The Last Stop

    Mindy tucked Teddy Bear in beside her and turned back toward her mother ,"Don't be afraid ,"Gladys told her,"We are never going back there again.He won't find us this time Sweetheart." Gladys got up and went to gaze out at the rain.All the months of saving every penny she could sneak from the grocery allowance had been worth the risk. Jake had turned out to be her worst nightmare but now she could wake up and live again.She picked up the drawing her little girl made of their new home with Uncle Mike and Aunt Sue and smiled. She said,"We will get there in time for Thanksgiving Honey. Isn't that nice?" But Mindi was already fast asleep.Gladys slid in beside her and kissed her on the forehead.She fell asleep listening to the sound of the rain .She hadn't felt so happy in years.

  "God knows I love the rain,"the old bag lady thought as she sat down on a bench at the bus stop. "I am the rain,"she whispered to herself."Raining all over the world." She bunched her belongings tightly around herself and closed her eyes. She did not intend to take the bus,she only had a few pennies in her pocket. She just wanted shelter from the downpour.It was a long walk back to her cardboard box under the eighth street bridge and Edith was 61 years old. It was the middle of the Great Depression and she simply survived one day at a time. Today had been a good day it was almost Thanksgiving and Edith found lots of things to be thankful for today. She found an antique photo album,a Bible and a big black gun.She fingered the gun in her coat pocket. She wasn't sure what to do with it. Maybe she would trade it to the bad boys under the bridge or maybe she would keep it to scare away the plunderers who ransacked her things . She knew the weapon had been used in a crime or it would not have been in the dumpster. She would have to think about it later. She was too tired right now. She had ventured much farther away from the bridge this time and she would have to rest a while before making the long trip back. Thunder rolled along the spine of the mountains behind her and lightning lit up the night sky. Edith wished she was home in her big box curled up with kitty cat but she soon fell into a troubled sleep in spite of the storm.

  Coming down the side street toward the bus stop a young couple tried to run and stay dry under a shared umbrella. It was a lost cause but they didn't care. The red haired girl laughed as her companion stumbled and fell in a puddle. He laughed too and quickly jumped up to run with her the rest of the way to the shelter.

"Bobby you looked so funny sitting in that puddle,"the teenager said. Bobby grimaced and shook his head like a wet puppy. "Sheila ,I think you pushed me."

    "Aw honey, I wouldn't do that to you on your twenty first birthday. It's the most important day of your life and mine 'cause now you can buy us all the booze we want . This is going to be the best Thanksgiving ever. Aunt Mary is going to love you,I just know it and we will have our own secret celebration."



    "You are so right Sweet heart." Bobby snickered and half pulled a flask out of his coat pocket. "Let's sit over there and check this out." They sat on the bench directly across from Edith who was snoring quietly surrounded by her treasures.

    "She looks like a walk in the rain would do her some good,"whispered Sheila with a giggle.

    "Yeah,it would probably be the closest thing to a bath she's had in years,"said Bobby.



    They were taking turns sipping from the silver flask and talking about the trip to Aunt Mary's when a they heard a scream. Under the street light a block away a large man dragged a screaming woman towards them. A little girl stumbled along behind them clutching a soggy teddy bear.



    "Let me go you monster!" the woman yelled. "We're not going with you this time."



    "You're my wife and you're coming home where you belong!"the man growled.



    The woman stumbled along while trying to reach behind her frantically for the little girl. Lightning flashed across the sky and showed the woman's bloody face set in a grimace of pain and fear. Her shoes were gone and she was dressed only in a thin chemise. She and the child had been dragged out of their bed and into the rain.



    Edith opened her eyes and the young couple stood up in alarm.

    "Say, what are you doing there Mister?" the boy asked loudly.

    "Let that woman go!"he said over the downpour.

The big man half threw the woman in under the shelter and turned to face the boy.

    "Shut up and mind your own business," he shouted as he reached out and pulled the child in beside him.

    "She's my wife and she's coming home with me." He turned around and said in a quieter tone,"How long before the last bus comes Grandma?". Edith blinked and pointed to the schedule posted on a sign above the man's head.

    "Almost an hour." the man mused. He pushed his wife onto the last remaining bench and sat down beside her with the trembling child on his lap.

    The woman was shaking with cold and shock. Sheila tugged on Bobby's arm and coaxed him into sitting back down.

    "There's nothing we can do." she whispered in his ear. "He's too big,he will kill you." Bobby reluctantly sat back down and glared at the angry husband. He hated to see anybody bullied. It was too much like his own father and mother.



    Edith fumbled around in her bag and pulled out a ragged blanket and an old flannel shirt. She hobbled over to the threesome on the bench and wrapped the blanket around the shaking woman. Then she put the shirt around the shoulders of the little girl.



    The angry man allowed her ministrations in silence. He hunched his shoulders and avoided their eyes as he whispered quietly to his daughter.

    "Soon you will be nice and warm in your own bed Mindi. Daddy will tuck you in and tell you a bedtime story."



    Mindy got down and went to hug her mother who opened the blanket and took her inside .

    She held Mindy close until her teeth stopped chattering.



    "It's alright Mindy ,baby." she whispered ."Uncle Mike will come for us soon."



    "Uncle Mike will come for a bullet!"the angry man shouted as he pulled a gun out of the pocket of his slicker. He stood up and everyone gasped at the sight of the gun. For a moment there was no sound except the beating of the rain and the roll of distant thunder.

    Then Mindy began to scream hysterically .

    "Jake stop it ! You're scaring your daughter! "the woman cried.



    Jake spun around, his long black raincoat swirling like a huge bird caught in a trap. He shook the pistol at his family and said,

    "Listen Gladys,this is all your fault!You did this to us! We could have been happy. I told you I was going to change.

    I'll never let you go. I'd rather see you both dead!"



    Bobby and Sheila stood up again . Bobby couldn't just stand by and watch this happening. He had done that all his life with an alcoholic father who beat his family every Friday night. While he was teetering on the brink of jumping the man,Edith took the gun out of her pocket and with no hesitation , fired it into Jake's spine.
Jake pulled the trigger as his body jerked from the shock of impact. His bullet slammed into Gladys' throat just missing Mindy's head. Jake spun around and shot Edith, who fell over pulling the trigger again. Edith's bullet went through Bobby and Sheila killing them both. Within a few seconds everyone at the bus stop was dead except Mindy. Mindy sat down beside her mother and stared at the bloody rain swirling around her own bare feet.

    She clutched her teddy bear and spoke soothingly in its furry ear.

    "It's alright Teddy,the bus will be here soon and we will go home to Uncle Mike's house and have hot chocolate."

    A half hour later the bus pulled up and opened its doors with a grinding screech.

    Behind a curtain of rain a little girl stood waiting. She looked at the bus driver and said quietly...

    "Will you take me to Uncle Mike's house please? We're going to have Thanksgiving."