It didn't much matter where. I was just on my way! I
had to get out of my home. The atmosphere there was
thick with drink, anger and hostility. I'd grown up with
all these things and meant to banish them from my life
completely.
I didn't know places like this actually existed, except in
fairy tales. Maybe they were on a Movie Set...Two Rivers was like an island of serenity..."We aren't in Kansas!" I really remember
Thinking that to myself while I looked out at the river and
looked at the old town. It was filled with all New people...
These were people who never heard my family name before.
These were people who didn't know I was beat battered and\
abused as a kid. This was a brand NEW start!
It was a town built at the base of many mountains, at the
confluence of two Deep blue Rivers. In Spring the green
of the cotton woods and the wild abandon of the wild
flowers vied for your attention, yet, It all seemed to
have been planted by the hand of God!....At least that's
what my Uncle the Preacher, would have said! All the while
he was staring at my stretch pants clad bottom....or my
bust line!
I'm just a plain young woman. Early twenties, late
teens, would be the best explanation for my age...to young
to follow my man into the Bars. To old to sit at home with
the children while he goes with his "buds" and leaves
me alone.
From my point of view!
There is little striking about me, I have black
hair,brown eyes flecked with green! I'm neither tall nor short.
I'm five foot five inches tall. I'm neither thin nor fat...But
right in that area where most men in my age group tease me
about KNOWING I am coming into a place five minutes before
my body arrives.....the boobs come in first! That's IS the men who
care to know me...Or are bold enough to talk With me...Instead
of to my BREASTS..
Yeh! I'm stacked like the proverbial "brick Outhouse!" I can't
help it! I'd rather be "plain Jane" So I could sneak around where
no one would notice me. BOY! I'll NEVER be THAT! There is just
something about me that people seem to remember! I would like
to think it's my personality, but I would BET it comes in sheer
bras about a size forty something....written on the very costly
tags!...SHEESH! It takes a lot of Yard goods to make a "Bra" for
an OLDSMOBILE!
I remember coming to Two Rivers. I can picture it now if I try really hard. The sky was angry. It had just rained or it was getting ready to. I parked my car and stood on the bridge to watch a tub boat work the logs on the river. The rivers, both of them were deep blue. The cotton wood pollen was thick in the air. I was seven teen and dumber than a "jar of paste!"
The thought of our first meeting always makes my heart bounce
around a little...We are mates. In every way, or so I thought. We are
so close in looks that some fools think we are brother and sister. I didn't say the people of this beautiful little place were ALL bright. I just said
they were good people.....well you judge for yourself.
I was sitting along side the road in my old convertible. It had a
flat tire..There was nothing new in that. I usually got the cheapest
tire I could buy for the old car. I loved that convertible. It was blue,
it had a top like a covered wagon. If I did over fifty with the top UP,It
billowed up and threatened to pull me right off the road like a kite
on a windy day! It had to have a garage to keep the innards dry. Seventeen in the late sixties was a HELL of an age!
Seventeen and seventy miles away from a domineering father was a Trip!!! I wanted to touch, taste, feel and experience everything all at once. I wanted to walk on the wild side and go to church on Sunday! I wanted to be loved, to love someone and to be a part of something. I was ripe!
Ripe in all ways. If I'd lived in California I would have been ripe for a commune, drugs, probably prostitution. In North Idaho I was ripe to work in a small restaurant. I just made enough to keep body and soul fed and clothed and maybe a party or two on the side! I lived in a two room apartment. I had a kitchen and bed room! A wild Child's DREAM Home!It had once been a hotel.
It was
called the Five Spot! I guess it was the fifties answer to the Chain Motels that sprung up every where. It Didn't come with maid service!
My Mama was too busy trying to keep her all important MAN, My Father..to teach me much about that! I wished it had maid service! I smiled at the thought of Mama, She did the best she could with what she had to work with!
I was going to be held up on a Friday Night, I hated that. My working clothes were in back . I could wear anything I wanted to work. I just couldn't WORK in shorts and a halter!...Just my luck, Another FLAT! I jumped out of the Olds, slammed the door as I went. I swore, foul filthy words under my breath while I opened the trunk and put the tire and tools on the ground as though I was going to change that tire. I wiped the dust from my hands on my shorts, hitched my halter top up a notch...
In truth. I'd never changed a tire in my life. I still haven't. I just stood there with the trunk up. The very first pick up truck load of loggers roared to a stop just behind my old car. I knew they would be along. They always were. Men were pretty predictable in Idaho. A new woman in town was like a magnet to their masculinity. I didn't exactly have my pick of the litter. Some were married. I just had to figure out which was which. They wouldn't tell the truth, there was no use in asking!
I saw "Jake" immediately. He hung back a little, he was quiet, tall, His was slender, with large muscular arms he moved like a dancer. Ummmm! Just my style. His hair was black and wavy. It was cut short. I liked that. I hated the long hair style that was currently in vogue. There was Nothin' "girly" about him. He seemed kind of shy. While the others joked about "what you find along the road in Idaho!" He changed the tire!
I liked that about him,too. While the others clamored for my phone no. I had no phone. Heck, I could barely afford Gas to get back and forth to work and I was determined to finish the last semester of High school, I'd missed graduation,when Dad took a swing at me and I LEFT! Mine was an Independence born of violence! I didn't want a pushy man. I didn't want a show off. I wanted the man who hung back. I wanted the man who seemed to be quiet and was well mannered. I knew the one I wanted right away. The problem were legion! I only wanted him for a little while. I just didn't want to break up a marriage to get to him! Life was different in the sixties!
I knew how to get his attention....I bent over to pick up the lug nuts
he'd sat beside my flat tire. That put my bottom at eye level. I figured that ought to Do it!
"You won't have to hunt these up when you go to put them back on, if you put them in the hub cap." I smiled,
"Thank You!" He wiped imaginary grease from his big hands
with his handkerchief before he offered up one of them for me to shake... " I'm Jack Short" He smiled.
"Robin Poe, Good to meet you." I took the hand he offered and smiled back!
He didn't notice my smile a lot. He was now eye level with one or two of my best "assets!" I don't think he noticed the raven's wing blue black hair that hung down my back , I tried to keep it loosely control ed by pulling it back into a pony tail I added a multicolored scarf to keep it from beating me to death in my open car! He did notice the locket I wore, and the scent of my perfume that emanated from
deep in my cleavage..I thought he liked them....The perfume and the locket!
"Did I see you at the party shacks last week?" His voice was thick and masculine. I'm drawn to voices. I'd rather listen to a great singing voice than watch TV. I really enjoyed listening to him.
"That depends, What are you referring to when you say,"The party shacks?" My ear rings danced under the scarf I'd tied around my head.
I could see he was looking me in the face! Five points for the Logger! I thought! "He's made it to my face! Wowee! Here and in front of his friends!"
"Did you move into the old "Five Spot?" He was smiling. I noticed
he had a cleft in his chin when he smiled. He had good bones. High cheek bones look good on a man. A dimple to soften that masculine face is good. Eyes one could fall into were a REAL plus...WOW...Big Black and deep....He had long eye lashes, I frankly envied him those eye lashes!
Meanwhile the gang in the back were working on getting my attention. I knew I wasn't gonna get far here. Well I was getting a tire changed! I knew his name, That was good!
"Yeh, I live there...I didn't know they called it the "party shack" though!" I tried to hold his eyes on my face....I could see he was making a real effort to keep his eyes there too!...Miraculous...Just plain miraculous. I'd known men, some since I became a woman, who had NO conception WHAT color my eyes were!..They didn't care! They were to busy looking Lower! Most were frank and rude about it! At least he was trying....I stood so his eyes were NO longer level with my bust line...unfortunately, I found it was best to step back and lean on my old car. I'd refocused his eyes, but his face was turning RED!
I KNEW what he was thinking....I opened the front door and sat on the seat, so I could talk to the fella's those who towered could get a better view. I didn't even care if they stare if they wanted....I wasn't to interested in any of them. Nor did I care what they were staring At or into......
"Where are you headed?" Jake was letting the car back to the ground.
" I work at "River's Edge Inn!" I was going in early. Now, I'll just make it!"
"When you get home, tonight after work, look for my pick up. I'll be at one or the other of your neighbors! I'm not hard to find on Friday Night!" He smiled while he loaded the flat into the trunk and closed it.
"Maybe you'd like a beer after work?" He darn nearly slammed his thumb in the trunk of my car!
"Maybe! I get out of there on Fridays late..So if you don't see me,.... I let it trail off...Thanks for changing that for me! Bye Fella's!" I drove off toward my job. I knew Fran wouldn't mind if I was a few minutes late. She was a neat lady. She knew most of the people who lived here. She claimed to have lived here all her life. I could believe it. A lot of grown Men called her "Mom" and she lived up to the name! She had a smile, a joke, and a good word for every one. I'd seen her offer a shoulder and put a free meal or two in front of the destitute. She was careful to do that at the picnik tables by the back door. she didn't want any one to think she was a "push over" for a sob story. She wasm just THAT, we all loved her for it. She even looked like a "Mom,".. She was anything,BUT full busted. She wore flowered dresses covered by long aprons. She wasn't stylish....Not AT ALL...What she was, Well! she was Homey! She was the Grandmom, we would have liked to go visit. She was the Mom, no one really had but June Cleaver copied her! She even wore pearls with her flowered blouses and dresses....She had a sense of humor and she was never nosey. If you wanted to ask her she would tell you what she thought. Usually she kept it to her self ....Can you tell I worshipped her?
"Robin, you are running a little late." Fran shot me with
an imaginary gun and blew away the imaginary smoke from
her finger! "Don't worry yourself Lady! The big run will start
early tonight. A new girl in town always brings the boys around,
like Honey bees! Don't dress up to pretty, I don't want you to follow
none of these boys off to soon! By the end of the night you will
have to waddle when you walk. The tips will be flying! Did you
find a pair of black slacks, White blouse???"
"I found them Fran!" I made my way to the employee's bath room.
Quickly as I could I washed some of the Dust off my face. Convertibles are grand for THAT! I washed up as far as possible, down as far as practicable.....and washed ALL that was possible;before I got ready for work. I'd showered at home...But, the flat tire by the side of the road, left me feeling like I could use another! I applied new make up. Cause Mine had melted in the Spring sun, and I 'd washed off the rest with my cloth. "lookin Good!" I said aloud.Stuck out my tongue at my face in the mirror!. I pulled on my stretch pants...tucked in my white blouse....tied on the apron before I saw the pretty little string tie Fran made for Me! It was kind of special...In dark red beads on the ribon it spelled Two River's Inn...It took time to do things like this for a new employee!...There was also a sparkling name tag! A bright red Rose was pinned to it...I took it as good luck, that she liked me after only being there a few days...and my showing up LATE! I fixed up my hair a little...changed to good work shoes and I was READY!
"Hay Robin! Are you ready for the floor? I'm ready to go home!"
Fran's very pregnant "other waitress" Jewel smiled at me from the
door! "I'm ready to get off my feet girl!"
"I'm sorry, I had a flat!..First time I get a little ahead I'll get some
new tires on my old car! Go sit! I'll take care of things....Get yourself a break...and clear your till! " I rushed for the "floor".....
"Thanks Honey, Don't sweat the small stuff!" Jewel blew me a
kiss as I rushed past her!..
To tell you the truth. That's about all I remember of my first WEEK End at the Two River's Inn! For the rest of the night I was running, rushing and keeping ahead of things! The night seemed to rush by!
I'd been working there since Tuesday. Some Nights time seemed to drag by. I thought it was a nice laied back place. Fran warned me. She told me all the "camp loggers" in North Idaho would be there to have them selves a little peek at the New waitress. The place was JUMPING! I was glad she closed at elveven! It took me an hour to do all my "side work!"
So the girls who came on the morning shift would find it ready for them! Fran was GREAT...she told me ," Put it all on the clock! Don't you give yourself away here Girl....You are always on the Clock! If you are working I want to be paying you. New Girls are snapped away fast enough with out me skimping on their pay..."
My eyes about fell out when I saw I had over,a hundred fifty in tips!!!
"Honey, I took my share!" Fran chuckled! "It was a very good night!
Go get some rest. Tomorrow starts the same old way again! Fridays
and Saturdays are always good tip nights. Sundays, not so much! But, These boys LIKE you! You are a HIT In Twin Rivers!"
I gathered up my "play clothes!" and my bag, I stuffed the tips into
the pocket of my purse....I'd made good tips all week. Nothing like THIS! I was so tired. I hoped "Jack" forgave me. I wasn't up to any
parties tonight! I just hoped they were Quiet! The old Convertible roared to life! I got clear to the end of the parking lot before I remembered to tie my hair up. If I didn't do that I'd never be able to comb all the tangles OUT....The drive to the "Inn" opened into a small city park. I could see the moon dancing off the waves of the river. I could hear laughter and see an old Red pick Up truck sitting along the split rail fence that surrounded the greens...I knew Jack was going to forgive.....He was busy with his friends....through the sounds of laugher I could hear a guitar and the strains of an old song about Beautiful Beautiful Brown Eyes......I gunned the engine a little and headed home..
I wanted to stop to listen, but I was just too tired to hang around!
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