Chapter 5
Sarah hadn't said two words to either one of them since they had made their escape down the drain pipe at the back of the house. It was now early morning, the sun just coming up over the trees and Jimmy was getting impatient with her.
"Listen, Sarah, I wish you'd quit this silent treatment," he complained. He glared at her. "It's making me God damn nervous, that's all!"
Henry chuckled absently, half of his mind on what was going on around him, the other deep in the delightful memory of a few hours before. He glanced back and forth between the two teenagers and sighed.
"You musn't get upset with me, honey," he chuckled happily. "After all, who knows when I might get such a lovely chance with such a marvelous girl again?"
"I think it's disgusting, that's all," the girl growled. She stared at her grandfather. "A man your age Henry ought to have more sense! What if she had some kind of a disease or something?"
Henry chuckled once again. "Well, honey, at my age, I'd just be happy that I had what it took to catch it," he replied. "Aw, come on now, Sarah."
Jimmy cackled teasingly. "Anybody would think you're just jealous, Sarah," he said playfully. "Sounds to me like you were upset because it wasn't you! You're getting to be like a wife with him!"
She shot a glance at him, and Jimmy withered under her glare and turned his eyes back to the road. They were drawing more and more near to the city, now, each mile taking them closer to what Sarah hoped was her grandfather's salvation.
She was wondering, truthfully, why she had reacted this way. After all, she reasoned, she should be glad that Henry had sex, he certainly could use it. There wasn't much of a chance of it happening again for a long time, so why was she angry.
She couldn't believe it was for the reason Jimmy joked about. She didn't want to have sex with her grandfather. But then again, she wasn't too sure about that either.
Everything in her life had gotten so tangled and confused, lately, that she hardly knew what to think anymore. She had found out what sex was like, and wanted more, and she was beginning to wonder if maybe what Jimmy had said wasn't true.
It was the weirdest idea she had ever heard of, but there was no denying, either, that Henry was quite unlike any other old man she had ever met. She knew him as a strong, compassionate man with none of the holds on him that the past had on so many other people.
Perhaps, in a way, it wasn't strange at all that she would be attracted to him, he never treated her like a granddaughter anyway, more like a fellow companion in this life.
She sighed and leaned back against the seat of the car, realizing it was one of those questions she probably would never be able to answer. She watched the road going by outside the window and she prayed, absently, that all would be well at the end of their journey. After all, Aunt Lois and Uncle Walter were the last chance.
These thoughts burned her mind all the day long, and by the time they had reached the last hundred miles of their journey, she was in a feverish state, praying that the end of the road would be a pleasant one.
They were tooling along at a good clip, the sun beginning to lower in the sky when Jimmy moaned and shook his head. Behind them, through the rear view mirror, Sarah could see the flashing light atop a State Police car.
"What are we going to do?" she moaned, shaking her head. "Jimmy, Jimmy, what are we going to do, now?"
The boy nodded, grimly. "There isn't anything else to do but pull over," he sighed unhappily. "Maybe we can talk our way out of it, if we're lucky."
He slid the car to a stop on the shoulder of the road and the trooper pulled up behind him. The big, tall man got out of his car and slowly came up to the driver's side of theirs.
"License and registration, please," he said in a harsh, clipped tone of voice.
Jimmy smiled weakly and gave the man his license and the registration from the glove compartment. The man peered down at it then smiled as he gazed into the car.
"I think you folks better follow me, there's a call out for this auto and three people of your description," the trooper told them. "I'll take you to the station."
Sarah was about to speak but Henry quieted her with a raised hand. As the trooper walked away, he whispered to Jimmy in a low, calm tone of voice.
"You just follow my instructions, son," he said, a slight trace of laughter in his voice. "We'll get out of this mess, yet, I promise you!"
Slowly they took off behind the trooper. Jimmy kept his eyes straight ahead, wondering, rather dreading, what Henry had in mind. The old man was gazing intently at the road in front of them, taking in all the scenery possible.
As the trooper tooled his car around a sharp curve, Henry shouted suddenly to Jimmy, pointing to a break in the fence that kept the highway from the land on the edge of the road.
He showed Jimmy the access road leading away from the highway and the boy quickly spun the car onto it and tore off down the dirt road as fast as he dared. The car left a huge trail of dust behind it as it skidded and swerved down the rutted dirt road and the three of them were cackling wildly as the sped along.
"He'll sure be surprised, won't he," howled Henry, slapping his thigh in delight. "I'd like to see his face when he glances in the mirror and we're not there!"
Even Jimmy could not help finding the situation amusing. He sighed and shook his head, laughing warmly. "That was some trick, Mister Carney," he said with a touch of awe in his voice. "I never would have thought of that!"
"In my younger days, I was on the dodge from the law quite often," Henry explained. "You learn fast how to make use of any breaks you get. Now, he'll go a little crazy, because he didn't expect it. By the time he calms down, we'll be long gone!"
They found a secondary road and Jimmy quickly drew the car up onto it. He drove for a few more miles then turned off again, onto another dirt road, and pulled the car to a stop just out of sight from the highway.
He turned and stared at Henry and Sarah. "They know," he said simply. "They know where we're going. So what do we do, now?"
"Just because they know, doesn't mean Aunt Lois isn't going to take us in," Sarah insisted. "She knows Henry isn't as bad as Frank says he is, I know she knows, that!"
"Well," Jimmy sighed, nodding his head slightly. "We have to keep out of sight the rest of the way. They'll really be looking for us, now!"
"Why don't we just ditch the car, Jimmy, and take a bus the rest of the way?" Henry asked. "They'll be looking for this old heap, but not us, maybe."
Jimmy nodded, slowly. "That might not be a bad idea, Mister Carney," he said after a moment's consideration. "By the time they found it, we could be there!"
"It's our only chance," Sarah finally said, smacking her fist into her palm. "We have to do it, we have to! That is, if Henry doesn't really mind."
The old man laughed. "Why would I mind, honey," he chuckled warmly. "After all, this is the grandest adventure I've had in more years than I care to remember! Let's go, kids, on to New York!"
They caught the bus about twenty five miles out of the city. The three of them were extremely nervous, glancing about anxiously to see if anyone acted like they knew who they were.
The other's boarding the bus ignored them, though, and in a few moments, they were heading toward the city, resting comfortably in their seats as they rode along. Henry lapsed into a calm nap after awhile and took up two of the seats as he slept.
Sarah sat huddled with Jimmy across the way, glancing at the old man nervously every now and then as they talked. She held Jimmy's hand tightly in hers and spoke in a quaking tone of voice.
"What are they going to do to him, Jimmy?" she moaned, shaking her head from left to right in despair. "I'm so afraid for him. If Uncle Walter says ... "
"Come on, Sarah, come on," her friend said carefully. "You told me yourself that he was okay, and he sure don't look senile to me! It'll be okay, you know it will! Just try and relax, baby, relax."
He slipped his arm around her and held her tight to him, turning his head to kiss her tenderly on the cheek. She snuggled up tight to him, feeling protected no matter how absurd that seemed.
She was growing very close to the boy, and she felt a real love for him that before had only been casual friendship. "I'm going to make all of this up to you, Jimmy," she promised. "You'll see, I really will!"
Jimmy gazed at her, fondly. "You don't have to make anything up to me, Sarah," he said finally, his voice trembling with emotion. "Just being who you are is more than enough, believe me!"
They sat together for the rest of the ride, holding each other close, drifting in and out of fitful sleep until the bus pulled into Manhattan and they were jarred away by the size and pace of the huge city.
"Well, well, look at all this, will you," Henry laughed pointing out the various buildings he knew. "Ain't been to New York in God knows how long! Always did love this place, it was so damn crazy!"
The three of them ooed and ahhed over the sights as the bus tooled its way through the heavy traffic toward the terminal in the center of the island. When the bus pulled up to a stop, they allowed all the rest of the people to get off before leaving their seats themselves.
They made their way down to the street and stepped out into the milling, teeming mass of people there, a little stunned by the size and volume of what was surrounding them. Sarah had never seen such a place before and she and Jimmy were a little in awe of the whole thing.
Henry laughed and stepped out into the street to hail a cab. "Seen them do it this way on TV," he cackled, putting two fingers between his teeth and piercing the air with a sharp, screeching whistle.
Almost at once a cab slid over to where they were standing, and Henry pulled open the back door and ushered them in with a wink. When they flopped down in the back seat, Sarah gave the driver her Aunt's address and they took off.
"Well, this is it, Henry," Sarah told him, nervously.
The old man glanced at her with a twinkle in his eye. "Now don't you worry, Sarah," She sighed, by now unable to answer him at all, she was so tense and wrought up. When they reached the apartment building that her aunt and uncle lived in, she paid the driver and they quickly went to the building.
They pressed the buzzer beneath her aunt's mail box and a tinny voice asked who it was. When she identified herself, a sharp, click came from the glass door in front of them, and they pushed their way inside.
In moments they had traveled up in the elevator and were standing in front of her aunt's door. Sarah took a deep breath and pushed the door bell. After a second or two, it swung open and Sarah's heart dropped.
Aside from her aunt and uncle, standing in the center of the room, a cold, tight look on his face, was Henry's son Frank. Sarah realized at once, that her cause was lost and a suddenly swirling blackness came over her then, digging into her mind until she lost all contact with the real world and slumped, quietly, to the floor in the middle of her faint.
It had all been too much for her, the struggle to save her grandfather, only to have the struggle become meaningless in the end. She had tried so hard, so hard ...