The Abduction of Stephanie

Chapter 11

   Ray sits inside the tiny café, knowing he can barely afford a cup of coffee let alone a meal, but he has to be here. It is as some force of nature has drawn him inside, taking over his body and placing him here. Only a few other customers fill the restaurant along with himself, a homeless man, a teenage girl focused on her studies and a young couple that can’t seem to keep their hands off each other. All the people inside are unique in their own way, but Ray has no interest in them. He is here for her, here for Helen.  

He digs through his bag to find the little cash he has and waits patiently for the vivacious waitress to greet him. “Hi honey,” says Helen with a smile. “What can I get for you today?” Ray is rendered speechless. He has no experience talking to beautiful women and has never really talked to any women at all unless you count the nuns at the orphanage. Sweat pours down his brow as he tries to think of something clever to say but he remains at a loss for words. “Well, aren’t you the quiet type.” “Maybe, he’s deaf,” says one of the other waitresses as she passes by Helen with a plate of hot food. “I’m not deaf,” says Ray. “So you do talk. Well in that case our soup of the day is clam chowder and today’s special is our pasta primavera with jalepeno peppers, so what’ll it be? Helen’s large breasts are practically in his face and he can’t help but stare for a moment before answering.“I’ll just have a cup of coffee.” “Ok, hun. Coming right up.”

  Ray looks around the restaurant. A small jukebox sits on his table; the kind that will play a song for a quarter, salt and pepper shakers sit next to it and a bright pink neon sign with letters that say “Jenny’s Place” adorn the wall. The letters are in cursive and below them is a picture of a cherry red ’57 Chevy. All in all it is a very quiet and quaint place to be. Everyone here seems friendly and the entirely place has a homely feeling. The smell of food fills his nostrils, reminding him just how hungry he is.   Ray brushes his hair out of his eyes and Helen sets a cup of coffee down on the table. “Careful. It’s hot.” “Thank you,” says Ray. “Where you heading anyways?” “Excuse me?” “Well, it’s just that no one carries around a big bag like that unless they are going on some kind of a trip.” “If you must know, I’m trying to get to Pennsylvania. I hear I might be able to get a job there.” “Then you and I have something in common. I want to go to art school there. It sure is a long way from here though….” Helen bites her lip and says,“Tell you what. Meet me back here after my shift. I get off at ten.” “But you barely know me.” “I do know you. I see a look of innocence in those blue eyes of yours. You can tell a lot about a person by their eyes.”  

Ray finds Helen intimidating but attractive at the same time. He loves her aggressive nature but fears she may be leading him into a trap. If there is anything he has learned up to this point in his young life it is that he can trust no one but himself. He sips the coffee, contemplating whether or not he should return that evening. Ultimately he decides that she is just too pretty a girl to pass up on. It isn’t just her looks that he is attracted to; it’s here kind and caring attitude and the free spirit she seems to possess to go along with it. Ray finishes the cup of coffee, leaves the little money he has on the table and exits the diner.   He walks aimlessly for the next couple hours with nothing to do. There isn’t much to see in this part of Arizona as it’s mostly just desert and when you’ve seen one desert, you’ve seen them all. He continues to check his watch every couple of minutes until it gets close to ten o’clock. At nine thirty Ray heads back to the restaurant looking forward to seeing Helen again. Maybe she would be the key to a better life. There is only one way to find out.  

Ray picks at his fingernails waiting for the restaurant to close. It seems like an eternity passes before the lights go off in the diner but when Helen emerges, Ray realizes it has been well worth the wait. Her hair looks like that of an angel in the moonlight and this time when she shows off that beautiful smile, he knows she is smiling at him. “So are you ready Casanova?” “Ready for what?” asks Ray. “To get out of here.” “Where are we going?” “Pennsylvania, silly. That is where you said you were going earlier, isn’t it?”Ray doesn’t know what to do. This beautiful girl expects him to take her on the adventure of a lifetime but he has no experience with women and even worse he has no money. “I don’t have any money,” says Ray. “That’s ok hun. I’ve got enough saved up in tips to get us both there. So let’s blow this pop stand.”  

Helen takes Ray by the hand and they walk together in the desert heat until they reach the train station. When they get there the ticket sales man says “We can get you as far as Huntingdon. Then you’re on your own.” “That’s fine,” says Helen, pulling cash out of her purse. She takes two tickets from the salesman, holding on to one, handing Ray the other. It is a thirty six hour train ride from Arizona to Pennsylvania, the amount of time it will take for Ray to escape his horrible life and start a whole new one of his own. The two of them sit on the train and Helen says “Can you smell that Ray? “Smell what?” “Why, that’s the smell of freedom of course.” Freedom, Ray likes the sound of that. Freedom is something he has been wishing for since he was six.  

The train starts moving and Helen inches ever closer to Ray, her hazel eyes gazing deep into his blue ones and says “Well….” “Well, what?” “Well aren’t you gonna kiss me already.” Ray can’t believe his ears. He has never kissed a girl, or gone on a date with a girl, or made love to a girl.“Get yourself together Ray. She is beautiful. Kiss her.” Ray leans in, moving his head to the left, then to the right, trying to figure out how to land the perfect kiss. Only he is interrupted. Helen grabs him, putting her arm behind his back, pulling him in. She presses her lips against his and says,“See now that wasn’t so bad was it?” showing off a childish grin. Ray has never felt anything like it. His whole body felt entranced with a feeling all new to him. A feeling he liked very much, a feeling of comfort and safety. He could get used to this.  

Ray and Helen spent the entire train ride getting to know each other, taking in the scenery and just holding each other. Being with Helen makes the entire train ride go by quicker as life just seems better with her by his side. Being with her gives him new hope, new dreams and a new sense of confidence he never had before. She makes the world a better place by just being herself, with her cute little laugh and button nose that curls when she talks, and that is when he notices that she is similar to his mother. Her mannerisms, her looks, all like his mother. Is this the work of his mother? Is she here? Questions Ray will never know the answer to but in his heart he knows she is there. Still looking out for him, still protecting him.  

With Helen by his side, the thirty-six hours pass quickly and before Ray knows it the have arrived in Pennsylvania. Helen looks into Ray’s eyes one more time and says “Look Ray. The Alleghenies look so pretty.” “Pretty. Just like you.” It is in that moment that Ray knows he will spend the rest of his life with her.   Over the next couple of months Ray finds a job as a welder, Helen starts art school and the two of them find a home. The young lovers, Helen only eighteen, Ray just sixteen, get married on a beautiful summer’s day with the mountains behind them. They have a beautiful outdoor wedding with lot’s of Helen’s friends and family showing up. Ray only wishes his mother could have been there to see it.  

A few years later they have their one and only daughter.“We shall call her Agnes,” says Helen, after my grandmother. “Agnes Raven” says Ray. “Agnes Raven Bumgarner.” It is the best day of Ray’s life. He always wanted to be a father he will never forget holding that little bundle of joy in his arms for the first time. Again he vows to himself that he will love and protect that child, they way his mother had loved and protected him. He vows that if anyone ever harms that child, there would be a price to pay.