Short Story: Small Hotel On Main Street

Short Story: Small Hotel On Main Street

The man stuck to his room for two days, eating meals from a tray brought upstairs. On a third day, rising Lazarus-like to come downstairs, he ordered a beer in the tiny bar, shielding eyes against the bright light streaming in from the street outside. It was too early for the habitual regulars to interrogate him in their casual manner and he remained largely undisturbed perusing the local paper to learn about small town mores.

Geraldine, the irrepressible receptionist began a scattered conversation as she moved to and fro. It seemed she did most things in the hotel, and he watched with half an eye, listening with half an ear. The town closed down around six pm, after which the bars and flea pit cinema came alive. There was a road diner out of town that offered a restricted menu, catering to truck drivers on their way through. The younger residents met up at the Blue World Bar & Grill, and on warm nights sat outside on picnic benches or out back in their cars. There was a crazy golf course next door, with a water wheel fed by an artificial waterfall, and if you stayed out all night there was the benefit of a cerise sunrise across the desert wastes.

When asked if she stayed out all night she delayed her movement long enough to form a sorry grin. “That’s for the kids – ain’t been anyone interested in a long while to suggest that kind of pleasure.”

He went onto the street when the heat of the day had started to die down, staring into shop windows short on goods, and finding a bench at the end of the street he sat for a spell taking in the view. The bench was a good place to be; a place to see and be seen, if that was his intention. Shade was provided by an overhanging roof while nearby the tinkle of wind chimes fought against the constant roar of traffic speeding along the distant freeway.

As sunset came down he moved onto the Blue World Bar & Grill, ordering steak and fries as he drank a cold beer observing the antics of people at the bar. Geraldine was right; they were all quite young, boys with their girls; boys in groups, drinking, talking, playing pool; girls gathered together, talking, laughing, sparking the boys.

The usual small town mix of the daring and the dull.

Through the gloom he couldn’t tell if anyone glanced back as he remained where he was after finishing his meal. The jukebox was pumping out a mixture of country rock and corny love songs, with several couples dancing close up like they were in love. He was somewhere deep inside his own memory when she slid into the seat opposite. He took her in at a glance; smiling face, bright red lips, blue lids fluttering and mouth flapping wide.

It took a while to catch up with her words.

“I said, ‘Hello stranger.’”

“Did you…?”

He sat upright, slipping on dark glasses. She grinned.

“James Dean… you putting on an act?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

He examined her, looking her up and down. Yes, she was a girl, well built, and made up for a night out. Since he had been in the town he had lost all sense of time but guessed it must be a Friday night. She extended a hand to grab the shades off his face.

“Well, you seen me…., share the experience maybe.”

“You’re too young for me,” He remarked, taking them back from her.

“Well that’s a curious thing to say but I feel I’m better suited to an older man. Buy me a beer and I’ll tell you why.” She pushed out her chest and he grinned, summoning a waitress.

“One is all you get, then on your way.”

He glanced at her as she laughed. She was not so bad that he felt the need to push her away. In truth, he could have done with some company to fill out the vacancy in his soul, but she wasn’t to know.

“I bet you came here on a dare – go on, admit it - your friends made you do it, and if you stay - how much do you win?”

She grinned, drawling.

“Maybe… but I do what I want to do, and no – I don’t get a thing.”

She declined a cigarette as he lit one for himself.

“Well, Suzy Q I’m just passing through.”

Going into the John, he was only in there for only a short while before the door opened and looked around to find her grinning.

“My name is Barbara…., sorry if I’m intruding.”

He turned, zipping himself up.

“You’re a character Barbara, in a movie of your own creation and you believe every word you utter is tremendous and every move you make is brilliant.” He came close to her. “I’m not part of your make believe… I refuse to take the role offered.”

Pushing past her, he paid his tab before continuing outside where the air was cool with the only sound to be heard the drift of traffic moving along the freeway. The sound had a fascination of its own and he remained for a while smoking a cigarette, watching nothing stir along the dark street disturbed only as she silently joined him.

“What are you doing in this fly speck town?”

“Doing…? Nothing….! I came here for a break, a kind of vacation. I’ll be gone in a few days.”

“Gone… where?”

“Somewhere… somewhere different.”

She scrutinised his face closely as he spoke.

“It’s hard to believe anyone would come here for a vacation. The coast is only three hours drive, and there are better towns than this….”

“Maybe there are…” He turned to her. “but I’m here…., for a while, besides the coast is full of irritating people always wanting to know a mans business.”

He walked down the street as her friends emerged from the Blue World, crowding around and in boisterous mood. She remained in their company for a while as he took a seat on a bench at the front of the hotel, dawdling to join him.

“My friends want me to go on to another place…..”

“Go then!”

She held her peace for as long as she could.

“Either I’m with you or I’m not, please yourself!”

He got to his feet slowly, ambling along the sidewalk. She stared after him, before following, aware that he had declined to answer.

“What’s your name again?”

“Barbara.”

“Well Barbara, have you got a place where it’s easy to see the stars? I’m interested in astronomy, a little……”

She waited for him to turn his gaze on her before responding.

“You own a car…?”

He nodded, leading her towards the back of the hotel from where she directed him to Planters Point. He took a rug from the trunk, shaking it before placing it on the ground and lay on his back, staring straight up into the night sky while she stood close by before dropping awkwardly onto her knees beside him.

“This isn’t a place I come on a first date….”

He smiled indulgently. “Don’t feel the need to apologise….look, I’ll talk you through the stars. You can see two planets tonight. I’m no expert, but I’ve learned to observe….”

“Why…? What for?”

“It keeps things in perspective…., makes me see my place in the universe.”

She followed his hand as he pointed towards a cluster of stars.

“Sirius…..”

He dropped his hand, beginning to talk as she remained on the rug with arms folded about her knees, listening to his voice. He was very knowledgeable, and at first she felt uncertain of his intentions, but gradually began to relax as her confidence grew and by the time he’d finished talking was lying beside him just watching the bright stars, and allowing the silence to wash over her.

µ

Geraldine was sitting at the bar drinking coffee and thumbing through a magazine. She was friends with Barbara’s mother, and had known her since she was a baby.

“Hi Barbara.”

“Hi Geraldine, what you reading…..?”

“Just my horoscope…, can you believe what they write in these things?”

“I never bother.”

Geraldine poured out a coffee that Barbara spooned casually.

“Who’s the new guy you got staying…”

“He’s from out of town….”

Barbara grimaced. “Do you know his room number?”

“Sure I do. You got some business with him?”

“Yeah, I met him last night. He showed me the stars…”

Geraldine laughed crudely. “You’d better not tell your mother…”

“You’re right there.” She eyed the other woman shrewdly. “Where’s he from…?”

“Out of town.”

“No, which town… Where?”

“Take a look in the register…, it’s on the desk over there.”

She slid off her stool to go and look.

“What’s his name?”

“You don’t know his name!”

“We never discussed it for some reason.”

“It’s Scott…, Paul Scott.”

Barbara scanned the register, searching for the entry.

“It just says Los Angeles…..”

Geraldine sighed. “It’s a big place…., I was there once with your mother. We got a little drunk on red wine and ended up in a motel… two boys from a band we met playing in a bar…”

“Don’t tell me any more Geraldine. Mother says I’m far too impressionable.”

Geraldine burst out laughing, dirty and loud. Barbara grinned, and then turned away with a sour expression forming on her face.

The door to his room stood open, but she knocked anyway. Inside, it felt cool with the scent of cologne. The bed remained unmade, with clothes spilled across the one and only chair. She stood awkwardly, beginning to wonder why she was there as Paul Scott emerged from the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel. He glanced at her quickly, grinned, before picking up a cup and saucer.

“Don’t you have school or a job to go to…?” he asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m supposed to be at the plant, but some days I don’t go in. My Aunt is the supervisor, she won’t say anything much.”

“Nice.” He turned away, and stood looking out the window. She felt compelled to speak.

“I wanted to talk to you….., after last night.”

“Well, here I am…, what do you want to say?”

She hunched her shoulders and stared at him doubtfully, debating internally. He wasn’t exactly welcoming.

“I’m not sure…., you’re not all that friendly.”

“Well, I’m sorry but I didn’t ask you come…., I’m not really a morning person…”

She attempted a smile, but he didn’t change expression. There was a long silence as she wondered if she should call it quits.

“I know it’s early… I thought you might be interested. I guess I was wrong…”

“Interested? No – I told you last night, and besides I’m not the man for you.” Adding quietly. “I’ll be gone from here soon and…” He turned back to her. “I take my time getting to know a woman!”

She whistled softly, crossing legs and arms against him as she sat on the edge of the bed. “I don’t believe I asked you to prove anything to me. You got a nerve Mister.”

He stared at her calmly. “I’m just saving time – jumping ahead a couple of stages. You mentioned last night you preferred older men – you got to get used to this kind of thing if you do. Men my age got no patience.”

He put down the cup and saucer to pick up a comb as he began to slick back his hair, speaking without looking at her. “Look, I can see there’s not a lot happening in this small town, and you’re a drama queen – right? And no one is offering to take an interest in you. Am I right?”

She frowned. “You think you got it all in one – well, think again.”

“Well, you may dress it up differently but I’d say that about sums it up.”

He picked up a magazine, flicking through the pages idly as he ignored her. She scrutinised his actions as he ignored her, thinking less than flattering thoughts. “I didn’t come here for you to show how indifferent you can be.”

He threw down the magazine. “Why are you here then?”

“You’re so sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

He glanced at her, grinning. “I do alright. Tell me about yourself….really I want to know.”

He swung his feet up onto the bed, propping a pillow behind his head and she stared at him angrily, before letting her gaze drop.

“I ain’t your slave.”

He chuckled. “And I can’t make your life better. Only you can do that.”

She flung a glance at him intending to sting. “I know that, I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

He stared at her without a flicker of expression.

“I came here for a break Barbara, nothing more. What exactly is it that you want from me, if not my time and attention?”

Feeling too angry to express herself she punched the bed. “I’m an honest person, but I ain’t so sure about you.”

He laughed out loud, opening his mouth so wide she saw the fillings and was not impressed.

“Don’t laugh at me.”

She swung a punch but he caught her fist.

“Go home Barbara, go on – please. I didn’t want you last night and…I don’t want you now.”

She slumped visibly, pleading in a small tone. “Please, Mister, this is a small place with a big road that tears past it. I’ve never been anywhere; I’ve not seen a single thing…… All my life, I’ve waited for someone to stop off on their way through and offer me a ride - take me places I’ve never been…..”

“You really think that’s me….?”

“I promise I’ll be good, I’ll sit there beside you and I won’t say a word. Tell me anything you like, but please take me with you when you go.”

He turned away, disinterested as she leaned her head against the coverlet. There was a long silence.

“I ought’a tell you I’m kinda promised….., to Tad. He’s in the army – eight long years. We never discuss the future, or stuff like that, but he keeps telling me how good army life is and there are married quarters up where he is. He keep’s wanting me to visit…..”

“You should go,” Paul responded quickly.

“Everyone says that…., like it’s expected…..”

He was sharp with her, reaching for a cigarette.

“Don’t involve me Barbara - do you think I’m going to make the decision for you? It’s up to you; it’s your life….”

She frowned, drawing up her leg to allow the brow to rest on her knee. He stared at her in silence, stubbing out the cigarette before going into the bathroom to take a leak and carrying on a conversation from inside the room.

“You’d better go home…, Go now - I don’t want no army guy coming down on me for spending time with his girl.”

“He ain’t here – it’s a four hour drive.” She answered defensively.

He returned from the bathroom, wiping hands on a paper towel.

“Don’t he have friends or relatives living close by?”

“Sure, but no-one will care. Honest. I’m always discreet…”

He smiled at the turn of phrase, throwing down the towel to light another cigarette. “You say that, like you do it pretty regular?”

“I ain’t a tramp if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“It’s a small town…., everybody knows what everybody had for breakfast. And you…, you’re a stray. They’d watch you, and know where you been and with whom.”

“Not me, I swear,” she reiterated.

He smiled, moving across to the window to take a look down into the street.

“It don’t bother me so much, but I’d appreciate it if you left. It’s nothing personal, but I would be more confident of not getting a bullet in the back of the head or a rock in the face if you weren’t sitting there with your knee drawn up showing all you got.”

She snorted defiantly, straightening the leg. “You weren’t so terrified last night…on a blanket under the stars.”

“Yeah, well there’s no point looking for trouble.”

She allowed her head to droop as he regarded her at a distance. “There must be something better than this!”

He nodded his head. “Yeah, in the city there’s drugs and alcohol, and prostitution. Everything a small town girl like you needs. There’s men too; dangerous men who’ll lead you anywhere you want to go, but when you get there, you’ll find there’s no way back.”

She snorted again. “I been hearing that stuff since I was ten years old and I’m not afraid…, and I’m not a fool. I don’t need those things…, and I don’t need men to give me….anything. I’ll earn a living my way, and pay for what I want. I’ll be respectable. No one will ever own me…..”

He smiled, but then laughed as she made a face in anger. “Listen to me – listen. Where I’m headed, the men I’m talking about don’t ask nicely – they grab and take. They’ll see you as a piece of cute ass made for working the street – do you think they care what you want, where you’re from. It ain’t that easy – so wake up and……go home.”

“No.” She almost screamed.

She was staring back at him with a crooked grin at the corners of her mouth. He knew what they would do with her in the city.

“Listen to me, I’m not a solid citizen…, just a guy and there are people out to get me…, why do you think I came to this place? I’m not going back to the city, not for a long time. I came looking for a small town, like this, to hide out.”

She held his gaze while chewing over what he had admitted, but without belief. “You’re lying! You’re just saying that to scare me away so you don’t have to take me when you leave. I know when a man’s lying…. Admit it, you’re just trying to scare me away.”

He opened the wardrobe, producing a handgun from a shoulder holster waving it towards her. “Maybe I am… with good reason.”

There was an awkward silence as she contemplated the weapon. “So, you got a gun. I’ve seen guns before….” She turned away, as he slid the weapon back into its holster.

“Maybe I do for good reason,” he exclaimed.

“You really hiding out?” she asked after a couple of seconds.

“Yes, I told you…. A few days more, then I can go somewhere else…., to collect a passport that’ll take me to Brazil.”

“Brazil….!” She started up with wide eyes. “I’ve always wanted to see Brazil - I hear they got a great nightlife down there?”

He tried to ignore her enthusiasm, wiping the edge of her lip gloss with a finger and talking in a more measured way. “It’s not something I want to talk about…., it wouldn’t be safe for you to come with me.”

“That’s for me to decide.”

∞

They were sitting on a blanket in front of the car, with the headlights shining off across the desert scrub, and were probably two or three miles off the dirt track that ran away from a highway and on into far away hills. Above their heads the stars wheeled brightly as he again spent time in telling her the names of the different clusters. The radio had been tuned to a Spanish language station in far away Mexico with Latin rhythm’s to smooth the mood. He took her to dinner at the Road Diner and she decided to wear a blue cocktail dress that was much too grown up for her, the type that comes from a chain store that he took a dislike to the moment she appeared in it. With borrowed pearls about her neck and large blue stone brooch pinned to her breast the ensemble made her appear foolish.

“Take it off,” he told her when they got into the car. “You look like my maiden aunt.” She argued, but did as he requested without further complaint, sitting in her slip and staring at him coolly as he sipped from a bottle of bourbon. His mood had grown edgy since the previous conversation, but she needed to please him if she was to get her wish.

“When I was in fourth grade I learned a Navaho dance they do to celebrate life… you want to see it?”

He nodded, taking a long swig of the bourbon, and watching as she attempted to keep in step with the music on the radio. Hopping, first on one leg and then on the other, progressing to spinning in a lazy circle, while remaining in close orbit as she emitted a low gutteral sound, with sharp whoops thrown in. Passing on a second orbit, he pulled her down beside him and put the bottle to her mouth. “Take a drink – you deserve it.”

“You ain’t married are you?” She asked, lowering the bottle from her lips.

He laughed. “Been there, and got all the souvenirs I’ll ever need. Why, you thinking of propositioning me?”

She stared, puzzled. “A man like you ain’t about to tell the truth.”

“No.” He grinned. “Does it bother you?”

“Not much…., but what you said - I asked my cousin Sue if her husband, the sheriff, was looking for any desperado’s in the area. She said, she couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to stick around our little town too long.”

He sat up sharply as she said this. “She said that, did she?”

Barbara grinned, raising the bottle to her lips again. “You really think I’d do a thing like that? I just wanted to see your reaction.”

He reached for a cigarette, and she sat up waiting for him to pay attention as smoke drifted across the beam from the headlights, creating spooky shapes in the air. “I’m leaving tomorrow, and I don’t intend taking you with me.” He announced.

“Why?” She demanded angrily. “Why not….?”

She removed herself from the rug, standing with arms crossed as she contemplated him angrily. In her slip she appeared almost wraith like against the light.

“Tell me, please….. I need to know.”

He took his time. “What else did you expect….? You’re just a kid and I can’t take the risk. You could blab easily, and people would follow us. You just said the sheriff was a relative.”

“I was kidding, you dunce……”

She slapped him hard across the face, sending the cigarette spinning into the dirt. He sat very still; pensive and quiet, and then glanced up at her.

“Do that again and I’ll break your neck.”

She wheeled away, to stand beside the car. “Take me home, please. I won’t spend another minute in your company.”

He got up slowly, shaking down his clothes with thorough precision.

They drove in silence to reach the outskirts of town.

“I’m leaving first thing tomorrow….” He remarked.

“Fine!”

It was short and bitter. She slammed the car door, running inside the house as he remained in the car smoking a cigarette while contemplating his next move. Glancing toward the house he saw a light go on upstairs, and guessed it must be her room. On a whim, he walked briskly along the side of the house until he found himself beneath the window, collecting a handful of gravel he tossed it against the window pane and she threw open the casement to glare down.

“Hi,” he said cheerily.

“Go away; do you want my father to come out…?”

He shrugged. “No, but this isn’t how I planned to say goodbye.”

She climbed out onto the ledge, dropping to the ground beside him. She had changed into jeans and tee shirt, and somehow it appeared more appropriate for a girl her age as he saw again how young she really was beneath the make up.

She stared at him, her face expressing the deep rage and pain she was feeling, wanting to say something hurtful but needing to understand before she could blood him. “I thought I had a chance with you…., a chance…… Can’t you just take me part of the way?”

“No, it wouldn’t be right. We could do a lot of damage to each other if we didn’t take care….”

She began to cry out of sheer frustration as attempted to provide a fuller explanation.

“Two men were killed in LA – drug dealers. I wasn’t involved, but learned some things I was never meant to know – like the identity of the killers and what’s worse, who arranged the hit. I’m a dead man walking, as will be anyone found in my company – and now you know, you must never breath a word. Ever. Promise.”

She put up a face that was wet with tears.

“I don’t understand why we can’t go through with what we planned.”

He smiled. “What you planned, and you’ve no idea what you’re asking, and I’m not about to take the risk for both our sakes. Believe me - this is my final word.”

She leaned against his chest gathering deep breaths before pushing free of him, watching as he got back inside the car. He lit a final cigarette, driving away with a wave of the hand. She knew he would not remain at the hotel even for one more night in case she came back to the room with more than escape on her mind.

Two years passed before she learned what happened afterwards, and by then she was living in married quarters on the army base at Fort Mears.

Her mother sent a newspaper every week, and which came with a package of something sweet and tasty she chewed while reading the small town news and attending to the baby suckling at her breast.

A couple of 4x4 drivers exploring the desert wilderness had come across the bleached skeleton of a man, sprawled beside the burnt out remains of a car. He had been shot twice, execution style, in the back of the head and beside him they found a bag containing clothes and a few personal possessions. There was enough remaining, although it had suffered in the desert heat, to identify a hotel bill made out in the name of Paul Scott and paid for in cash.

Barbara grinned. “It wasn’t him – he got more sense than to be caught out in the open like that.”

At times like these she recalled how close she had come to getting out altogether, and it didn’t please her to believe she might never see the world beyond married quarters on the base. Twice she had loaded the car with her belongings, intending to drop the baby off at her mothers, but didn’t go through with the plan. Either the timing was wrong or she had come to her senses after realising there was nowhere to go.

Tad could not be described as an attentive husband or father, and sometimes the isolation of life on the base made her believe she could go out of her mind the excess of boredom and loneliness.

Some nights she clambered up onto the roof staring at clusters of stars, and wishing she could bring to mind the names he had told her but the information had disappeared in the same moment he departed from her life, and now she felt abandoned with an empty ache in her heart, longing for something she knew to be out there but which she could never put a name to.

Tad said it was the desert, but she knew it to be different.