Two Lefts to Nowhere

Claire

There are a lot of people out there who say that life is unpredictable. What most people don’t realize is that life itself isn’t what’s unpredictable, it’s everything in life that’s unpredictable. You drive home the same way every single day, and one day a car blows the red light and t-bones you. You have chicken for dinner every Monday night, and one week you get food poisoning because that one chicken was infected with some bacteria from somewhere along its journey.

Or in my world, you sneak away from a life that hurt, and you find what you didn’t know you were looking for.

I had driven until I found an inconspicuous town far away from anything familiar. It wasn’t an easy town to come across, you had to put a little effort into finding it. One of those unpredictable parts of life is that there are moments where your intuition tells you that you’re making the right choice - and as soon as I turned the corner and saw Tilly’s Troll Tavern, I knew that I should probably stay. I looked at the dashboard of my decrepit car to see the little trolls bright green hair blowing in the wind, the little jewel in it’s belly reflecting the high noon sun. The previous owner had sold the car at a discount, because their neighbors kid had super glued the troll doll to the dashboard of the car - but in my mind I didn’t get a discount - I won a prize.

I drove up and down the quiet streets of this little town trying to find a room for rent. The air felt heavy with heat as the sun beat down, my arm out the window as my fingers touched the breeze. I had driven through hundreds of towns, past hundreds of rooms for rent, but in this quiet little corner of nowhere I could find nothing. After a couple of hours driving around the pockets of neighborhoods in this sweet little town, I decided that my Troll and I would head back to Tilly’s. Dusk was approaching and maybe they could give me an idea of where to stay for the night.

I made a left into the parking lot, and the breaks screeched to a halt. I put my car in park and took the keys out of the ignition. The lucky rabbits foot attached to the car key swung in my hand as I walked toward the front door. As I entered the small tavern, my eyes adjusted to the dim lights and I tried to hide the surprise my face. Tilly’s looked like the inside of a small cave. The walls protruded out like mossy rocks. The chairs all looked like they had been carved out of large logs and the tables like slabs of stone on top of a mossy hill. There were clusters of small lights along the ceiling that looked like collections of fireflies dimly lit and gradually turning brighter, and then dim again. There were twinkling lights in the center of each table, and a long bar along the wall that looked like a tree had been cut in half and sanded down. The tables were sparsely filled, and after a minute of staring around this magical place, I realized that all eyes were on me.

“You doin’ alright there, Sugarplum? Or should I call in some backup to help you get yourself a seat?” I closed my mouth, that had been hanging open in awe, and spun to my right. An older woman in a flannel shirt, sleeves rolled up to her elbows was staring at me, hands on her hips.

“Oh! Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry, no I don’t need help. I need. Well… Ok, let me just get a seat here, I’m sorry everyone,” I could feel my cheeks burning red as I immediately looked down to the floor, avoiding eye contact with the many eyes that were on me. I’m usually really good at flying under the radar, and instead I had jumped into the spotlight.

I took a seat at the bar, and set down my keys before the woman in the flannel shirt made her way over. She put her elbows on the bar, face in her hands and stared at me.

“Umm, h- hi” I stuttered “I didn’t mean to cause a scene, I’m sorry”

“Oh, dumpling, you don’t worry about a thing. There hasn’t been a scene in this boring town for years. So, what was it that you were needing?” Her eyes sparkled, as one side of her mouth turned up into a coy grin, “Everyone in this bar knows everyone else’s name - but no one knows you. How’d you end up here anyway? You got a name?”

“Oh, I, ummm. I’ve just been driving for awhile and got tired. I thought that I would stop in for a rest and something to drink.” I sputtered out, avoiding eye contact.

“For a rest? And you want a beer before you head on your way? You don’t seem smart.” Plaid shirt lady stated matter of factly, and continued to stare at me with her elbows resting on the bar.

“A water, I should drink water.” I say, glancing up.

“When you walked in you said you needed something, what do you need?” She hasn’t moved to get my water yet.

“I was hoping that someone might know if there’s a room for rent in the area? I have some time on my hands, maybe I’ll stick around for a bit.” I examine my hands, hoping for a quick answer, and when I look up, Plaid is gone. I look around for a moment in bewilderment and hear someone from the other end of the bar, “Don’t worry miss, she’ll be back.” An older gentleman waves at me from the other end of the bar, and then looks back to his newspaper.

After a few minutes, plaid comes around the corner with a piece of paper. “So, what’s that name of yours sugar snap?” She says as she slides the paper across the bar to me, and sets down a glass of ice water next to it.

“You really like calling people food names, don’t you?” I smirk as I take a sip of water, “My name is… um. My name is…Claire.”

“You sure?” Plaid asked curiously,

“Claire. Yes, I’m sorry. I’m so tired. I didn’t catch your name?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Well you haven’t caught it, because I have’t tossed it yet.” She said laughing, as she turned around to grab a refill for the gentleman at the end of the bar. “You can call me Mary, this is my little slice of purgatory. Some call it heaven, I just don’t think they’ve realized they’re looking for something else yet.” I laugh as Plaid, or Mary I guess, slides a water and a small glass of dark colored liquid to the man at the end of the bar, “This is your last one Martin. Have some water, don’t want you getting dehydrated in this heat wave.” I smile as I watch them argue back and forth about Martin drinking a glass of water, and I look back down at my hands. I wonder how long it’s going to take for the white band around my finger to go away from where the ring used to be. All these sunny days I’ve been driving with my hand out the window hoping to tan it away - but it’s still there making my stomach churn every time I look at it. I distract myself again by looking at the sheet of paper that Mary had given me. It contained hand written directions, only four turns. There was an address, and a name underneath the directions.

“Excuse me, Mary, what were these directions for?” I point to the piece of paper lying on the bar. “Also, I’m confused… you’re not Tilly?”

“That, my little ham bone, is a place for you to stay. Now, listen. It isn’t the nicest - but it will be quiet, it will be safe, and no one will bother you there. Belongs to my little brother. He’s a bit of a hermit, but he’s a good guy. He has a little studio apartment above his garage that he can rent out. Has a little sink and a stove, a bathroom, a bed, and a small kitchen table. It’s not much, but it’ll do for a short time if you need some rest. I’ve already given him a call. He put the key under the doormat, and I told him that if he didn’t have fresh sheets on that bed, and a candle burning within the hour that I wasn’t going to cook him dinner this Sunday. Ronald lives for my Sunday dinners, don’t you worry. That candle is probably already burning. Them windows haven’t been opened for awhile, wanted to make sure it smelled nice for you when you got there. Because of the short notice he might charge you an extra $20, but he only wants $100 a week for the place - so I thought you might appreciate the deal.” Mary smiled and nodded her head at me as she turned to walk away,

“Mary, wait!” I stare at her in awe. “You don’t even know me, why did you call your brother and find me a place to stay?” I feel speechless, as I wait for her response.

“Let’s just say its one of those moments where, you just know it’s the right thing to do. I can tell that you’re a sweet girl. You get the rest you need, ok?” Mary gave me a sweet smile and turned to walk away.

“Mary! Just one more question, scouts honor!” I sheepishly ask as she turns back around. “I just. I’m still a little confused. If you’re Mary, who’s Tilly?”

Mary smiled sweetly my way, “You just hold onto that one, pork chop. I’ll share that story one day. I’ve got a feeling about you.” She winked, and disappeared through the swinging doors into the kitchen.

I know that things in life are unpredictable, but I’m feeling quite content with this surprise. I knew when I saw this place that I needed to stay - it’s turns out that this time, I may have been right.