Death, Taxes, and Change

Death and Taxes and Change

Interstate 25 was clear and dry and the weather was sunny but cool with a temperature of about 58 degrees. Stephanie Kingman was leaving Las Vegas for what she hoped was the last time.

Not Las Vegas, Nevada, but rather Las Vegas, New Mexico. Her soon to be ex-husband moved them there ten years earlier from Denver, Colorado, where they'd met to take over a car dealership from his father who'd recently been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.

Stephanie adored Denver and hated the lesser-known Las Vegas with a passion. It was a small town of about 15,000 and in her mind, it was in the middle of nowhere. Her husband had been born and raised there but left to go to college in Colorado and stayed there after graduation.

Dennis Johnson was four years older than her when they met, and he was so charming and attractive that he swept her off her feet in a matter of weeks. Just 11 months after meeting him they were married and living in a decent home just outside of Denver's city limits. Dennis taught elementary school, and Stephanie never heard anything but the highest of praise for her husband from parents, other teachers, or school administrators.

Not one of them, to include his wife, knew that Dennis Johnson had a secret. A deep, dark secret that had possessed him since he was a young teen. Even after the FBI showed up one morning to arrest him did Stephanie ever even imagine that the man she'd married and lived with and made love to was a child predator.

Now, almost 16 months later, she still felt ill every time she thought of it, and in spite of her best efforts, she thought it about quite often. She'd learn to stop feeding the thoughts when they came to mind like she'd done for the first 10-12 months, but they still plagued her. She just couldn't believe that he could have kept something he was so deeply into a complete and total secret from her, and everyone else, for so long.

After he was...exposed...in Las Vegas, Stephanie learned there had been several victims in Denver and two more in their new hometown. All second graders he'd carefully groomed for months.

She hadn't done anything illegal or immoral, but the shame she felt was more than she could handle. On a whim, an old friend who lives in Santa Fe called her, and as they caught up she found out that her friend had been selling real estate for several years. Her offer to let Stephanie stay with her until she found a home pushed her over the edge about leaving Las Vegas and she was on her way to her new city-to-be.

She pushed those horrible thoughts out of her mind again and tried to enjoy the beautiful, sunny day, and while she'd never warmed up to the stark landscape, she had to admit it had a kind of unique beauty of its own.

She was just 17 miles from Santa Fe when her 'check engine' light came on. The last thing Dennis had bought her was a 2022 Audi, a car she loved but couldn't afford on her own, and now she was concerned. She knew that it could be anything from a loose gas gap to some catastrophic engine failure. She was also well another that since Dennis's name and photo were all over the local news she hadn't taken the car in for maintenance, and it was now long, long overdue.

"Crap!" she said when the engine sputtered two minutes later then shut off. She pulled off the Interstate as the car coasted to a stop then sat there not knowing what to do.

The events of the last year or so came crashing down on her, and within seconds she was having a full-blown meltdown as she cried and sobbed and snotted and slobbered through half a box of Kleenex. She eventually regained control then realized she still wasn't sure what to do.

"Deep breath and think," she told herself as she took several in a row as she used the mirror and a tissue to remove the mascara streaks staining her face.

"Tow truck. So...insurance. Call the insurance company."

She was amazed to learn that no one would answer the phone for a tow truck. It was all automated. She was 'asked' where she was, if there'd been an accident, and which towing company they covered she'd like to use.

"I don't know!" she said out loud as scanned the names.

"How about...Freeman Towing since it's the closest," she said as she clicked the bubble next to it.

Seconds later she saw, "A tow truck will be at your location between 11am and 1pm."

"What?" she said even louder as she looked at her watch and noticed it was 9:45 in the morning.

Exasperated, she called her friend who told her she had back-to-back closings for the next two hours.

"If your tow truck hasn't shown up by the time I'm finished, I'll come get you," she told Stephanie along with a sincere apology.

"No. It isn't your fault or your problem. That's okay. Really. I have water and snacks, and it's not like I'm on some lonely backroad."

"I know, but still, be careful, okay?" her friend cautioned.

"I'll be fine. Really."

She hung up as cars and trucks continued whizzing by at 65-90mph. The semis created a big enough airwave to buffet her car as they flew down the interstate, but there just wasn't anywhere to go.

About 30 minutes later a New Mexico State Patrol Officer pulled in behind her and walked up and asked her if she needed help. She explained the situation and he let her know that people left their key under the mat in situations like this all the time.

She looked at him in disbelief which made him smile.

"I'm serious, ma'am, and if you were to call the towing company, they'd tell you the same thing. I'll call in your car and law enforcement will keep an eye out for it until it gets towed. The only other option is to sit out here and wait, and while it's your call, I wouldn't want my wife out here."

"How do I...leave?" she asked through her window over the roar of traffic.

"I'm headed into town, and I know where Freeman's shop is, so I can give you a lift."

"You're sure it's safe to leave my key in the car?"

"No one can guarantee anything, but that aside, yes, it's safe. As safe as possible."

"Okay. Well...thank you."

"Sure thing. Oh, and please don't lock the car," he said with another smile.

"Oh. Right. That would make things difficult, wouldn't it?"

The officer didn't reply, but he did wait for her to put the key fob under the mat then escorted her to his vehicle.

"Thank you so much," she told him once they got in.

"My pleasure," the average-looking, 40-something man told her. "You from around here?"

"Las Vegas," she said with a smile of her own until she wondered if he might somehow connect her to her almost-former husband. "I'm moving here. To Santa Fe."

"Okay. It's a nice town. We really like it."

"You're married?"

"Yes. Twelve years. And two kids," he proudly informed her.

"You?"

"Me. No. Divorced," she said, stretching the truth by a couple of months. "And no kids."

"I'm sorry things didn't work out for you."

He looked over then said, "I hope it's okay to tell you you're a very attractive woman, so whenever you're ready, you won't have any trouble finding someone."

"Oh, thank you. I do appreciate that, but I'm not looking. Not yet, anyway."

"I understand," he told her without prying any further.

Stephanie didn't say anything for a bit then shared a thought she'd been having many times lately.

"You know, you get married truly believing it will last a lifetime, and then...poof! It's over."

The officer didn't respond, so she apologized for prattling.

"Not at all. I'm of the opinion that nothing lasts forever."

He did look her way for a moment and saw the puzzled look then explained.

"We come into the world alone and we go out alone. Along the way we have relationships. Friends, lovers, acquaintances, business associates, etc., but they all end."

"That seems rather gloomy."

"Maybe so, but I honestly believe it's true."

She hated admitting it, but it really did seem true, and that only made her feel even worse.

"Okay, we're almost there. Just three blocks after we exit the freeway and turn right. You gonna be okay?"

"Yes. I'll be fine. My friend will come and get me, and I'll be staying with her until I find a place."

"I'm sorry about your car, and I wish you all the best," he told her as he pulled off the interstate.

"Thank you, and thank you for helping me. When my car died it felt like the whole world was against me."

"At the risk of saying something as negative-sounding as I just did, maybe the universe isn't out to get you but...just doesn't care?"

She tried to smile as she made eye contact with him then said, "You should not go into psychiatry."

He laughed and told her he agreed as he pulled into Freeman's Towing.

"Good luck," he said as she opened the door.

"Thank you, and I hope your marriage lasts forever."

He bent down as she stood up so he could see her face then said, "I'll be happy if we make it 'til' death do us part'."

She couldn't even smile at his comment but thanked him again then closed the door.

As she walked inside she wondered whether he was just a 'Debbie Downer' or some kind of purveyor of the truth she saw a woman of about 50 at the desk.

"Hi. May I help you?" the woman asked.

"Yes. Hi. I'm Stephanie. Kingman."

"Oh, okay. We're towing your Audi, right?"

"Yes. I hope you are. Oh. I left my key fob under the mat. I hope that's okay?"

"Absolutely. We deal with that all day, every day," she said with a friendly smile. "Are you planning to wait?"

"Yes. If I may. I have a friend who'll come get me, but she's in meetings right now."

"Then make yourself at home, and if you like I'll get you a cup of coffee."

"I'd love one, but...."

She leaned closer then said rather quietly, "I really have to pee first."

The woman laughed then pointed to the restrooms.

They were remarkably clean which was a small piece of good news in a sea of bad. When she finished the other woman introduced herself as Donna and handed her a cup of black coffee and let her know where the cream and sugar were.

They chatted a little about Santa Fe in between phone calls, and it was obvious why getting a tow truck was taking so long. They were slammed with calls, and according to Donna, they only had two trucks available as their third was in for maintenance.

It was 11:48 when someone in a blue shirt and dark blue pants walked in and said, "Okay, Mom. I'm going out to get the Audi. Have you sent me the location yet?"

"Uh-huh. Just did. Oh, and the owner is here waiting," she said as she nodded toward Stephanie.

Her son was tall, well built, and quite handsome. So much so that, for some reason, her brain couldn't make sense of someone that good looking driving a tow truck. As he walked over toward her he smiled then introduced himself.

"Good morning. I'm Caleb Freeman. I'm sorry you broke down, but we'll do what we can to get your vehicle on the road to recovery."

"Thank you. I just hope the repairs are covered by the warranty."

He looked at his phone then said, "Ah, okay. It's a 2022 model, so hopefully you'll be okay."

"I really hope so," Stephanie said, her anxiety showing through.

"Do you have someone picking you up?" he asked, "and what shop do you want us to take the car to?"

"Oh. I haven't even thought of that. I...I don't live here, so do you have a recommendation?"

He and his mother both gave the same dealership at the same time which made Stephanie laugh.

"Then I guess that's settled, and yes, I do have a friend coming. Later."

"If it's more than an hour you're welcome to come with me to get your car, and I can drop you and the vehicle at the Audi dealership."

He smiled then said, "They have nicer seats. Leather. Very fancy."

"These are fine," Stephanie replied even though she knew they'd be sticky in hot weather. "I don't want to be a bother.,"

"You won't be. Besides, as good company as my mom is, you must be bored to death just sitting here."

"I don't know," she replied as he looked down at her, a warm smile on his face.

"As an added incentive," he began as though he was making a sales pitch, "I'll let you raise and lower the ramp."

When he wriggled his eyebrows up and down she laughed for the first time in days then told him the bribe was too good to pass up.

"Great! I'll pull the truck around and we'll be off in two minutes."

When he left Donna said, "I can't remember him ever doing that before."

"Is it not okay? I don't want to get anyone in trouble."

Donna laughed and told her that Caleb owned the business.

"He's the owner," Donna told her. "My husband passed away last year, and before he died we both agreed Caleb was the logical choice to take over."

"Oh, my. I'm so very sorry."

"Thanks. He was the love of my life. But as they say, 'all good things must end', right?" Donna said with a weak little smile.

"I've heard that," she replied without elaborating on the state trooper's comments as the tow truck pulled up.

Stephanie jumped when Caleb hit the 'aroogah' horn. His mother laughed and hollered out at him for doing it, but he just smiled back and waved for Stephanie to come outside.

He ran around and helped her get up and in, and as he did, he couldn't help but notice she had a very tight...bottom as she pulled herself up and into the cab. She was also blessed a very attractive face, and a body to match.

He'd dated a woman was 30 when he was 20 for a few months, and while it didn't last, it was by far the best relationship he'd ever been in. Then again, he was now just 22 and had only been in two others. There'd been a fair number of hookups, but they brought him no satisfaction, and he wanted a relationship and the stability it brought, his tender years notwithstanding.

"I have to warn you, this is no Audi," Caleb told her as soon as he hopped up and in.

She laughed then tried to do a British accent but failed miserably as she said, "That's positively dreadful! How shall I go on without the finer luxuries of life?"

He laughed in spite of the horrible accent then asked her to strap in.

"Are we blasting off?" she teased as she pulled the seatbelt around.

"Not exactly, but it gets the job done."

She looked around the cab, and having never been in a tow truck, found it only mildly interesting. What did interest her, though was the book lying on the dashboard.

"War and Peace, huh? There's a real page turner," she said as she reached for it while asking, "may I?"

"Sure. Be my guest. But don't tell me how it ends," he said with a chuckle.

"I can't believe you're reading this. It's the butt of jokes for anything that's, you know, long and boring."

"Yeah. It's a tome, that's for sure. But it's actually very interesting."

She flipped through the pages then asked, "Seriously? What's it even about? I honestly have no idea other than...."

She looked at the cover then said "War and peace."

"Nothing gets by you, does it?" Caleb replied with a laugh.

"Sharp as a tack," Stephanie told him with a laugh of her own as she pointed to her brain which told her she was enjoying the friendly banter.

"It has several themes, but I guess the main one is that we're all people writing history that later generations will read about, even if we don't realize it. Essentially, every action we take makes some small mark on the world, even if the marks we make are eventually erased."

He looked over at her then said, "And inevitably, everything gets erased as nothing is certain in life. Well, except for death, taxes, and change."

Stephanie hadn't thought about what to expect when her car broke down, and were she to have given any time at all to a tow truck driver, someone like Caleb Freeman would have never even popped into her head. He was supposed to be in his 40s or 50s, a little overweight, wearing dirty pants and a greasy ball cap, and interested in beer and trucks and maybe even guns.

Okay, she knew that was unfair, but it fit her stereotype. Caleb did not. He was none of those things. He was young, handsome, clean-shaven, tall, and he was reading a book that made her want to fall asleep just thinking about it. Now he was summarizing it like a college professor, and suddenly she felt...inadequate.

"I've heard about death are taxes being the only two guarantees in life, but this is the first time I've anyone mention 'change'," she said, hoping she wasn't saying something so patently obvious that she sounded...stupid.

"Death is certain and judging from history, taxes pretty much are, too, but they aren't necessarily inevitable if you can say, live off the grid entirely," he replied cheerfully and even enthusiastically. "But there's another inescapable aspect of life, and that's change."

She recalled what the state trooper said about nothing lasting forever and offered it as her own as she tried to hold her own or at least make a contribution that made sense.

"I agree with that, and the reason that nothing, and I mean nothing, lasts forever, is that there's not one thing in this entire universe that's not in a constant state of change. And in all cases, the change eventually leads to greater decay or...entropy...if you want to get into the physics of it all."

"Entropy. I've head of that, but I'm not exactly sure what it means," she said with an embarrassed laugh before asking if he could explain it 'for dummies'.

"Dummies. Listen to you. Most people wouldn't even have mentioned War and Peace let alone take an interest in something philosophical which is actually scientific."

"You'll soon discover I'm already way over my head," she said with a laugh meant to mitigate her lack of knowledge and growing discomfort, and yet she was also very interested. Or was he just too cute to tune out?

"I doubt that," he replied as he looked over at her and smiled before explaining what entropy is.

"There's a technical definition of entropy I won't bore you with, but in a nutshell, in layman's terms, it's the gradual decline into disorder."

"Oh, boy. Disorder?"

"Let's say you mow your lawn in the summer then let it go for a month. What happens."

"It grows, right?"

"Correct. Let it go for two years and it'll start taking over your sidewalk. Give it 25 years, and the sidewalk will be gone. What was a yard will look like a jungle. The only way to stop the decline is put in effort or energy or work. Our bodies are the same way. We take a shower or shave...."

He smiled again as he looked at her and said, "Face or legs, depending."

Stephanie smiled, too, and while the topic wasn't exactly a...page turner...she found that she really enjoyed talking with him. And looking at him wasn't all that hard to do, either.

"You shave but tomorrow there's stubble. In a month, a guy has a beard."

"And I have...disgusting!" she said with a laugh that made Caleb laugh, too.

"Exactly. So the point is that from every cell in our bodies to every living thing in the world to all of the matter in the universe, everything is constantly changing. Stars burn up their fuel and turn into white dwarves, neutron stars, or black holes. They then slowly use up all of their energy and die, too. That's what entropy is. In the absence of someone or some thing putting energy into it to make or keep something orderly, the thing changes, and the change is always toward greater decay."

He looked over to see if she was still with him and realized he was boring her to death.

"Doesn't matter whether it's a star like our sun or a relationship or...a yard...everything changes and eventually ends. And with that, I'll give it a rest," he said with another laugh.

"No. That was actually very interesting. I was just imagining my house and how dust starts collecting as soon as I finish dusting or vacuuming or washing the dishes."

"See? You do understand!"

"I didn't mean to cut you off if you stopped talking because you thought I was bored," she told him.