Going Home

"Tony turned out to be quite a character, keen on telling jokes and funny anecdotes about his experiences on the road. He was also a true gentleman, explaining that he would be having a sleep in the cab bed but I was welcome to stay there while he did. He also was married and they lived in Chicago with their three children. So as the night got later and the warmth of the cab started making me drowsy, I climbed into the bed and slept like a log, trusting Tony completely."

I smiled as I remembered Tony. He was a real nice guy and we got on very well. After many chuckles at stories he told, I found myself feeling the effects of a couple of days on the road. It's strange how emotional trauma takes time to come out. As I lay in the cab bed I relived some of the memories of the past few years and found myself sobbing uncontrollably at the emotions that these memories brought up. I was grateful for the noise of the truck hiding my sobbing from Tony. After a while I drifted off to sleep, waking in the late morning bursting for a pee and hungry for breakfast. Tony also bought me breakfast of bacon and eggs and coffee.

"The next day went quickly and by dusk we were pulling into Chicago. I was really sorry we had arrived because I now had to go out into the wide world and fend for myself again. It's amazing how you can become so dependent so quickly. I thanked Tony sincerely and for the second time in two days had a loving, non-sexual hug. He dropped me on the exit road on I-80 from Chicago, with his final wisdom being 'You take care out there, y'hear.'

"I stood by the road feeling more lonely and sorry for myself that I had for a long time. The changes in my situation were really playing with my head. Shortly a sedan came along and pulled over. There were a young guy and girl in the front and another guy and girl in the back. They asked where I was heading and when I said New York, they laughed and said get in anyway, and told me they were going to Detroit and could drop me off at the turnoff or they could take me all the way there and I was welcome to go to the party they were attending. I chose the party, not because I was in a party mood, but because I thought company would be safer than hitching at night. I was wrong, as it turned out, but survived the night and thumbed a ride back to the intersection the next morning."

These people had made me nervous, which I found interesting because they were about my age but they also had a 'couldn't care less' attitude about them. However, I sat in the back seat with the guy in the middle and the girl on the other side. We drove through the dark, the guy spending a lot of time kissing his girlfriend and, I suspect a great deal more than that judging by the movement that was occurring. I then felt his hand on my thigh, gently moving up and down caressing my skin. 'Here we go again,' I thought. I carefully removed his hand, and he bent over and whispered in my ear 'You don't know what's good for you. Don't you want a bit of fun?' I told him I didn't so he left me alone for a while.

Around 10.30 we reached the turnoff from the I-80 and the car pulled over. I was asked if I wanted to be dropped here or head to Detroit and come to the party with them. It was a hot rod club that they belonged to and I was told there would be heaps of great guys and chicks and I should come along for a good time. Well, I could do without a good time, but at this time of night company rather than taking my chances on the highway was possibly the best option. I agreed to accompany them to the party.

There were about 150 young people, late teens, early twenties, gathered in a huge barn on a farm. Facilities were basically nonexistent. A band was playing rock music which people were trying to dance to as they rapidly became drunk or stoned on a wide variety of drugs. It seemed the only liquid available was alcoholic, no food was apparent, beds were broken up bales of hay scattered beside the walls of the barn and many of these were already occupied by couples having sex. Company was one thing, this orgy was totally different.

Before I knew it I was grabbed by a couple of guys and dragged to the dance floor. After a few dances they took an arm each and walked me outside. I struggled to get away but they held me firmly, dragging me at one stage until we reached a hay barn where the smell of the fresh hay smelt really good. They almost threw me onto a pile of hay and while one held my hands above my head with a hand over my mouth, not that anyone would have heard my screams above the noise of the party, the other reached under my skirt and pulled my panties down to my ankles. He then used his knees to push mine apart and unzipped his fly, letting his erection pop out.

"You're goin' love this, honey," he drawled as he spat on his fingers and wiped it on my pussy, "Now just relax and enjoy it."

He moved forwards, his weight heavy on my legs and I tried to wriggle my hips to push him off. He was not to be denied. I felt his cock press against my entrance and then the excruciating pain of his dry cock entering my unprepared tunnel. I tried to scream but it was muted by the hand pressed firmly on my mouth. I tried to bite it but my teeth just slipped over the skin. He withdrew, then pushed in again.

"Geez you're tight and dry," he complained, rubbing more spit on his cock before pushing back in, slightly less painful now.

It took only a few minutes of fucking before he came, spurting his cum in my unprotected cunt. Thank god I was on the pill! He withdrew and they swapped places, the second guy having no problem inserting his cock into my cunt, now well-lubricated by his predecessor's cum. A couple of minutes and it was all over. He squeezed my nipples and they both walked out, leaving me painful and feeling abused, but also strangely sexually frustrated.

I sobbed in humiliation. Even though I had been raped many times before, I had never come to accept it. Eventually I slept.

Next morning I awoke and found the place quiet, everyone sleeping. I went towards the road and started hitching, getting a ride to the turnoff at Perrysburg with a couple who were heading west. I thanked them for the ride, had breakfast, although it was closer to lunchtime, and hitched eastward.

"Hitching was really slow and it wasn't until mid-afternoon that I got a ride with a negro couple and their two children in a battered station wagon. Normally I would have passed up this ride but I was running out of time and wanted to get to Harrisburg that night. How wrong I was in my estimate of these lovely people. As we travelled on I began to relax, enjoying their conversation and playing a few games with their children in the back seat. These people looked rough and had been subjected to prejudice all their lives. They had dropped out of school and had part time menial work, not really paying enough to support themselves, let alone raise a family as well."

I paused as I remembered that day; hitching was slow for some reason and I was starting to get a bit concerned when an old station wagon with a couple on the front and two young kids loose in the back pulled over. They didn't look the best prospect I'd ever seen but it was getting to the stage where I couldn't afford to be choosy.

"Where y'headin'?" the woman in the front seat asked.

"New York. Hoping to get as far as Harrisburg tonight," I replied.

"Yeah, we're headin' that way. Jump in." She turned to the kids in the back. "Jethro, Ali, make some room for the lady. You cain't hog the whole seat."

I climbed into the back of the wagon.

"Thank you so much," I said, "Hitching has been very slow today. I'm Lana by the way."

"Hi Lana. I'm Rita and this is my hubby Sam. You already heard our kids are Jethro and Ali. Why you goin' to New York?"

"I have my grandmother's funeral tomorrow."

"Oh, I'm really sad to hear that, sweetie. You musta been real close to travel all that way to her funeral. Where ya come from, honey?"

"San Francisco."

"Wow, you really must love your granny."

"She basically raised me. My parents were pretty hopeless and I learnt all I know from my gran."

"Yeah, know what that's like, eh Sam. Our parents were both useless too. Real hard raisin' kids with no grandparents to help. Still, we do our best with what the good Lord gives us."

"We stopped for dinner at a roadside cafe and filled the car with gas. I offered to pay for the gas but they wouldn't hear of it, and in fact insisted on paying for my dinner. These people who had so little were absolutely emphatic that they share what they had with me. I was deeply humbled; they taught me a great deal about the value of life and of consideration for others.

"Around 11pm we arrived at their home on the outskirts of Harrisburg. They told me that I was very welcome to stay with them and, in fact, insisted that I do so, pointing out it was a bit late to find accommodation now. So I slept on a spare mattress on their living room floor, waking early when their children awoke."

I recalled the gratitude I felt for these wonderful people who had taken me under their wings, so to speak, and insisted on caring for and nurturing me at their cost. It still brings tears to my eyes to remember the caring affection this couple and their children showed me in the short time I was with them. Never again will I judge people based on any sort of prejudice.

I remembered waking at dawn to their children gazing at me like a zoo exhibit, large eyes shining and smiles on their faces. They gave me breakfast and again, when I offered them some money for their trouble and expenses, they refused point blank, saying they were very grateful for the opportunity that the Lord had given them to show their caring and hospitality to someone in need. Sam even drove me to the I-78 highway to New York.

"After and early breakfast Sam drove me to the main highway to hitch the last five hours to New York. This was a very uneventful day, although it took three rides to make it to the city, then I caught a bus to the church. I arrived with only a few minutes to spare and had changed into my presentable clothes at the toilets down the street.

"I saw my mother in the front row of the congregation but on attempting to sit beside her she simply waved me away, pointing to the back of the church. After the service I managed to get a ride to the cemetery for the burial.

"As I left the graveside I noticed two New York police heading towards me. They introduced themselves, asked if I was Lana Peterson, and after I said I was, they told me that they had a request from the FBI in relation to the death of a person in San Francisco and requested that I accompany them. They dutifully handcuffed me and took me away in their Police cruiser."

I was devastated both at being arrested and that I had taken a human life, even such a low-life as Dingo. I remember being processed at the station and locked up. Obviously, with no money or support from relatives, I couldn't make bail, but it did solve the problem of accommodation and meals. I remembered with gratitude the witnesses and neighbors from San Francisco who testified on my behalf, backing up the truth that I had struck out at Dingo in self-defense and verifying that I had been held in sexual slavery for a long time.

Possibly the most important thing to come out of this was the local community leader who pleaded with the police to allow me to start the course, whose graduates I was now addressing, in an effort to reduce crime, drug addiction and prostitution among young people in New York.

I was found guilty of second degree murder but due to the nature of the offence, the long-term provocation and the assault that resulted in my retaliation, my sentence was to be one year's community work in establishing and teaching this course.

"Once all the paper work and the trial were completed, I ended up a convicted felon who was directed to establish and teach the course from which you have just graduated. So that is how it all happened. Along the way I have learnt a great deal about people and about myself, just as you have this year. I hope that you can also benefit from your learning as I did from mine.

"Your main task now is to stay clean. You know what it feels like; you have each other for support. I intend to run this course each year from now on, changing the lives of young people who have been given a very rough start in life. I would like you to help them by telling them about this course, about how there is another way and a better life.

"Thank you for being on this course. I have learnt a great deal from you. Please go into the community and help wherever possible to bring those most in need to future courses so that we can truly be proud of the young people of New York. Congratulations once again; you are all wonderful people and it has been a pleasure and a privilege to have taught you and learnt from you this year. I wish you well for your futures."

Everyone in the hall stood, clapping and cheering. After they had been presented with their graduation certificates they all individually thanked Lana for her love, courage, support and the teaching she had given them. They then all left the hall, heads held high, with their parents, relatives and support people.

Those on stage thanked Lana for her work with the youth of New York. They were adamant that the course had made a huge difference, not only to these young people but to all youth because these graduates were now the shining lights going forth into the community. It could only get bigger and better. They all recognized that Lana was the best possible person to run this program because she had the skills and abilities, and also, of equal importance, she had the street credibility by having walked her talk.

Epilogue:

Lana was walking home from the school after the graduation ceremony, elated by the success of her first course and the differences her past students' had made to their lives. She was still buzzing from the accolades she had just received at the ceremony. It was dark and cold, with a hint of snow flurries in the air and her mind was far away from what was happening in close proximity. She barely had time to notice the shadowy figure step out from the alleyway a few feet in front of her. She certainly didn't have time to register the two shots that were fired into her heart at point blank range before she dropped dead on the pavement.

The shadowy figure stepped back into the alleyway and took out his cellphone, dialing a number he knew well.

"She's dead."

"Great. Can't have do-gooders reforming our clients, can we. Bad for business. Good work."