Memories, Like the Shadows of My Mind

 Too tired to do much physically, I have had lots of time to think and listen to books. As I was listening to the current selection, Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, a memory long forgotten came to mind. The book is interesting, about a family that was slaughtered, leaving only the youngest girl alive. The oldest child, a boy was convicted and now the sister is investigating so many years later.

What made me remember was a passage where she is confronting the girl who accused him of molesting her when she was 11. Having grown up to be a stripper, she is being interviewed at a truck stop frequented by prostitutes.

We had a woman and her teen daughter rent a site from us at the RV park. I was hesitant, the camper was not only old but had not been taken care of at all. Needing the money, I agreed to letting them stay on a month-to-month basis and put her ugly camper as far back as I could. I made my misgivings known to my husband and he told me I was "too sensitive". Meaning, I suppose that my habit of making snap decisions about people was not a good trait. Forget the fact that I am almost always right!

First transgression was me noticing that there were two girls staying with the woman. I flagged her down and asked her who the other girl was. Her daughter's friend and she thought it would be okay to let her stay. She was working the night shift at the Denny's at the truck stop just down the road. Seemed plausible, though the vibes she put off still made me nervous.

Second transgression was that suddenly there was a lot of traffic after the sun went down. At first, I just counted the vehicles and timing the "visits". Always suspicious, I went outside with my big dogs on leashes next to me and flagged down the driver of a truck and asked him where he was going. He gave me the site number I already knew.

With a Saint Bernard on one side of me and an already growling Collie on the other side, I felt brave enough to let my inner-self sarcasm flow forth. I asked him if he had graduated from high school. He replied in the affirmative, so I then questioned his ability to read. He blushed deeply as I read aloud the sign that instructed visitors to check in at the office for a day pass ($10). Then he told me he would only be there for an hour, if that. 

I felt much like a madam as I collected money from all the men coming and going. Finally, my husband agreed that I may have been right about it all. Seems that the mother was not a waitress at the diner but was working the trucks and sending the overflow to her daughter and her friend. Drew learned this from the local law enforcement. 

Of course, I met with the "mother" who had signed the lease to talk about her infractions since she was late with her rent the second month. Told her she had broken the lease by not paying rent and then I broached the subject of her, um, other business. I told her that a stream of men was coming into my park at night and they were all headed to her site, sometimes two at a time. She at least had the decency to look embarrassed as I asked what kind of a mother rents out her child and her child's friend. She responded that they were both 18 and "legal". I told her there was little legal about what she was doing, and I would have called child services if I thought anyone would respond.

She left, with her girls. Problem was, she left the camper behind. People leave campers behind all the time. Never anything valuable. Drew pulled it back to the woods and said he was going to strip it down and use it as a cargo trailer. Of course, like most of his "plans" it never came to pass.

It occurs to me that I have no idea what happened to them, or if they were really related in any way. Just a memory popping up in my mind. Like a shadow .....