THE BLUE STALKER (3 page)

Juan warmed another bottle for baby Jose to have on the trip to the farm.  He secured it under his shirt making sure he would not loose it as they ran to the farmer’s truck. 

             
Maria and Juan folded the blankets and put them in the corner for Ella before they gathered up their belongings and headed out. It was just before daybreak as they had promised Ella. Juan looked both ways and across the street before he unlocked the front door. He helped Maria out the door and pulled Jose close to his chest. Juan locked the storefront door and immediately saw the white van they escaped from the night before coming down the street. He pushed Maria down behind a potted shrub on the sidewalk and fell beside her. They lay frozen in fright for their lives. 

             
“They are looking for us what can I do?” Juan told Maria.

             
The van slowly drove past. After the vans tail lights disappeared in the distance Juan and Maria rose to their feet.

             
The farmers truck would be at Main Street and Fifth Avenue the same way the van was headed. Should they go there taking a chance on being seen? Knowing if they were seen they would be taken to a drop house to be tortured while they waited for their family to pay the ransom for their release. Juan’s family could not pay a ransom. He and his family would eventually be killed.  Even worse Maria would be raped repeatedly while they made Juan watch.

             
The Coyote people make a deal with someone wanting to come to the states.  The people they smuggle over are charged a fee for their travel.  After working and saving for years the immigrants have enough money saved to pay the fee for a ride across the border.  Some of the Coyotes are not dropping off their clients at their destination. Instead they are taking them to a drop-house where they tie them up and hold them for ransom. Some have luckily escaped and have told of beatings beyond imagination. There are stories of their feet being cut and their shoes taken from them. It would be physically impossible for them to run if they were to escape.

             
Juan looked up and saw headlights from a large vehicle speeding down Main Street. The tires smoked as Ella’s car slid up to the curb. As she jumped from the car she ordered them to get back into the store. 

             
“The door is locked. I locked the door as you asked Senorita.”  Juan cried out.

             
Ella dumped the contents of her purse on the sidewalk frantically searching for the store key as she scattered the contents all over the walkway.  Ella grabbed the key, unlocked the door and they rushed inside.

             
“Keep the lights off.” Ella demanded. “I saw the white van you described to me last night. They are searching the city for you. ” Ella told them.

             
“But, Senorita what can we do?  We must get to the farm.”

             
“Juan, I don’t know I need time to think.”  Ella grabbed her head. “Take your family to the back room, no one will see you there.  I will be back in a few minutes.  Don’t open the door for anyone.  You hear me don’t open the door.”  Ella ordered.

             
“What you say we will do senorita, we are at your mercy.”  Juan promised.

             
Ella stopped in front of the store to collect her

belongings she stuffed them back into her purse.  “This

purse is so heavy, why do I carry so much junk around?” She murmured.

             
Ella left the store heading to the market where she picked up milk and diapers for Jose.  Then she went to the fast food joint where she bought breakfast for the hungry family.  It was daybreak as she turned her Ford station wagon onto Main Street heading back to the store.  She noticed a car following her every turn. 

             
“What can I do?” she thought.  She can’t go back to the store.  She knew the truck stop just out of town was open.  She could drive up to the pumps where Charlie was always setting on a stool waiting to take care of his customers.  Ella set the food on the floor and covered it with an old blanket she kept in the car hoping to keep it warm.  Charlie was seated in his designated spot. 

             
“Yes, there are angels.” At this moment Charlie is her angel. Charlie walks with a limp he is a little slow about getting the car serviced but that was okay with Ella. 

             
The white van stopped across the street watching as she made small talk with Charlie about his grandkids and the goings on in town.

             
“Are you new here?” Charlie asked as he sprayed the windshield with window cleaner. He slowly pulled the squeegee across the windshield leaving a grid of streaks with each pass over the windshield. 

             
“Yes, I’m just getting settled in.  I rented the old secondhand storefront and I’m getting it cleaned up.  I plan to open a flower shop.”  

             
“Did you hear what happened to the secondhand store owners?” Charlie questioned.

             
“No, did something happen to them?”  Ella quizzed.

             
“Oh, nothing I know about, ma’am.  I just work and keep my head down.”  He sheepishly told her as he wiped the streaked windshield with his blue paper towel.

             
Ella wondered what the old man with a limp had under his hat.  She knew this wasn’t the time to start questioning him.

             
Sheriff Brady drove up just in the nick of time.  The men in the white van noticed the sheriff and immediately drove away.  Sheriff Brady was known to be a tough ‘son of a gun’ and he kept control of this out of the way town.  Or, he thought he had it under control.  Any vehicle not known in town would surely be checked out.  The red lights flashed and the siren squealed through the night air as Sheriff Brady sped after the white van.  Ella paid for her service and headed back to the store.  This time she parked in the back in a falling down garage Mark included in the monthly rent.  It would be best no one saw her vehicle for the time being anyway.  They must have seen the car parked at the store and thought maybe Juan and Maria were hiding in the store since Paul and Nellie the previous store owners used the place as a refuge for the escapees from the Coyotes.

             
The story goes Paul and Nellie left town in the middle of the night.  No one has seen or heard from them.  Did the Coyotes find out they were giving refuge to the poor immigrants heading to the farms?  Did they run for their life?  Did the Coyotes do away with them?  It seems no one knows what happened to them.  Someone knows and is keeping real quiet.  Has Ella got herself in too deep?  Is her life in danger?

             
Juan opened the door for Ella.  “Senorita, senorita the white van passed by many times.”  Juan told Ella.

             
“Everything is okay Juan. The sheriff took notice of the van and is checking it out.  I don’t think they will be back this way today.”  She assured Juan.

             
“We can go now and meet the truck.” Juan began picking up their belongings.

             
“The farmer’s truck was pulling out of town as I drove from the truck stop.  I’m sorry Juan you missed the truck.”  Ella told Juan.

             
“Jesus, Jesus what will we do?  What have I done to my family?”  Juan cried out.  I should have kept them in Mexico.  I have put my family in great danger.  I didn’t know it would be so bad in this country.  I thought…  Juan began to weep.  I am sorry Maria, I’m so sorry.  I will keep you safe.  We can go back to Mexico and I will find work there.”  Juan wrapped his arms around Maria’s shoulder holding her tight.

             
Maria spoke up pushing Juan away.  “You’ll do no such thing.  We will get through this.  Not everyone in this country is bad.  Be thankful for the help Ella has given us.  There is work needing to be done in this country.  We will think of something.”

             
That Maria is a little pistol when she gets upset.  Ella thought. I’m glad she has spunk.  We all need a little temper to shine once in a while.

             
Maria filled the baby’s bottle with milk and warmed it on the hot plate.  Ella opened the bags of food and the three of the sat on the floor sharing the food.  Ella felt closeness to this couple and their baby.  The young family felt love in Ella’s presence.

             
“For now Juan you and your family will stay here.  There’s a mattress in the back room you can sleep on, the floor is too hard.”  Ella told Juan.  You can stay hidden here until the truck comes back in a few days.”

             
“Senorita, senorita how can we repay you, you are to kind?”  Juan said.

             
“Enough of this senorita stuff, my name is Ella, you hear?”  She insisted.

             
“Ella, I will senorita…I mean Ms. Ella.”  Juan agreed to call her Ella but wanted to use Ms. to show respect.

             
They all chuckled as they opened the cold breakfast sandwiches Ella picked up at the fast food diner.  The breakfast sandwich was not devoured as fast as the hamburgers were last night.  Last night a young family was starving and this morning their angel again provided food for them.

             
Ella handed Maria the diapers she picked up at the market and Maria was so grateful. 

             
“Ella, I will never forget your kindness we needed the diapers for Jose so bad.  Gracious, gracious.”  Maria said as she began to weep.

             
“Now don’t go getting mushy on me, you hear?”  Ella said as she wrapped her arms around Maria’s shoulder.

             
I’m cleaning this place and I plan to open a flower shop.  You can help me with the cleaning while you wait for the farmer’s truck to arrive.”  She told them.

             
“We are grateful for your help. We will do a good job of cleaning for you Ms. Ella.”  Juan said.

             
“I’ll pay you for your work Juan.  This will give you some money in your pocket for food.”  Ella told Juan.

             
“Gracious, Ms. Ella gracious but you’ve already helped us no need to pay us anymore.”  Juan told her.

             
Ella got all the cleaning supplies out and started scrubbing on the walls.  Juan was standing on the ladder doing the upper walls and Ella and Maria were washing the bottom walls.  They worked for hours laughing and talking sharing about life experiences.  It seemed they had known each other forever.  Maybe in another life their spirits met.  Ella didn’t believe in a previous life but there was closeness, a bond forming between them.

             
“Ella,” Juan said, “We need to start painting the walls.  Just washing them is not enough.  The paint is too bad and you want this place to look like a shiny new penny.”

             
“You are right Juan. I will go to the hardware store and pick up some paint.  What color do you think I should paint the walls?”  Ella asked.

             
“Oh, Ms. Ella you do not want me to choose the color.  I like bright colors.  You pick the color and I will roll it on the wall.”  Juan told her.

             
Ella scurried out the door, stopping in her stride she turned to look at the work they had accomplished.  She said to her new friends.  “You were sent to me by an angel.”

             
She asked Juan to lock the door and stay away from the windows.  Off she went to Coopersville Hardware to pick up the materials they would need to get the shop in tip top shape.

             
She loaded herself down with paint, rollers and brushes heading out the hardware store door.  As she flung the door open she didn’t notice Mark Brandon, her landlord leaning on a post in front of the hardware store.

             
“What the heck are you doing with all that paint?”  Mark inquired as he pushed his cowboy hat to the back of his head.  Shocked she turned around to see Mark Brandon.

             
“I’m painting the walls of my store.”  Ella told him.

             
“Here let me help you with that.”  Mark said as he grabbed cans of the paint carrying it out to his truck.

             
“I’ll take it over to your store.”  Mark told Ella.

             
“That’s not necessary.”  Ella told him.

             
Mark insisted and threw everything in his truck and headed for Ella’s store.

             
Ella hurried past Mark.  She rushed into the shop and told Juan and Maria to hide in the back room.  Juan and Maria grabbed their belongings and rushed to the back room and hid in cabinets just big enough for them to squeeze in.  Jose was asleep and they hoped moving him would not wake him.  His cries would give them away.