited on the phone while her mom went to locate the key. After a minute or so, Melissa said, “Okay, I’ve got the key. Just give me the address to send it to.”
Shelley suddenly got a feeling of trepidation about giving her mother her address. Of course she had known that she was going to have to give Melissa that information when she’d made this call, but now that it was time to do so, she suddenly dreaded the idea of giving out that information. It wouldn’t be so bad if Melissa would just write the address on the envelope and drop the envelope into a secure Post Office mailbox, but Shelley knew her mom would keep a copy of the address in her house, and that led to the possibility that Tony might find it there if he were to break into her house. The chances of that were slight, she knew, but after Tabby had mentioned bounty hunters earlier, Shelley couldn’t push the idea out of her head that giving out her new address was a potential security risk. But she needed that key, and so it was a risk she felt she needed to take. Shelley gave Melissa the address, but then she added, “Mom, I’d prefer it if you didn’t keep a copy of that address. I’d rather not take a chance on Tony finding it.”
“Oh, okay. Of course, dear,” said Melissa. Shelley wasn’t sure if that was meant as an agreement not to keep a copy, or as an acknowledgement that she understood Shelley didn’t want her to keep a copy. She suspected the latter.
“Hey Mom, I hate to ask it, but would you mind maybe throwing in some cash as well?”
There was silence on the phone, and after a few seconds Shelley started to wonder if she’d lost the connection. But then she heard Melissa saying, “Sure, Honey, but why? You said you’d established a couple of sources of income.”
“I have, but since I had to flee Pittsburgh at the drop of a dime, I couldn’t bring any of my stuff with me, and I need to buy some new clothes in addition to my usual expenses like food and rent n’at. Don’t worry, it’s just a one-time loan to help me get re-established in my new location, and I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.” Shelley didn’t mention that what little money she had had just been stolen by car thieves.
“Okay, I can include a check. How much…”
“Mom, I think it would be better just to send a few twenty-dollar bills. Checks leave a paper trail, and I don’t want to take a risk on Tony being able to find me that way,” said Shelley.
Wed. June 30, 1982
Mid-afternoon
The ringing tone sounded once in Shelley’s ear as she held the receiver to her head, then again, and then a third time. Come on, pick up, she thought impatiently. Then, after the ringing tone sounded a fourth time, Shelley heard a familiar voice answer, “Hello?”
“Hi Mom! It’s me, Cathy.”
Shelley thought she heard gasp, and then, in a voice that quavered like she might have been laughing, crying, or maybe a little of both, her mother Melissa replied, “Oh my God, Cathy, is it really you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Mom. I…”
“Oh, thank God!” Melissa said. “Where are you? Are you coming home?”
“I’m in Texas, Mom. I don’t think I should come back, at least not yet. Not if Tony’s still around. Has he given you any trouble?”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle. He came here looking for you the night you left, but it was after you called me. I had the door locked and I didn’t open it, and I told him to leave or I’d call the police. He beat on the door for a couple of minutes and did a lot of yelling, but then he left. Since then I’ve seen him drive past the house slowly a few times, especially in the first few days after you left, but he hasn’t actually stopped here; I think he was looking to see if your car was in the driveway. I wish you’d never gotten mixed up with him!”
“Yeah, me too. I know you never liked him,” Shelley said, and then sighed. “What can I say? You were right. He was a snake in the grass, and I didn’t see it. I know better now.”
“I hope so. So do you have food and a place to stay? What are doing for money?”
“I got a job working as a carhop at a little drive-in restaurant called Speedy’s. It doesn’t pay much, but it’s better than nothing. And I’ve got my camera, so I started doing a little freelance work for a local newspaper. I’m hoping that might lead to a steady job with them as a reporter.”
That last comment seemed to surprise Melissa a bit. After a short pause, she said, “Really? A job with a newspaper? Is it one I would have heard of?”
“No, it’s just the local newspaper for a small town. But it’s a start. I sold them some pictures I took at a local festival, and they said they’d consider buying more pictures from me in the future. Then I sold them some more pictures of some local news events, and they invited me to write some articles to go along with the pictures. So who knows? Maybe I’ll end up being a full-time reporter for them.”
Shelley thought she heard her mother breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank God for that. I…I was afraid you might end up walking the street…”
“What? You mean as a hooker?” said Shelley, a little louder than she meant to.
“Cathy, you don’t know how often that happens to girls who run away. They’re out on the street, with no place to stay and no food to eat. They get desperate, and it’s an easy way to make some quick cash…”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that with me,” said Shelley, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice. The last thing she wanted was to get into a shouting match with her mother. She took a quick breath to calm down a little, and then said in a quieter voice, “Seriously, I’m not going down that path. I have prospects…”
“So where are you staying? Did you get an apartment or something?”
“I’m renting a room from a guy I met here; he has a house with…”
“You mean you’re living in a house with a man you just met?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“Cathy! I thought you said you knew better now after what happened with Tony, but now I find out your shacking up with some stranger…”
“Mom! It’s not like that!” said Shelley, trying to keep the heat out of her voice. “I’m just renting a room in his house; I’m not having a relationship with him! Besides, this guy is nothing like Tony. Tony always seemed cool and rich and sophisticated, but underneath it all he was really just a jagoff. But Gary on the other hand is really nice, and he’s a perfect gentleman. You know what he does for a living? He maintains the mechanical animals at the local Chuck E. Cheese’s n’at. He’s done a lot for me, and I think you’d like him if you ever met him!”
“Okay! Okay! You’re right; I don’t know him, and maybe he’s fine. All I’m saying is be careful, and don’t let him take advantage of you.”
“I won’t, Mom” said Shelley. “Really, it’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry, Hon, I just worry about you.”
“Mom, I wonder if you could do me a favor. I seem to have misplaced my car key, but there’s an extra in my room at your house. I was wondering if you could drop it in an envelope and mail it to me.” Shelley hoped her mother wouldn’t ask for an in-depth explanation of how she’d lost her key. She didn’t want to tell her that she’d been kidnapped and had her keys taken, especially after her mom had just said she worried about her.
“Uh, okay, let me make sure I can find it. Where do you keep it?” Melissa asked. Shelley described where she’d put the key in her bedroom back home, and waited on the phone while her mom went to locate the key. After a minute or so, Melissa said, “Okay, I’ve got the key. Just give me the address to send it to.”
Shelley suddenly got a feeling of trepidation about giving her mother her address. Of course she had known that she was going to have to give Melissa that information when she’d made this call, but now that it was time to do so, she suddenly dreaded the idea of giving out that information. It wouldn’t be so bad if Melissa would just write the address on the envelope and drop the envelope into a secure Post Office mailbox, but Shelley knew her mom would keep a copy of the address in her house, and that led to the possibility that Tony might find it there if he were to break into her house. The chances of that were slight, she knew, but after Tabby had mentioned bounty hunters earlier, Shelley couldn’t push the idea out of her head that giving out her new address was a potential security risk. But she needed that key, and so it was a risk she felt she needed to take. Shelley gave Melissa the address, but then she added, “Mom, I’d prefer it if you didn’t keep a copy of that address. I’d rather not take a chance on Tony finding it.”
“Oh, okay. Of course, dear,” said Melissa. Shelley wasn’t sure if that was meant as an agreement not to keep a copy, or as an acknowledgement that she understood Shelley didn’t want her to keep a copy. She suspected the latter.
“Hey Mom, I hate to ask it, but would you mind maybe throwing in some cash as well?”
There was silence on the phone, and after a few seconds Shelley started to wonder if she’d lost the connection. But then she heard Melissa saying, “Sure, Honey, but why? You said you’d established a couple of sources of income.”
“I have, but since I had to flee Pittsburgh at the drop of a dime, I couldn’t bring any of my stuff with me, and I need to buy some new clothes in addition to my usual expenses like food and rent n’at. Don’t worry, it’s just a one-time loan to help me get re-established in my new location, and I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.” Shelley didn’t mention that what little money she had had just been stolen by car thieves.
“Okay, I can include a check. How much…”
“Mom, I think it would be better just to send a few twenty-dollar bills. Checks leave a paper trail, and I don’t want to take a risk on Tony being able to find me that way,” said Shelley.
Melissa hung up the phone, closed her eyes, and sighed. Why did conversations with her daughter so often end in arguments? It hadn’t really ended in an argument this time, but it had come close, and it hadn’t been Shelley’s fault. There were several things Melissa had said during the conversation that she regretted almost as soon as the words had left her mouth, things like the implication that Shelley might be walking the streets, or the accusation of her shacking up with a stranger. It was completely understandable that Shelley would take offense at such things. But Melissa had said those things not because she believed they were true, but because she was afraid they might be true. Surely no mother could be blamed for being overly protective of her daughter, could she?
Melissa looked down at the spare car keys she’d retrieved from Shelley’s room. How did Shelley lose the keys to her car? It seemed pretty irresponsible. Melissa imagined they’d probably been left on a table in another room, and maybe Shelley would run across them in a few minutes. Or maybe she forgot to take her keys with her when she got out of the car and locked the door. Or maybe the keys weren’t missing at all, and had just been a pretext for Shelley to call her and ask for money…
Right, the money. How much could Melissa afford to send Shelley? Her bank account had enough to cover the monthly rent and some groceries, but not much more, and payday wasn’t until Friday. She took her pocketbook out of her purse and opened it, finding a couple of twenties, a ten, a five, and a couple of dollar bills. It wasn’t much, probably less than Shelley needed. Shelley had said she needed the money to buy clothes; if that was really why she needed the money, maybe it made sense to box up some of her existing clothes and send them to her along with the spare keys.
Melissa had a few empty cardboard boxes in the attic. One of the larger boxes by volume had been packaging for an electric floor fan. It hadn’t been designed to hold clothing, but it was sturdy and big enough to hold a few garments, so she retrieved it and took it to Shelley’s bedroom. She wanted to give Shelley as much variety as she could with a small number of garments, so she started with a pair of jeans, and then added a white skirt. She chose a royal blue polo shirt that could be worn with the jeans for a casual look or with the skirt for a dressier look. She added a pair of shorts as well; Texas tended to be hot at this time of year. She added a plain white tank top that wouldn’t take up much room in the box. There was still room for a couple of pairs of shoes, so she added Shelley’s tennis shoes and the pair of high heels she’d worn to her high school graduation ceremony. She stuffed a few items of lingerie in what little space remained, and topped it all off with an envelope containing the two twenty-dollar bills and the spare keys. She’d take it to the post office, and they would help her get it properly packaged, taped, addressed, and sent on its way. And then she'd come home, and just might drown her sorrows in bourbon.
Melissa looked down at the spare car keys she’d retrieved from Shelley’s room. How did Shelley lose the keys to her car? It seemed pretty irresponsible. Melissa imagined they’d probably been left on a table in another room, and maybe Shelley would run across them in a few minutes. Or maybe she forgot to take her keys with her when she got out of the car and locked the door. Or maybe the keys weren’t missing at all, and had just been a pretext for Shelley to call her and ask for money…
Right, the money. How much could Melissa afford to send Shelley? Her bank account had enough to cover the monthly rent and some groceries, but not much more, and payday wasn’t until Friday. She took her pocketbook out of her purse and opened it, finding a couple of twenties, a ten, a five, and a couple of dollar bills. It wasn’t much, probably less than Shelley needed. Shelley had said she needed the money to buy clothes; if that was really why she needed the money, maybe it made sense to box up some of her existing clothes and send them to her along with the spare keys.
Melissa had a few empty cardboard boxes in the attic. One of the larger boxes by volume had been packaging for an electric floor fan. It hadn’t been designed to hold clothing, but it was sturdy and big enough to hold a few garments, so she retrieved it and took it to Shelley’s bedroom. She wanted to give Shelley as much variety as she could with a small number of garments, so she started with a pair of jeans, and then added a white skirt. She chose a royal blue polo shirt that could be worn with the jeans for a casual look or with the skirt for a dressier look. She added a pair of shorts as well; Texas tended to be hot at this time of year. She added a plain white tank top that wouldn’t take up much room in the box. There was still room for a couple of pairs of shoes, so she added Shelley’s tennis shoes and the pair of high heels she’d worn to her high school graduation ceremony. She stuffed a few items of lingerie in what little space remained, and topped it all off with an envelope containing the two twenty-dollar bills and the spare keys. She’d take it to the post office, and they would help her get it properly packaged, taped, addressed, and sent on its way. And then she'd come home, and just might drown her sorrows in bourbon.
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