Life Happens- 1941

Chapter 6

Slowly, I was losing my breathe.  What was going on?  My heart was pounding and I was afraid that whoever this was could hear it.  I hoped they didn’t, I didn’t want them to feel how scared I really was.  I prayed I had a spare bottle of pepper spray in my purse.  Until I realized that I had left my purse in the car, and I had left the car back at Francine’s house. What’s the use? I thought frantically. A man’s husky whisper invaded my thoughts.  He was so close I could feel him breathing in my ear.

“Alright, lady, I don’t want no trouble, so just gimme all of your money.”  Ya right, if you didn’t want any trouble then why are you attacking me?

“I’m sorry sir, but I don’t have any money.”  My purse was probably still sitting in Francine‘s driveway.  But this man was relentless.

“Aw, come on now, a pretty lady like you gots to have something.”  His voice sent chills up my spine.  Too bad it was dark, I would have a least liked to see who this lunatic was.  I just shook my head, fighting back the tears.  “I said give me your money!”  He screamed in my ear and thrust me back up against the wall, pinning me underneath his weight.  Come to think of it, I’m guessing this ol boy was kind of chubby, had recently finished a large bottle of bourbon, and desperately needed a shave, because his beard was scratching at my neck.  But this was beside the point. Out of nowhere, a gun was shoved into my face.  I almost collapsed from shock as he cocked it.  

“No please! I swear I-” I was distracted suddenly as I watched his finger inch toward the trigger. 

“I won’t ask again.  Gimme-the-money!”  The last three words slurred together and came out slightly raspy. All I could do was bite my lip.  I mean sure, if I were him, I wouldn’t believe me either.  But I wasn’t lying.  How could I possibly get him to understand that.  I couldn’t.  My time was limited and I knew it.  No words would come out.  Every time I tried to stand up for myself, they never made it past getting caught up in a ball in my throat.  I held my breathe and waited.  I probably only had a few minutes.

“Okay miss, I’m giving you to the count of three.  Got it?”  It was dark of course, but I could feel his eyes puncturing mine.  “One.”  Wow, he really meant it.  This guy was legit.  “Two.” This was all wrong, I wasn’t supposed to die!  I thought Elliot was going to die!  Surely I wasn’t going to die first.  I couldn’t leave him here.  Not Elliot. “Thr-”  The gunshot sounded before he could finish the word.  I’m dead now I thought, covering my face with my hands, waiting for the bullet.  I knew it would do no good.  This was how I was going to die.  Alone.  In an alley.  Killed by someone, someone who I had never even seen.  But the bullet never came.  I peeked out from in-between my fingers and saw the shadow of the man laying wounded on the ground in front of me, blood leaking from his right shoulder blade.  I stood up, looking around for the person who had just saved me from my murder that would have happened in less than one syllable.  They weren’t hard to find.  

Francine’s husband Lanny was driving toward me in my truck, with a pistol in his left hand and the lights glaring in my eyes.  He had the windows rolled down.

“Christ! Charlotte, are you hurt?  Oh Lord, are you okay?”  He looked very pale, almost ghostly.  I ran up to the truck.  “Lanny! Oh, thank you! How’d you know where I was?”  Tears were trickling down my cheeks.

“Thank God, well, after you left I realized you had forgotten your truck.  Say Charlotte, how do you forget your truck?”  He winked at me, “So I started after you and as I came down the alley I saw that man pointing a gun at you so I took matters into my own hands.  Thank goodness I was here or else…”

“I’m fine Lanny, thanks to you.”  I leaned into the truck window and pecked him on the cheek.  It never did occur to me how odd it was that Lanny just happened to have a pistol until later. He blushed.  “Hop in Charlotte.  I’m taking you home.”  I walked around the front and gladly did so.  The smell of leather seats never smelt so good. The man with the beard gave me the finger and then limped down the alley, holding his shoulder to try and stop the bleeding.

Elliot was sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper, comfortably set up with a mug of coffee and Percival curled up in a ball on his lap.  I busted open the door.  Elliot jumped up, obviously previously immersed in the paper.  I thanked Lanny again, waved and shut the door, locking it the moment it shut.

“Charlotte, what the hell happened? Are you hurt?”  Elliot was sincerely concerned and was staring at my shirt.  I looked down to see what he was staring at.  Blood.  There were drops of blood on my sleeve.  I ran into his open arms and buried my face into his chest.  Just the smell of him calmed me.  He wrapped his comforting arms around me, and for the first time that night I felt safe.  He stroked my hair gently.  

“I’m fine.  There was just a man in an alley that told me to give him all my money while I was walking home, but I told him I didn’t have any.  He didn’t believe me and almost shot me when Lanny showed up! Elliot, I thought I was going to die!  I never want to leave you.  I just couldn‘t do that to you.”  I clung to his shoulder.  He softly stroked my cheek, wiping the tears away with his thumb.

“Ssshhh, its okay.  I’m right here.  Thank God your alright.  That son-of-a…Why were you walking?”

“I was on my way home from Francine’s and she had really pissed me off and I left in such a rage that I forgot my truck in the driveway and decided it better to just walk home.”  Elliot was smiling slightly.  “That woman.”

“You know,” I looked at him thoughtfully. “Sometimes, I just wish  she’d got to hell so I don’t have to suffer in heaven.”  I played my fingers around the ends of his hair.  I massaged the back of his neck lovingly.  He pulled back.  He looked confused. Did I really just say that out loud? 

“Elliot, I’m sorry.  I’m just so frustrated.”  I wouldn’t have normally said something like that and I could tell he was very much taken by surprise.  He looked as if he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.  He drew me back in.

“God, I love you.”  He started laughing.  I smiled.  When you have so many emotions bottled up inside of you and then finally decide to let them out, it doesn’t always come out exactly the way you wanted to.  But this was Elliot.  And he got it.   He got me.

“I love you too.”  He leaned into kiss me, the scent of coffee still lingering vaguely on his breathe.  His hands entwined with mine, our hearts beating almost at the same rhythm. Then our lips touched, gently at first, moving in and out then moving slightly inward.  He had me wrapped around his finger.  What did Francine possibly know?  You need a ring to finalize your love for someone, you just needed them to say it back.  Our lips parted smoothly and I laid my head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.  I laid my hand over the crest in his neck.  I’ve always found his particularly attractive.  It was the most beautiful thing.  He whispered in my ear, “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”  This gave me chills but they were quite different from the ones I had gotten earlier.  They made me feel safe, not threatened.  I whispered back to him, laying my index finger on his lips.

“I’m the luckiest girl in the world.  I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”  He smiled and kissed me again.

“That’s exactly why you’ve got me.”  He rocked me back and forth, snuggled up against him.  I wouldn’t have traded that feeling for anything in the whole world.  That might sound a bit cliché but you’d have to experience it to understand it.  

There was no where in the universe I would have rather been than in that moment, wrapped in Elliot’s arms.