“Who?” sheasked.
“The town’s… uh, well, she’s been around the block a bit if you know what I mean.” He laughed until he started hacking. When he’d finally calmed down, he reached for a lock of her hair. He rolled it between his fingers and clucked his tongue. “Vicki had hair that glowed like fire in the summertime. Does yoursdothat?”
“That’s enough,” Hank said as he pushed the old man’shandaway.
“I’m sorry. It’s like seeing a ghost,”hesaid.
“What do you mean?” Carolasked.
“Hell, you could be herdaughter.”
Chapter3
Carol’s guttwisted as she stared up at the old man. She’d just had one door slammed in her quest for her mom, would this be a dead-end too? She didn’t want to get her hopes up, but the man’s outburst was the only clue she had at this point. If she looked just like the woman he used to know, thenmaybe…
“Can you sit with us for a few minutes?” sheasked.
Hank scooted across the booth to make room for the man. After dropping into the booth, the man snapped his fingers to get the waitress’sattention.
“Bring me the special with extra mayonnaise and some of that chocolate cake you got over there.” After the waitress left, he turned to Carol. “I’m Gunther Powell. If I’da seen you walk in here thirty years ago, I’da thought you were Vicki. You’re the spittin’ imageofher.”
“I’m actually looking for my mother,”Carolsaid.
“What, youlosther?”
“No, shelostme.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d lost a bunch of kids over the years. Girl was a bit wild back in those days. Haven’t seen her in years,”Gunthersaid.
“You don’t happen to know where she lives, do you?” Acid churned in her stomach as she waited for hisanswer.
“Well, let’s see… last year I heard somethin’ about her living up on Gallatin Road right past Highway 287. There’s a bunch of houses just before that bend intheroad.”
“I know where that’s at,”Hanksaid.
“Yeah, she’s up there somewhere. Not sure which house. Haven’t been to see her in years. Not since her tits got saggy,” Gunther grinned, revealing yellowteeth.
“Was she your girlfriend?” Carol asked, ignoring his last comment. He wasn’t exactly a prizeeither.
“Nah. We used to call her Hickey Vicki. That girl never stuck to one man. Had two or three going at a time. She was a beauty back in her day. Not so much anymore, from what I hear. That’d be a dammed thing if she was your mother,”hesaid.
She pushed her half-eaten food away. The thought of swallowing another greasy mouthful made her as nauseous as Gunther did. Although she didn’t have any expectations about finding a nice woman who would welcome her with open arms, she’d at least hoped her mom would be somewhat normal. A part of her didn’t want this Vicki woman to be her mom, but she still had to investigate. If nothing else, if itwasher mom, she could ask her if she knew anything about why she’d transformed intoabear.
“How long is the drive to her house?” Carolasked.
“About twenty minutes, give or take,”Hanksaid.
“Do you think we could stop there on the way back to the ranch?” sheasked.
“Maybe we should try to get her phone number and call first. Now that we have her name, it shouldn’t be too hard,”Hanksaid.
“I don’t know what I’d say to her on the phone. ‘Hi, you might be my mom.’ I’ve waited twenty-nine years to meet her and now she might only be a car ride away.” She bit the edge of her lip, waiting for hisresponse.
“Okay, I just don’t want to see you get hurt,”Hanksaid.
“Whatever happens, I can handle it. I’ve been handling everything alone my entire life. This isn’t going to be any different,”shesaid.
“You tell ‘em,” Gunther said between bites. “If she’s your momma, you got that same fire in your soul asshedid.”
