Silver Wings Part štyri

When we last left Gladys she had just been rescued from being made into sausages by Shirley the quick stop clerk by Large Marge.

The little car chugged down the dark road. Gladys looked at her directions and then squinted out into the night because we all know that squinting not only gives us old lady wrinkles but helps us see in the dark. She fumbled until she found her cell phone and illuminated the directions and read “go 5 miles down farm to market road 6183, when you get to Doc Hadley’s old barn turn right on to Dreary Lane. Stay on Dreary until you get to a pasture full of black cows.” Gladys read back over the last instructions and thought, it is night time how in tarnation am I going to know if they are black or not and who the hell is Doc Hadley. She looked out the windows of the auto and strained to see a barn or a Dreary Lane. She saw nothing but a big old scary looking tree. According to her odometer she had gone 5 miles from the turn off. She pressed the accelerator down just a little bit and eased on down the road.
She looked at her accelerator which told her she had now gone 15 miles but that couldn’t be right. She had just stopped. She as a matter of fact could see where she had stopped under the eerie old tree it was within spitting distance. She eased the little car a little further and noticed that each time the wheel turned one full rotation the odometer registered another mile. She took a deep breath, because her cardiologist told her to and eased the car further along searching for Dreary Lane.

The night hung around her like a cloud. No wait it was a cloud. Gladys had forgotten what it was like to be out of the desert. She felt as though the humidity was sucking the soul right out of her. She was laboring to breath and her hair was kinking ever tighter to the crown of her head. She had taken such pains with it that morning. Oh my, she thought was that THIS morning? She had blown it dry, straightened with serum and a straightening iron then sprayed it with curling solution and rolled it around a curling iron. She had taken the moisture control hairspray and sprayed each and every follicle to perfection. She stretched up on the suitcase to catch the wildness of her new hairdo in the mirror. She reached up and tried to pat it back in place but only heard a loud boing. It was hopeless. She so wanted to make a good impression at the Dreary Lane Bed and Breakfast.

Giving up on her hair she pushed the pedal once more and rolled down the narrow thoroughfare. She passed fence post and mail boxes giving her a sense of civilization. She finally spotted a sign post leaning profusely to the left half hidden by kudzu and weeds “Dreary Lane”. She cut the wheel to the right looking to her left for the black cows. She pressed on the gas to hurry down the little lane only nothing happened. She turned the sound down on the radio and revved the little engine but it was silent. “Oh for crying out loud” she cried to the empty night. She put the car in park and turned the ignition. She was rewarded with a un-nuh-nuh-nuh. Then the little car came back to life and she chugged further up the gravel lane. She drove for what seemed like a hundred miles until she saw a white fence post with a little white sign covered in bicycle reflectors that stated “Dreary Lane Bed and Breakfast”. She pulled into the drive and parked in front of the little house. There was a welcoming yellow glow coming from inside and a sudden sense of relief washed over her.

A porch light popped on glowing bright red. The door flew open and there on the porch stood the inn keeper dish rag in hand. “I’m so glad you made it” she beamed and walked out to embrace Gladys. “Thanks, me too” she said in return. She grabbed her bags and headed up the porch steps with the petite woman inn keeper giving her the full run down. “Breakfast is at six. Eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy or toast if you would rather. I put you in the big bed and you have your own bathroom.” Gladys was bone tired but tried to take in everything her hostess had to say. She was standing on the porch in the scarlet glow of the porch light. “Why do you have a red porch light” she asked. She wondered if perhaps the little house did double duty. Her hostess laughed a nervous little laugh and said “I know its August and that I should have changed that out months ago. I just never seemed to get around to it, I mean what with the comings and goings. It just seems time gets away from me and besides Christmas is right around the corner so I might as well just leave it up.” Gladys looked up at the red glowing bulb then towards the door where she realized the carriage lights on both sides of the door contained green glowing bulbs. She shrugged and lugged her belongings through the door and into the parlor. The little parlor contained a couple of couches and some chair all cozily arranged in front of a huge flat screen television mounted on the wall. Pearl, the inn keeper, ushered Gladys towards her room clearing away a path of Lego’s and tiny tot sized play dishware. “I’m terribly sorry about the mess. I just got my youngin to bed and I haven’t had a chance to pick-up yet.” Pearl kept gathering up items into a wicker laundry basket and making her apologies as Gladys unloaded her luggage on to the stand. “That’s okay. You said she was three” Gladys inquired. “Yes, she is just a bundle of energy” Pearl said then added “but I’ll keep her out of your way. I hope you find everything acceptable. The bathroom is right here and you can find extra towels and pillows over here.”

Pearl left closing the door behind her as Gladys kicked off her shoes and scanned the room. It was small with a built in desk in the corner. A computer sat in the corner of the desk, a queen sized bed with ample pillows, a television and a wooden straight back chair graced the room, yet it seemed crowded. Well it wasn’t the Ritz Carlton but then again Gladys had never stayed at the Ritz. She would call Lurlene at the car rental place tomorrow and see if she could get a different vehicle but first she needed to sleep.

Gladys freshly washed, lotioned and pinned crawled into the bed after moving the pillows to the side. She flipped off the light and tried to let sleep over take her. She heard a whirring sound then a blue light started flashing in the corner of the room. Pop a bright light came on and the computer screen illuminated. She sat up in bed and looked around the room to see if perhaps someone had entered while she was in the bath. She flipped on the light and there was no one to be seen. Gladys moved toward the glowing blue light and pushed the button on the computer tower waiting for the glow to fade. She held the button in but it did not extinguish.

She released and reapplied pressure still nothing happened. She felt around on the computer screen and found an off button, flipped it and the screen went black. She once again pushed the button and the blue light extinguished. Exhausted she settle back into the pillows and closed her eyes. Whirrr, buzzzzz, whushhh the little machine sprang to life once again “what the hell!” She said to no one in particular. Once again she got up and went to turn off the infernal machine. She mashed the button. She waited until finally the little blue light went out and she crawled back into bed. Sleep had just about taken her into that misty dream filled state when whirrrr, buzzzzz, whushhhh the blue light on the computer once again started blinking and on popped the television. Gladys sat up in bed looked around the room then crawled deeper under the covers pulled them over her head and tried to sleep. She repeated Scarlet O’Hara’s mantra “tomorrow is another day” over and over in her head as if counting sheep until she finally fell fast asleep.