Running

Chapter Twelve

I signal for Esther to raise her trunk up for me, so I can slide off. I lead her back to her pen, my hand gently resting on her trunk, guiding her. Uriah walks with us. He is saying something, but I'm not listening. My mind is on my elephant, and my new adventure. The start of a new life. We reach the elephant pen and Bob is there waiting. There is an enormous trailer with its door wide open. Sabeena is already loaded inside.

"Are you excited Miss Kenna?" Bob asks me as he takes the lead with Esther, cautiously loading the 2 ton animal.

"I am really excited. I'm kind of nervous, but I can't wait to get away from here and start over." I say.

Uriah looks at me, "You know, darling, we will have to come back soon if we want to settle things with the court."

Oh yeah. I had forgotten about that. "I can handle it." I say, unsure about my own words. Even though I hadn't left yet, the thought of coming back already terrified me. I felt sick. I felt my face flush.

Uriah must have noticed. "Kenna, would you mind helping me load some things up?"

"Sure."

As we walk away he put his hand on my shoulder. "I know that you are scared to leave, and even more terrified to come back. We could leave and never come back, but you would likely end up in more trouble with the law, than your parents. I would like to try to get you in my guardianship, but if I try that now they will wonder why. I need to be able to tell them about your parents, so we can get justice served. But we WILL have to come back for court hearings. I would tell you I could do it by myself and you wouldn't have to see them again, but I can't make that promise, because you will likely have to testify. Does that make sense?"

I nod. I am almost in tears at this point. He pulls me into an embrace and holds me tight. "It will be okay." he whispers softly into my ear.

*****

Everything has been loaded up and I am sitting in Uriah's pickup. He starts the truck, then turns to me. Looking me in the eyes, he says, "Are you ready for this?"

I nod.

"Are you sure? Because once we leave we won't be back for a couple of weeks."

My stomach flips. But I nod again. "I know." Then I smile, "Let's hit the road, Jack!"

"The name's Uriah, missy." he winks.

We laugh as he accelerates, pulling in behind Bob, who is driving a semi with the elephants. Our circus caravan consists of eight trucks, three cars and six livestock semis. Some of the trucks pull smaller moving trailers, full of all sorts of random things. I guess I never thought about how much work moving a traveling circus took.

*****

I feel the truck slow. I open my eyes. I had fallen asleep. We're pulling into a gas station. "Where are we?" I ask as I rub my eyes.

"Iowa City. We've been driving for about two and a half hours. Did you have a good nap?"

"I thought I hadn't been asleep that long!" My stomach interrupts me, growling. "Uriah, I'm hungry."

He nods. "I am too. We'll grab something in a few minutes." He steps out of the truck and begins filling it.

As he finishes up and climbs back in he asks what I would like to eat.

"I don't know." I say, "We almost never ate out. So I haven't had very much fast food."

"Please tell me that McDonald's isn't one of the few places you've had." He asks, feigning worry.

"Unfortunately, I have had the privilege of consuming a Big Mac. Not something I would ever like to do again."

Uriah laughs. "Have you had Arby's or Subway? They're both close by. I saw them as we pulled in."

I tell him I haven't had either one, so he explains what sort of food they serve. We decide on Subway, but he tells me that I have to try a Jamocha shake from Arby's.

We get to Subway and he explains how I am to order. I follow his lead, ordering a six inch flatbread with ham and Swiss cheese. They ask if I want it toasted. I tell her I do. As it emerges from the oven the girl asks me what veggies I want. I survey the collection of colorful veggies beneath me. I settle on lettuce, tomato and black olives. She squirts ranch over the top of it at my request. I watch her fold the sandwich in half, and fold the paper so fast that I can hardly tell how she did it. She slides my flatbread into a plastic bag as she rings up Uriah.

As we are walking out, we pass Char and the boy and girl that I recognized from the aerial performance. I had been looking for them all week! It was like they had completely disappeared after each of the performances. But here they are, right in front of me. I realize I am staring at the boy, not watching where I am going. He is even hotter up close. Uriah notices me not paying attention and grabs my hand, pulling me out the door with him. I climb into the truck and we drive through Arby's for two Jamocha shakes.

As I sip on my shake my mind is still on him. "Uriah, who is that boy?" I ask, hoping it's not inappropriate to ask such a question. I'd never been interested in boy before.

I catch him smirking as he says, "Ben. Ben Riley."

"That's it? That's all you're going to give me?"

"That's more than you had before."

His comment catches me off guard. I cross my arms and sit in silence, eating my flatbread from Subway and drinking my shake from Arby's, one question on my mind; why won't Uriah tell me more?