Good Sam

Sunday was gearing up to be just like Saturday, but I needed to get out of the house. "Is there any reason that you can't go outside?" Beth looked at me with a quizzical look. "I mean are you hiding from anybody or are you even from around here?" There was a direction I was going with my questions, but Beth looked like I was backing her into a corner. "Sorry. I'm going out for a ride and I wanted to know if you felt like coming is all. I didn't mean anything else by it."

Beth looked super tentative about getting into the truck and leaving all of her possessions behind, but she did it. When I pulled into the parking lot of a Kohl's store, I thought that she might bolt from the vehicle.

Turning a little in my seat so that I could look at Beth when I spoke, I tried to make her feel a bit more comfortable about her situation.

"I know that sitting in a parking lot is not where you would want to hear my life story, so I'll make it as quick and painless as possible. My old man was an alcoholic, my mother left him and us behind when my sister was eight and I was three. We grew up hard and fast, and at sixteen years old, I was homeless. I met an older couple one night, much like the night I met you. They took me in, gave me a roof over my head and pointed me in the right direction. I went back to school and got a job and have owned my own home for the last two years. I moved forward. My sister on the other hand, will never get over her past, she won't forgive anyone. Having said that, I'm not rich, but I work hard. I make enough to get by and save for my future. I know that you're looking at me like I'm an idiot for telling you this, but I want to take you into that store so that you can get a few things. I know by the look of your backpack, there has to be some things that you must need."

Tears rolled down the sides of her face, but she wouldn't look away from me. "You don't even know me. Why do you want to help me?"

"Know you? Not that long ago, I was you." with tears in her eye's Beth stared at me. She didn't look away, but she wasn't any closer to getting out of the vehicle.

"Today's a good day. I have a thirty percent off coupon, and we get Kohl's cash for every fifty bucks that we spend. It's a win, win. They're like crack dealers, you spend, and they give you coupons to keep you coming back." I opened the truck door only to be pelted by rain and said, "I know you feel safe with it, but you might want to leave the knife in the truck."

What a sight we must have been, soaked from the rain, Beth wearing everything so oversized, that she needed to hold up her pants with a spare hand.

After 30 minutes and not a thing in our buggy, my shopping patience was wearing a little thin. "How about this. We make a mental list and go from there." After that, things seemed to change a little. We got a pair of jeans that would stay up by themselves, a couple of tops, some sweats, a hoodie that appeared as though it belonged to a girl, a pair of flannel pjs, some yoga pants, a pair of sneakers that fit her feet, some socks and a couple of bras and some panties. When her picked out the underthings, I turned away so that she could have some privacy putting them in the buggy, and not feel uncomfortable. When I tried to add a robe, Beth politely told me that she liked the one that I had loaned her.

Loaded up with bags and a hand full of Kohl's cash coupons, we headed down the road until we stopped at a drugstore. I handed Beth $50 and she looked at me with the same puzzled face as before. "It's for personal stuff. Get what you need."

"Aren't you coming in?"

"Nope. Is that enough money?" I've never had to buy anything of that nature, so I wasn't sure. Beth kind of blushed and put her head down. When she was walking into the store I laughed and honked the horn. Beth was still wearing her old oversized clothes, using her left hand to hold up the pants. Curling my finger, I beckoned her forward. When she got to the window, I held out my hand, "Knife." Beth sheepishly reached into her pocket and handed it over. She knew that it probably wasn't a good idea to walk into a drug store packing a hunting knife.

Back in the truck Beth shook the water droplets from her bags and with her tiny fist held out, tried to return the change. There was a twenty-dollar bill visible, along with some coins. Without intending to use a pun, I shook my head no and said, "Keep it for a rainy day." And handed her back the knife for safe keeping.

It was long past lunch and dinner time was right around the corner. "Are you okay with a Sonic burger or chicken for tonight?" Beth nodded in agreement and I pulled into the drive-thru lane. After very little deliberation, we placed our order. "Hi, we'll have the quarter pound coney dog, a double bacon cheese burger, an order of onion rings, an order of fries, an order of Ched-R-Peppers, two cherry limeades and in a separate bag can I get a plain unwrapped hotdog with nothing on it." Beth looked at me when I ordered the last item. "Duke likes his own bag."

We had dinner in near silence. The majority of the noise was made by Duke ripping open his hotdog. I wasn't looking for a thank you or any sort of praise for the day, but it would have been nice if she at least spoke to me.

The night ended with me reading in bed and the sound of furniture being dragged across the floor letting me know that Beth was back in her room.

The next morning, while packing my lunch, I found a small piece of paper with a hand-written note, "Thank you for everything. B." It was simple, but heart felt.

That night I walked into my door and thought that I'd entered the wrong house. The smell of cooking food filled the air as Beth stood over the stove. Her short dark hair was pulled away from her face and clipped back. It showed how beautiful that she was. She was wearing one of her new t-shirts that showed the outline and curves of her small breasts, some tight yoga pants that nicely framed a petite body and hard butt. On her feet were her pair of an almost neon pink pair of running shoes. She looked at home.

Unfortunately, she still didn't feel at home, because the knife was securely tucked into the waist band of her pants. And so, became the routine for the next week, I would work and come home to dinner on the table. Quiet nights with a little television, a book and off to bed.

When I finished work on Friday, I wasn't sure that I even wanted to go home. Maybe I should have taken the guys up on their offer of going out for beers, but I thought better of it and I'm glad that I did.

Beth was waiting for me to get home.

Her things were packed, and she had her old backpack stuff full of her new belongings, along with a small green garbage bag. The robe that I had loaned her was washed and folded on the kitchen table, on top of it lay the hunting knife. It was a very sad thing to see.

"Leaving?"

"The rain stopped for now, and it's supposed to warm up a bit, so I should probably go while the weather is good."

"Where are you headed?" Beth couldn't look me in the eyes because she was frightened and crying.

"I'm not sure."

"You have to do what's best for you, but I told you before, you can stay as long as you want. If your worried about rent, then do all of the cooking and cleaning and we'll call it even. It's nice to come home to a warm meal. I feel domesticated." I was trying to make a joke, but in her current mindset, it went over her head.

Beth bent down, picked up her things and moved toward the door. I couldn't understand why she was leaving, but it wasn't my place to judge her, "if you leave, at least take that fucking knife. I want you to be safe." Watching her walk down the driveway broke my heart. I had a gut-wrenching feeling that if I let her go, something horrible would happen.

Grabbing my wallet and keys out of my coat, I sprinted out of the door. "Beth, wait." When I caught up to her, I fumbled with the wallet and keys until a found what I was looking for. I grabbed her tiny hand and placed the items into it. "That's a key to the house in case you ever want or need to come back, and there's a little over two-hundred bucks there, in case you need some money."

The risk versus reward scenario was more than I could take. Risking the chance of my own knife being pushed between my ribs, I reached out and pulled Beth into my arms hugging her tightly.

"Stay safe." Was the only dialog that I could come up with. I couldn't watch her leave so I headed back into the house and listened to Duke whining as he watched her go.

Like many of our great coastal states, the rain will start and stop without warning and this evening would not be the exception. Just after dark, the pellets of cold water fell from the sky, soaking all that lay beneath it.

Hungry, tired and alone, my head pounded with all the questions about Beth that had been unanswered. I had tried to help. I offered suggestions, but she wasn't receptive to any to it. I could only hope that she might find some freedom from the burdens that held her down.

Letting Duke out for his final piss of the night I made my way to bed. Usually when I'm in a shitty mood I won't read, but tonight I felt almost compelled to. Turning to my bookmarked page, a folded sheet of paper fell onto the bed beside me.

Sam,

Thank you so much for the kindness that you've shown me. I find it hard to express my words when we are face to face, but the past week has been the safest I've felt in nearly 6 months.

You asked me what I am running from, and the answer is quite simple, everything. I lost both my parents when they died in a car crash last year. They left me with a few dollars, but I lost it all in the abusive relationship that I was in.

My ex-boyfriend told me that if I ever left him, told anyone about how he stole from me or mistreated me, he would hunt me down and make me sorry for ever telling.

I have been moving around ever since. Other people have offered help, but I couldn't live with myself if someone got hurt because of me.

Hopefully a day will come when I am able to repay your kindness.

You truly put the "Sam" in Good Samaritan.

B.

My heart stopped beating. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. I didn't know what to do, but I knew that I had to go looking for her.

A dark rainy night may be fine if you are staying indoors, but when you plan on sleeping outside, it can be frightening to say the least. I looked in all the usual stops that I could think of, under passes, the bus station, bank ATM's, I even checked the park where we first met, but I had no luck.

Long past midnight and into the wee hours of the morning, in much need of gas and sleep, I called off the search. My hopes were that she had found a safe haven somewhere out of the elements. My head hung low as I drove down the darkened wet streets of my neighborhood. I was sad about not having succeeded in finding Beth. It was almost as if I had failed her and myself at the same time.

Unlocking the side door to my house, Duke greeted me with his usual exuberance, his short brown hair glistened from the dampness of the rain and his unwiped paws made their telltale brown puddles on the floor. Just by looking at my hound, I knew that Beth had returned.

She sat quietly at the table in her pajamas, with her hands clutching a warm mug of tea. When our eyes made contact, I could see the redness that her tears had caused. Having her safely back off the streets lifted the burden in my heart. I gently touch her cheek, wiped a tear with my thumb and kissed the short hair on the top of her head and said, "Good night."

The smell of breakfast sausage gets me every time. My alarm clock indicated that I had slept well past my normal wake-up time. Walking down the hall I could see Beth, still in the pj's from last night, making breakfast. I would like to say that she was dancing and swaying along to some music, but that wasn't the case. She didn't appear to be as tense as she had been, but I imagined that her guard was still up.

Full of sausage and eggs, I asked Beth what her plans were for the day. "Nothing." Was her simple reply.

"Well you still have that Kohl's cash to spend from last weekend. It's like $70 of free money to spend on anything that you want, but it expires tomorrow."

"You gave me too much already. I really don't need anything else, so why don't you spend it on something that you need?" That had to be the longest sentence that she'd said to me since arriving here.

"I'm good. Work gives me an expense account for jeans, work shirts and boots, so I'm hooked up with more of those than I can use. You get yourself something. Something that you want or need. It's fun because it's free cash."

Beth smiled in agreement and headed off to shower while I cleaned up the kitchen. It amazed me how fast she was ready. I'd had girlfriends in the past and even had my sister and none of them got ready as quickly as Beth and to top it off, she looked great. Her short brown hair was still wet, but the shaken, fluffed appearance looked like it was meant to be that way. While her ensemble of running shoes, jeans, t-shirt and a hoodie, gave her the much-envied look of the all American, girl.

We shopped and looked at a number of things, before Beth decided that she wanted to shop on her own. Taking the hint, I ventured off to look at the dog toy selection. Back in the truck, Beth handed me a small bag containing a t-shirt. The shirt had a ram's head and the word HEMI printed on it in bold letters. It was a thoughtful gift and I assumed that she bought it because of my truck. The other bag she kept pressed tightly to her body.

"Thank you. You feel like coming with me to pick-up some groceries?" A short and simple "sure" was all I got, so I took it.

We picked up everything that we needed, and Beth even added a few things that she wanted. The only difference in opinion was when she put a bag of those shitty fake Oreo's into the cart and I took them out and replaced them. I think that we deserved the real thing. When we checked out, I wondered to myself if Beth or the cashier recognized each other from the day that we had first met?

On the way home I asked Beth if she were interested in some ice cream. She immediately smiled and said, "Yeah, I'll treat."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I have a little over two hundred bucks on me." Beth apparently had a sense of humor and delivered her line perfectly. And that was the moment that broke the ice between us.

After watching a movie that Beth picked, I headed for bed and it was the first time since she entered my home, that I didn't hear furniture being moved or dragged across the floor.

On Sunday morning, I was making pancakes and was surprised when I found the hunting knife in the drawer next to the spatula. We had once again turned a corner.

That night watching another movie, Beth made conversation for the very first time, "Do you believe in love at first sight?"

"Absolutely. You?"

"I guess. In the movies they make it so obvious, yet the actors have no idea why. They don't know what draws or attracts them to their significant other."

"I suppose. What if they can just feel it, like deep down in their souls." I was tempted to add, "like the first time I saw you", but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

"Maybe, but there has to be something magnetic or even magical about it." I knew what she meant, but I didn't understand where she was coming from.

Every night that week we delved deeper and deeper into conversation. We tried to solve the world's problems one at a time. We talked about family and friends. Told one another the things that we knew and know, and what wanted from our past, present and future.

"Sam, have you ever hit a woman." I must have had a shocked look on my face, but I answered.

"Never." After a moment's pause, I corrected myself. "Once." Now it was Beth that looked shocked. "I was thirteen and old enough to know better. My sister and I were fighting because she had stolen money from me. I had been saving for a new skateboard and when the time came, it was gone. When she laughed in my face and told me how she spent my money, I was so mad that I punched her. I knew instantly what I had done was bad and that I'd never do it again, but it was too late. My father had seen what I'd done and literally, kicked the shit out of me."

Beth stared at me as if assessing the situation. "But, no. I've never struck a woman in anger since that day, nor would I ever."

"Why do you think some guys like to hit women?" I assumed that she was talking about her ex, but I played it safe.

"Empowerment or insecurity. Maybe it makes them feel like they are in control. Maybe they have issues that they can't control."

Beth nodded in agreement and continued, "Do you think that those kind of guys can change?"

"No, I do not, but I'm not an expert."

"Why do you think women stay in an abusive relationship?"

"Wow. I'm not sure, but maybe they are afraid to leave. Maybe the threats made them stay. I read once that some women feel responsible for the situation that they are in. I never understood how, but it's what I read."

Beth pulled the throw blanket over her and curled herself tighter into a ball. I don't think that she was looking for answers to her questions, just comfort.

"How long has it been since you've had a girlfriend?"

"About eighteen months or so. It ended okay. We didn't hate each other. We just wanted two different things in life."

"Like what?"

"She liked to spend lots of money to impress other people. She wanted to go to clubs and be crazy all the time. She never enjoyed the simple things and had no plans of ever settling down. And she hated Duke."

"What did you want?"

"Well, you can probably tell by my lavish lifestyle, I like the simple things, the outdoors, travelling and working hard. I like friendship and romance and if I'm lucky, I plan to settle down with someone special someday." Beth just smiled as if she understood where I was coming from.

The weather let up the next Saturday and it was nice enough to barbeque some food for a change, so we sat outdoors while we cooked.

"Is there a bus stop near here?"

"Yeah, at the end of the street. Why?"

"There's an adult learning center that I want to go to and sign up for some classes. Also, there's an employment agency that I saw an advertisement for. I need to find some kind of work."

"Do you have a driver's license?"

"Yes."

"Okay, let me rephrase that. Do you know how to drive?" Beth smiled and when she did, her face glowed, showing her beauty.

"Really? Of course, I do."

"Then take my truck. Just drop me off at work and use it for the day." I could tell that she liked that idea, so I continued, "What kind of courses are you interested in?"

"I am a few credits shy of having a degree in Early Childhood Development, so I'd like to pursue that. It's that or head dog walker and poop picker upper around here."

"Come on, those two sound like great jobs." I wasn't quick enough to dodge the piece of bun that had been tossed in my direction, but Duke caught it on the first bounce.

Off over the mountains, lightning lite the gloomy grey sky, while the steady drumming of distant thunder warned of the approaching storm. Calling our impromptu outdoor party to a halt, we made our way indoors. After a shower and a goodnight, I could hear Beth running a bath so that she could remove any dampness that the night air may have chilled her with.

By eleven that night, the house shook from the wind, rain, and thunder that crashed just outside the window. Somehow laying in the darkness, listening to a storm is very calming to me.

When the door to my room pushed open, I was surprised to find Beth entering my room and not Duke. He sometimes like to squeeze his big ass under the bed to hid away from the noise. Beth made her way toward the bed, wrapped in my sister's old robe.