Chapter 3...Part 6

From where they were, the couple had a couple of different choices where to go. They could continue east along I-10 toward Saint Augustine or they could head south along I-75 toward Ocala. The guest said that the shop for the cars and where his friend PH was Inverness and that was right next to Ocala. If they headed that way then they could just go to the shop and PH would help them.

Off they headed toward Ocala after stopping at the Pilot for hot dogs. They arrived in Ocala late that evening and slept in the parking lot of the Petro truck stop. The next morning the guest again tried to reach PH with no answer.

The girl called friends again to see what she could work out. A friend of hers agreed to send her some money so they went in search of a place to retrieve that money. This took the rest of the gas they had. They searched for a pawn shop first hoping to gain enough gas money to make it to a place to retrieve money. They finally located one and pawned a stereo that the guest had gotten from his brother. It was not much but more than they already had. They stopped for gas and of course cigarettes.

This has not been mentioned before but cigarettes upset the girl to no end. First of all, the guest got her to agree to let him smoke in her vehicle which was something she had never allowed anyone to do in the past. Then whenever they had money the cigarettes came first, then meds or food or gas or whatever needed to be done. It upset her very much but the guest was always so insistent that this was the most important thing that she got used to it. She just agonized over it each time it happened. She swore that if she ever got out of this mess, cigarettes would never rule her life again. She never even smoked so why were cigarettes taking over her life and her livelihood?

They headed on to pick up the money and keep going. They still could not reach PH and the guest told her their best bet at this point was to head to Tampa. The girl was so frustrated at this point that anything sounded better than being stranded.

They headed to Tampa and stopped at the Flying J. Right next to the Flying J was an RV park. The guest told her they should go look at RV’s and that if they found one they were looking for they would forget the one in Mobile and just buy one since they were right there.

They spent a couple of hours looking at RV’s. It was so easy to get caught up in the excitement of something new. It was like buying a house to the girl. She would be able to cook meals and they would be able to sleep in a real bed. It was something they would have with them no matter what happened. Anything stable at this point was what the girl was looking for and truly needed.

They left the RV place and went back to the Flying J for the guest to get a hold of Merrill Lynch. They spent the next few hours waiting to hear a go ahead from Merrill Lynch.

The guest thought it would be a good idea for them to head over to the TA truck stop so that it was not as obvious that they had been sitting there for a while. They sat in the TV room for a while and ended up watching “Charmed” and “Law and Order”. There was a girl there that was very loud and commented a lot. The girl was getting irritated over her but didn’t say much.

After a while the guest was out smoking and the irritating girl came in and told her that her husband wanted to talk with her. The girl went outside to see what was going on. The guest told her that the irritating girl, Don, had been left there by her boyfriend and she had no place to go. She was stranded and needed help. He asked her if she minded helping the girl out. She had a little bit of money and wouldn’t she make a great secretary for the business? He said that they could all get to Saint Augustine, get money and be able to take care of things from there.

The girl thinking they were finally getting to the house agreed that this was a probability. She was very concerned that the girl was going to get stranded as well but felt like at least this girl would not get into any other trouble if she was with them.