Civic Duty

"Police."

I relaxed. Here I was thinking it was whoever was chasing Lisa and Kari. I was tempted to tell them it was okay to come out, but something told me to wait. I opened the door and sure enough two cops in uniform were standing at my door. They were pretty tall, but not much taller than my six feet. One was white and the other very dark skinned. I raised a brow.

"What's up officers?"

They held out two photos, photos of Lisa and Kari.

"Have you seen this woman and this child?"

Odd. I stalled.

"Why, are they okay?"

"This woman kidnapped the child and the father is looking for her."

Okay, way past odd. Didn't Lisa just tell me Kari's father was dead? Were they lying or was Lisa lying? I wasn't sure what to say.

"Can I see the pictures again, they look kind of familiar."

"Someone saw them getting into a car with you this afternoon, Ms. Lewis."

Okay, that threw me for a loop. How did they know my name and how had they found me? Maybe my license plate? What to say, what to say?

"Yea, I thought it was them. The woman asked me to drive her to the train station."

The black cop took out a notebook, "do you know which train they took?"

"No, I only dropped them off at the 30^th street station. They had blood on their clothes and I offered to take them to the hospital, but the woman just wanted to go to the train station."

"She didn't mention where they were going?"

"No. Sorry."

The white cop pulled a card out of pocket, "I doubt you'll hear from them again, but if you do, would you call us? That little girl's Daddy is desperate."

I nodded, taking the card, "I didn't know she was kidnapped or I would have called you guys right away."

"That's okay Miss. If they contact you, or if you think of anything else, give us a call, okay?"

I nodded again and watched them walk away. I closed the door, looking at the card in my hand. Moments later Lisa stepped from the closet, Kari in her arms.

"Thank you. I'm sorry I put you on the spot like that."

I watched as she looked around for a moment. Then she pulled the tee shirt over Kari's head and began to dress her.

"I'm sorry to have put you in this position. We're going to leave."

I nodded, agreeing it was probably a good idea, "good idea, but we should probably wait a few minutes to make sure they're not watching my place."

Lisa stopped dressing Kari for a minute and looked at me with a strange look on her face, "look, no one is this nice. You've done enough. I can't let you come with us."

She was dressing Kari again, her actions jerky and awkward. I could see the anxiety on her face and her hands were shaking.

"Why can't you just tell me what's going on?"

Lisa was silent, adjusting the dress on Kari and combing her fingers through the girl's tangled hair. I went into the bathroom to retrieve a hairbrush. I didn't usually need one, but sometimes I was lazy enough to let my hair grow just enough so that I needed to brush it in order for it to lay down. Lisa remained silent while she brushed the girl's hair and quickly braided it into one long, thick braid that hung past the girl's shoulders. She seemed to be struggling with something.

"Her father sold drugs. Nothing too big, a little weed, some coke, some E. He evidently short changed Fredo. It's not the first time, although Fredo warned Ricky before. When I went to his place today, I passed Fredo on the street. He didn't even say hello to me. I went up to Ricky's apartment and he was dead, on the living room floor. I didn't see Kari anywhere. I thought they killed her. Then I prayed Ricky had taken her to the sitter. No such luck. She was hiding under the bed. Those idiots didn't even think to look for her, thank God. But she had a perfect view of the living room...and she knows Fredo. I grabbed her and Ricky's emergency fund and left. When we left the apartment, they saw us. I should have waited, I wasn't thinking. They saw me carrying Kari and they figured it out. So I ran. Then I bumped into you."

Oh. I mean what else do you say to that? I could have said 'are you fucking kidding me?' Or, 'let me take you to train station for real,' but neither of those sounded right. So I didn't say anything. Instead I started getting dressed and packing a bag. Lisa was watching me.

"And the cops?" I finally asked.

"You've never heard of Fredo Gibraldi?"

I shook my head.

"Well, he's big time in South Phily. The rumor is he bought some cops. I guess it's true."

I was still packing, but took a moment to glance out one of the windows. I didn't see anybody hanging around outside. When I turned back around, Lisa was still standing there.

"We need to get going," I finally urged.

She shook her head, "Kenni I can't let you do this. Do you understand what I'm saying? This little girl saw a big time drug dealer kill her father. That's more trouble than evenI can imagine, much less someone like you. I mean, come on. What do you do? Teach first grade or something? You shouldn't be involved in this."

"I'm in accounting and I'm already involved. Let's just go. I'll get you to Louisiana and then I'm done. Okay?"

She paused for a moment longer and then nodded, quickly discarding the borrowed tee shirt, which hung on her like a dress for the most part, and donning her freshly washed jeans and shirt. I couldn't help but sneak a peak, even in the face of such serious danger. Her body was delicious, curves upon curves of honeyed, creamy skin, full breasts that were fighting a battle with gravity but hadn't lost yet, voluptuous, sexy hips and thighs. I knew her life was in danger, and I knew she was a het, but I still felt myself get moist at just the sight of her. That body was mouth-watering, even if it was off limits. I raised my eyes back up to hers and saw her watching me, a bit of a smirk on her lips. Then she turned and quickly finished dressing.

*

We headed out. It was 11pm and I knew I would get sleepy pretty soon, but since my adrenaline was pumping I offered to drive first. We were on a major highway and heading south within an hour. We hadn't seen anyone following us, although neither of us knew exactly what to look for. Kari was sleeping in the back seat and Lisa kept looking back there as if we would lose her. It was both nerve wracking and adorable.

"She's okay for now," I finally offered.

Lisa closed her eyes for a moment as if she hadn't realized what she'd been doing. She nodded. "Yea, you're right. Okay."

We were silent for a moment and then I realized she was watching me. I felt self-conscious suddenly. As I mentioned before, I'm pretty tall for a woman, six feet, and I'm rather lean. I don't work out regularly so I'm not 'built' or anything. I'm very dark skinned, like the model Iman, and I'm pretty close to bald. I'm not bad to look at, but it's a striking contrast to the way most women try to look in America today. I don't wear make-up or jewelry and, if truth be told, I'm often mistaken for a guy. Once they get a good look at me, however, my medium sized breasts and the softness of my face kind of clues them in...sometimes.

When I look in the mirror, I don't see anything spectacular, but some say I'm rather attractive. My best features are my rather pronounced cheekbones, my large, round eyes (the pupils are so dark they seem black) and my full lips. I'm one of those women you either think is attractive or ugly, there's no middle-ground. So I had no idea what Lisa was thinking, or if she was looking at my "beauty" at all. She probably had tons of things on her mind that had nothing to do with me. Still, I began to squirm under her gaze.

"Do you always go about rescuing damsels in distress?" She finally asked in a rather husky, very sexy voice. She'd been so stressed before I had only been able to detect tension in her voice. Clearly she was beginning to relax.

"Haven't met any other damsels in distress, but I'm a good Samaritan occasionally."

"I think this goes far beyond that." She teased.

I laughed, glad to hear some humor in her voice.

"What are you going to do once you get to Houma?" I asked.

"Drop her off with her mother I guess. Her mother's people are in Louisiana and after she and Ricky broke up, she went back home. I don't know why she left Kari with him. He adored Kari, but that's no life for a little girl. I tried to keep her out of the mix as much as possible, but I couldn't always be around."

I nodded. It sounded to me like she was a bit of a good Samaritan herself.

"How long had you been dating Ricky?"

She sighed, "a couple of years. I don't know why I got mixed up with him. I guess I'm an idiot. I used to buy weed from him and he was so cute..." She looked out of the window and I couldn't tell if she was regretting her decision to date him or grieving because he was gone.

"Free weed and pretty gifts arenot a good reason to get mixed up with a drug dealer, even if he's small time. All my friends told me I was a fucking idiot. They all warned me that stuff like this could happen. But everything was fine. And he was the sweetest thing...he had these puppy dog eyes," I could hear the tears in her voice, "and he was really good in bed, when he wasn't too high to fuck."

I cringed at the use of her language, but remembered Kari was asleep. Then I wondered what the hell was wrong with me, considering I usually cursed like a sailor. We drove along for a while in silence and then I realized she was watching me again.

"What?"

"You're gay, right?"

Okay, that was an odd question.

"What makes you say that?"

"Just a feeling."

I hesitated for a moment and then glanced at her quickly, "I'm not going to hit on you or anything, if that's what you're worried about."

"What's wrong with me?"

I raised a brow and looked at her quickly again, "huh?"

"You don't find me attractive?"

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"Yes or no?" She pressed, I could see the smile pulling at her lips. I probably would have done anything to make her smile for just a moment considering the circumstances.

"I find you very attractive. Happy now?" I said, pretending to be annoyed.

She smiled and it lit up her face in a way that fuzzed my brain over again.

"Thanks. You're pretty cute yourself."

I glanced at her one more time, wondering if she was kidding me. I couldn't tell so I didn't say anything.

"I'm going to try and get some sleep before it's my turn to drive."

And with that she leaned back into the passenger's seat and dropped off into sleep.

I began to grow sleepy around 3am. I woke Lisa up, made a quick stop and then she took over the wheel. When I woke, it was around 7:30 and broad daylight. Kari was up as well. We stopped for breakfast and I was a little surprised when I heard a soft, little voice ask for pancakes. It was nice to hear Kari speak finally. I was wondering if her mother was going to have to invest some major bucks in intensive therapy for her. We were all wide awake and stuffed with breakfast food when we piled back into the car. Kari and I began to play a few games. I remembered taking long trips with my parents. My Dad used to keep me busy counting yellow cars. It wasn't as much fun as it used to be considering yellow was an increasingly popular color, so we switched to counting Volkswagon Beetles, better known as "punch buggies" to people my age. When I used to count these as a kid, if you saw one you were allowed to punch your competitor in the arm. We skipped the punching, especially since I was driving, but it was still fun. Before we knew it, it was around 1pm. Kari was napping and I was ready for a break. We pulled over at a rest stop and I dashed to the bathroom. I was washing my hands when the door opened and Lisa walked in.

"Hey."

"Where's Kari?"

"Still sleeping."

I nodded but hurried to dry my hands so I could get back to the car. I didn't like the idea of leaving her alone out there. I was on my way out of the bathroom when Lisa suddenly grabbed the front of my tee shirt.

"What the—"

She silenced me with her lips. They were soft, warm...sweet. And the feel of her pressed against me, even for a moment, went right through me. She nipped my bottom lip gently for just an instant before pulling away. Then she looked at me innocently with those gorgeous hazel-green eyes.

"I just wanted to say thanks, you know, for everything."

I nodded. I didn't think I could form coherent words even if I could think of something clever to say. So I just left the bathroom and made my way back to the car. Kari was still asleep and quite safe. And I was a little confused. Why was this het kissing me? Was she curious? Friends had warned me away from curious little heterosexual women. They wanted to dabble and then run back to their boyfriends or husbands. And the women they messed around with always wound up broken hearted. I wasn't about to satisfy anyone's curiosity. And I was still licking wounds after my ex, so I wasn't in the mood for a broken heart. I decided to ignore the kiss. I would just see it for what it was, a simple thank you.

*

After picking up some fast food, we drove until 10pm. I saw a sign for a hotel and insisted we stop. Lisa wanted to keep driving, swearing she wasn't tired. But I could see she was struggling to keep her eyes open.

Kari seemed to be exhausted and I worried about that. She didn't seem to have a fever and her appetite was okay, so I guess she was fine. Her nose was still wet...nah, just kidding, although I did know more about dogs than kids. I was worried about how much she was sleeping. If I had my laptop, I would have looked up the side effects of shock, or signs of post traumatic stress. Perhaps excessive bouts of sleep were normal in the aftermath of watching someone shoot your father. I don't know considering I've never witnessed such a horror. I was saddened that Kari had been forced to.

Lisa was paying for everything. She admitted she had taken about $15,000 from Ricky's apartment. The key she carried was to a bus station locker in New York City. Ricky had stashed over $5 million in cash there. I didn't believe her. I don't know why, it just seemed odd that anyone I knew could have access to $5 million dollars. But while I didn't believe her, I hoped it was true. She and Kari would probably need it.

There was a king sized bed and we asked for a rollaway. I was planning to take the rollaway, but Lisa insisted that I sleep on the larger, much more comfortable bed with Kari. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep. When I woke up to shift just a bit a few hours later, Kari was curled up in front of me and Lisa was curled up at my back. I'm not sure when Lisa joined us, but both of them felt good so close to me. I wrapped an arm around Kari's waist, reached back to place a hand on Lisa's hip, and went back to sleep.

*

We had a quick breakfast the next day and hit the road early. The time flew by. Kari was a much more normal, excessively chatty, inquisitive 5-year-old and Lisa smiled just a little more easily. We expected to pull into Houma, Louisiana around 6pm that night and we almost made it. We were only off by about 30 minutes. After a brief debate over yet another fast food dinner, we decided to drive to Kari's mom immediately. The area where she lived was lined with moderately sized homes and nicely manicured lawns. People were sitting on porches chatting and dogs were barking. We found the house, a lavender house with white shutters, and pulled into the driveway. I could see Lisa relax visibly and Kari could barely wait until we opened the back door. But for some reason I hesitated. I'm not sure why, but it was the same gut feeling I had with the police. Something just didn't feel right. I told them to stay put. Not that I had any idea what I would do if anything was wrong, but I told them to wait nonetheless.

I made my way into the medium sized house, the front door was unlocked and everything was eerily quiet. Shades were drawn, windows closed. There was no air-conditioning unit running and all the ceiling fans were off. Considering it was June and over 90 degrees, I knew something was very wrong. And there was a horrible smell. I couldn't even guess what the smell was. I made my way through the living room, pushing open a closed door. A younger woman and an older woman were lying face-up on a bed. There was a huge, brownish-red stain on the mattress directly beneath their bodies. The room stank something awful. I took two steps back and abruptly bumped into a wall of muscle. I knew I was fucked. The person shoved me away and I turned around. He was much taller than me and must have weighed 300 pounds. Unfortunately, it looked to be 300 pounds of muscle. But I wasn't worried about being beaten to death. I was much more worried about the gun he was pointing in my direction. Turns out silencers really do look the way they look on television. What a wonderful thing to realize right before I was about to die.

"Carolyn, didn't you hear me calling you? Get your tail over here!"

It was some mother screaming for her daughter right outside of the house. The voice startled the man with the gun. I had left the front door wide open. He lowered the gun and hid it behind his back, just in case someone poked their head in. Sure enough, the screaming mother did.

"Whew! What is that God awful smell? Are you two okay in here?"

"There's been an accident. Please call the police."

I said the words without thinking. The man standing beside me scowled. When the women nodded and walked away, he brought the gun back into view and pressed it right against my forehead. My heart stopped beating. Was this how I was going to die? In a stranger's house hundreds of miles away from my own home? I hadn't even called my mother to let her know I was leaving town.

"Everything okay in here? Bessie said ya'll needed some help?"

Another neighbor. This one was short, dark skinned and seriously overweight. But right now she was the most beautiful woman in the world considering she was probably saving my life.

"Ewww, Bess was right, itdoes stink in here! Why don't you two come on out here and wait? What happened in there anyway?"

That was my cue. I stepped away from the man and quickly made my way out of the house. After chatting for a few minutes with the woman, the sounds of sirens announced it was time to leave. I could see Lisa and Kari waiting for me, strapped into their seats, the engine running. They knew something was wrong. All I had to do was get to the car.

*

I didn't speak right away. My hands were trembling violently and I sat with my eyes closed for quite some time. I still felt the cold metal of the gun against my forehead and smelled the stink of rotting flesh. How long had he been waiting there, in that overheated house with that horrible smell? I shook my head, what had I gotten myself into?

"Kenni?"

"My Mom wasn't home?" A sweet little voice asked from the back seat.

I looked at Lisa and shook my head slowly. I could see understanding register on her face slowly. Her hands clenched around the steering wheel.

"Your Mom left a note Sweetie, she's not there right now."

I didn't agree with Lisa's lie, but I understood why she told it.

"Oh, when will she be back?"

"I'm not sure Sweetie, she didn't say. You're going to have to hang out with me for a while, okay?"

Her voice was strained, a false lightheartedness wrapped in barbed wire. Kari was no idiot and could hear something was wrong. Suddenly she was quiet and withdrawn again. I closed my eyes again and rubbed my sweaty palms on my jeans. What were we going to do?

We drove in no particular direction, we had no where to go. Lisa and I needed to talk privately. I wasn't sure when we would be able to do that. After two hours of driving no where, I looked back to see Kari sleeping. As if we were thinking the same thing, Lisa pulled over at a rest stop. We exited the car, closing the doors softly as to avoid waking Kari. We looked at each other, the car between us.