On The Run

I heard rustling in the bushes to my right, I looked over to see if there was an animal of some sort but saw nothing. It was hard to see anyway with the sun shining in my eyes. It has to be at least a hundred degrees out. I was trying to catch some sun by the pond behind our house but after twenty minutes I almost couldn’t take it anymore. Summers in southern Georgia were brutal, I keep begging mom to move further north, but she doesn’t want to leave her job.

I stood up to grab my towel and shoes and heard the same rustling in the bushes again. Whatever it was sounded big and, in this heat, the gators would be looking for water wherever they could, and I didn’t want to be here when they found it. I walked over to the big rock where I left my house keys, only there was something else sitting there with them. A small black book, that almost looked like a journal. “That’s odd”, I thought to myself. That wasn’t here when I set my keys down; or was it? Now I couldn’t remember. I looked around but I didn’t see anyone. Surely, I would have noticed someone standing just a few feet away but I had been deep in thought.

I picked it up and thumbed through a few pages, there was nothing written in it that I could see. I contemplated taking it with me for a minute, but I left it, just in case the person who it belonged to, came back looking for it.

I walked by up to the small shack we called home. It wasn’t much but mom and me have pretty much been on our own since daddy left when I was just a baby. Mom dropped out of high school her senior year after becoming pregnant with me, my dad who was a few years older than her had promised to take care of her but after I was born, he took off to avoid going to jail. Eventually he was caught and spent a few years in the hole, after he got out he came to visit, I think I was four at the time, but it didn’t last. He was back in trouble again within a few months. That’s pretty much been the story my whole life. He gets out of jail and promises he is going to change and start helping with money and then he’s gone again before I can get to know him. In fact, last I heard, he was in some serious trouble. Maggie, who is the manager at the gas station where my mom worked, knew everyone’s business. She had told mom he was in deep this time and was on the run. She didn’t say for what, but it sounded like when they catch him, he was going away for a long time. I didn’t mind though, the last 15 years I have had mom, and she is all I needed. We didn’t have much money but that didn’t matter. She made everything special. I do pretty good in school, when I graduate, I’m determined to get a good job and get mama and me out of this tiny house where we share a bedroom. I got in the house and went to take a shower, but it seemed the water was turned off again. I knew mom would get it taken care of when she got paid, I tried not to complain, I knew she was doing the best she could.

I went to go lay on my bed and finish the book I was reading, but it wasn’t with my stuff I had brought up from the pond. I intended to read while laying out there, but the sun was just too bright. I must have left it in the grass.

I slipped on my shoes and went to go grab it, I stepped out the front door and right there on the ground sitting on the cracked and broken piece of concrete that we called our front porch, there was that same little black book. I stepped a little further outside so I could look around. I was a little nervous knowing someone was following me. We didn’t have any neighbors close enough by to hear me scream. I considered walking into town and waiting at the gas station until mom got off work, but I really did not want to walk two miles in this heat. Mama would be home soon anyway. Maggie usually dropped her off after work, so she didn’t have to walk.

I didn’t see anything unusual out front, so I clutched the book tightly under my arm and went back inside. I sat down on the floor and set the book in front of me. Who wanted me to have this so bad? And why? Did someone see me briefly holding it and think it was mine? I stared at it for a few more minutes and finally picked it up to open it. It looked brand new, it even smelled new. I opened the first few pages, looking more carefully this time for any writing inside. I turned it page by page and still nothing. The pages didn’t lay completely flat, there was something in the back of the book. I hadn’t noticed that down earlier. I flipped to the back and there was an envelope taped to the very back cover. It read Katy and Naomi. Naomi was mama’s name and it just suited her. Before I could open up the envelope, I heard the front door open and close. Mama was home. She walked over and gave me a kiss on the head. “How was your day Katie Cat?” My name was Katherine, but mama has called me Katie Cat ever since I was little. I was too old for it now, but I never tell mama that. “It was good Mom. I tried to get some sun, but it was too hot to be outside. How was work?” I replied. Mama was in the kitchen putting away the food she brought home. Maggie knew money was tight and would let mama bring home some of the extras that were supposed to be thrown away. It looked like we were having hot dogs and donuts for dinner tonight, one of my favorites. “It was ok, I just cannot wait to take a cold shower and wash this Georgia heat of me!” She replied.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her the water wasn’t working so I waited for her to find out. I heard her groan from inside the bathroom when she found out the water had been turned off. She came back out of the bathroom looking a little defeated but perked up when she saw me staring. “I guess we are going to pretend like we’re camping tonight! It’s going to be so much fun!” Mama always turned bad situations into something fun. She never liked to see me worried or upset. “What’s that you got in your hands?” She asked me. I completely forgot I was holding the little black book. “Oh...I found this on our doorstep today.” Leaving out the part where someone seemingly followed me home from the pond to make sure I found it. “I stepped outside, and it was just laying on the front step. There is an envelope with our name on it inside, but you walked in before I could open it.”

Mama looked confused, she took the book from me and peeled the tape off the back cover to free the envelope. She slowly opened it, and her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. “Katherine Marie…who gave this to you?” “I don’t know, someone just left it, I didn’t see them. Why? What’s in there?” I asked in a panic.

Mama pulled out a wad of cash, more money than I had ever seen in my life. From what I could see, most of it was hundred-dollar bills. Her mouth was still hanging open as she began to count it. When she was done, she leaned against the refrigerator as if she might pass out. “Katie, this is twenty-thousand dollars!” I didn’t even know what to say, I just stared at mama holding the money. “Who would give us that much money?” I said in a tone that was half a yell and half a whimper. Mama grabbed the little black book and started flipping through pages. “There has got to be a note!” She exclaimed. After she went through every page, there was nothing that indicated who would have left so much money with our names on it. She grabbed the envelope that the money had been in, she pulled out a small yellow folded piece of paper. She must have overlooked it when she pulled out the cash.

She unfolded the piece of paper, her hands shaking. She read out loud, “Naomi and Katie, I’m sorry I couldn’t change to be the man you both needed me to be. I hope this helps. Love you. Wyatt.”

Mama just stood staring at the note, she almost looked angry and yet like she wanted to cry at the same time. Wyatt was my daddy and as far as we know, he didn’t have any more money than we did. Where did he get twenty-thousand dollars?

Mama finally spoke up “We shouldn’t keep this.” She said in a regretful tone. “Mama, think of all the problems that money will solve, aren’t you tired of barely making it?”. She continued to stand and stare at the note, finally a saw a tear stream down her rosy cheeks. I hadn’t seen her cry since I was a little girl. She made a point to never let me see her upset.

“Katie Cat, you are not to tell anyone we have this money. You understand?” I slowly nodded my head in agreement. There is no telling where daddy got this money from, but I know I didn’t want anyone coming to take it back.

Three days went by, that was enough time for us to pack what clothes we had, say goodbye to Maggie at the gas station and let her know mama wasn’t going to be coming back to work. Maggie had always looked out for us. She was like a grandmother to me. We took some of the money and bought bus tickets. We were headed to Montana. Mama had a brother out there, my Uncle James. They were never close, in fact they hadn’t seen each other since I was two, but he said we could stay with him and get mama a job in working at a butcher shop. He also said he would pay me to help with chores on his farm.

Turns out daddy went back to jail; it would be a while before he was out. He had broken in and stolen money from several houses a few towns over from where we lived, as well as robbed a small convenience store. He had been on the run for a couple months before they caught him.

Part of me felt bad, leaving him in Georgia and not telling him we were leaving. I know what he did was wrong, but I knew his heart was in the right place. He just could never seem to get it together. The other part of me was excited for this new journey mama and I were on. I was excited to escape the Georgia heat. Most of all, I was excited to see mama with a real smile on her face. She of all people deserved a new beginning. I looked over, she had fallen asleep, but she still had a slight smile on her face. She was still clutching her bag which had the money in it. That smile let me know everything was going to be ok.