#3: Dale

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Dale was alone.

Shit.

Lately he purely hated to be alone. Until recently though he’d always been alone and it didn’t matter. In fact he’d sought out solitude and avoided people. Many was the time he’d get on his bike and ride. He didn’t care where he was going he’d just go.

But that was then and this was now. That was before he met Trish.

Oh sure...he’d known Trish his whole life. They were like fourth or fifth cousins or something. They had the same great-great grand parents. Not like there was a lot of choice in marriage prospects in these parts back then.

Dale’s family, and Trish’s family had been in that part of Texas a LONG time. Their ancestor’s had plowed the prairies and killed the buffalo. They might have tussled with a few injuns too...in a manner of speaking. Dale was fairly dark skinned.

There was something about Trish though. Lately. Lately he wanted to be with her. Not that he’d DONE anything. Holding hands was a far as it got. But they talked. And they talked. And she was the first thing he thought of when he woke up and the last thing he thought of when he went to sleep…

He had it BAD.

He knew this.

Didn’t help.

Trish and her family had gone to see her Uncle Junior in Canyon fifty or sixty miles north of town. He’d normally have gone with them. Normally he’d have driven since Trish’s dad didn’t much like to drive and Dale LOVED to drive. Anywhere he went with them, and he went with them almost everywhere lately, he drove. Trish’s dad asked him to. It was just the normal thing.

Dale had to work last night. At the Grain Elevator. It was harvest time and the milo was coming in.

It had rained today. The grain was going to be wet for a few days so there wouldn’t be much harvesting. There wouldn’t be much work at the elevator . Old man Bennet had told him to take off and not come back till Monday. That was fine with Dale.

He could go see Trish.

Only she was gone. She’d left him a note pinned to the screen door of her house. Damn. Gone to see Uncle Jr.

So Dale drove around town for a while...maybe they would be back soon. He seemed to drive by their place a lot, like every ten minutes.

This was stupid.

He stopped at the corner store and put a dollar of fuel in his Honda, then took off for Canyon. It took him about an hour to get there. It wouldn’t have taken him that long except for the little roadside “prayer meeting”.

A county sheriff’s deputy had been behind a billboard when Dale went streaking by. After a little chase, it took a while to get Dale’s attention, the deputy stopped him for speeding. Dale and the deputy had a little meeting. The deputy had preached and Dale had prayed…….that he wouldn’t get a ticket. It worked. He got another ‘stern warning” to “keep it below the speed of sound”..and the sheriff's deputy let him go..again. Something must have been wrong with that deputy Dale thought...it was his face. Dale would have sworn the deputy was doing his best not to grin.

Imagine that.

Dale took off. He really tried to keep it below a hundred.

He failed.

He rolled into Junior’s driveway a little later and Trish’s dad just grinned and elbowed Junior. Junior grinned too and gave Trish’s Dad some money. Wonder what that was all about?

Didn’t matter. He was with Trish and that’s all that mattered. He sat and listened to Trish and her grandmother talk. He didn’t say much. Trish’s grand mother was almost a hundred years old and she had some stories. Dale never tired of listening to them.

And then it was time to go. Best make it snappy cause a blue norther was blowing in. Dale said good bye to GrandMa and Junior and followed Trish and her family as they drove away.

The Blue Norther hit just about the time they were crossing under the railroad trestle just south of town. The road forked there. One road went south to the “house” and the other road went to Hereford. The storm hit with a wall of dust and then it began to rain. The temperature dropped forty degrees in ten minutes. Dale didn’t have a coat but how bad could it get ?

Pretty bad

He lost sight of the car. Rain was in his eyes. He shook his head and suddenly a semi truck was directly in front of him...bearing down.

...........To be Continued.............
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