An Incident on the Bridge

At the Old Times Café, Billy told his story. “I saw the whole thing. Marlene was out of control. She tried to stab her ex and throw him over the bridge into the river. I swear.”

He told his new friend, “It’s a long story, Joyce. I don’t expect you to understand. It’s not about anything that occurs in your world, and I wish it hadn’t occurred in mine. You see, this is how it went – this is what brought Travis here:

It started two weeks ago when Taco drove his rig into town and saw Marlene at the Old Times Café. He rolled in looking for a solid breakfast and took a seat in Booth 3 by the window. Apparently, Marlene noticed him immediately. He was young and polite and took off his cowboy hat right away.

From what I was told, Marlene nearly knocked over Ken, who was standing by the door, so she could suddenly appear next to Booth 3. Poor guy jumped as she asked what she could get for him. I was told that nobody had ever seen Marlene move that fast! Ken said it was quite impressive.

The young cowboy looked up and smiled and Ken thought Marlene was going to faint right there. Then she did a weird thing – she giggled. Have you ever heard her giggle?”

Joyce shook her head.

“Well, apparently it was a strange noise, sort of high-pitched laughing and choking mixed together. But Taco just kept smiling as if everything was normal, which it was not.”

Just then Marlene’s two boys came in and yelled, “Mom! We need help!”

Joyce knew the sound of Marlene’s boys. They were not easy on the ears, and people winced when they were around. They were frequently in trouble of some sort, being youthful twins and somewhat famous in the town of Pinecone Flats.

When they were eight, they had been rescued from a bull in a large pasture by local teenagers who, not realizing the danger, had run into the field, grabbed both boys and sprinted toward the fence, tossing the boys over it, then jumping higher over the fence than they had ever done before, just before the bull chasing them stopped and snorted. Then it pawed the ground and glared at them, and the teenagers grabbed the two little ones and ran toward the road where they saw two ranchers on horseback riding toward them.

The ranchers had been riding their horses nearby when they saw what was going on in the field with the bull and realized the teenage boys had saved themselves and the young boys just in the nick of time. It was a scary sight. All the boys could have been gravely injured.

The ranchers rode over to the group of boys, reached down, and lifted the young ones up onto their horses, and rode to Marlene’s cabin which was about a mile away. When they arrived, they asked the eight-year-old boys why they were there in the first place and they both shrugged and answered, “Nothin’ else to do.”

The teenagers ran home to recover from their adventure with the bull. The next day the whole town knew about their heroics, which made the all the boys famous in the eyes of the town.

When the ranchers brought her boys home, Marlene yelled at them, then held them in her arms and soothed them because she felt guilty for yelling at them, then fed them pancakes for dinner.

After the story of the bull got around town, the twins enjoyed being famous for a while, until the uplifting feeling wore off and they got bored again.

Marlene also became famous in the town, although to a lesser extent than the boys. Up until then she had been just a chubby waitress with a lackluster personality at the café and suddenly she was somebody. She didn’t want all the newfound attention, but she didn’t shy away from it either. She went to work as usual and kept a low-profile hoping Travis, her ex, didn’t hear any reports of the incident or find her and the boys. She calmed herself by thinking there was little chance of that. It helped that she knew her fame was fading in the town and soon she would go back to being somewhat invisible.

Then it happened. Travis’ friend, Taco, a long-haul trucker who usually just drove quickly through Pinecone Flats, stopped at the Old Times Café and recognized Marlene, even though she had ballooned in size and lost her svelte figure, dyed her hair black, and had no makeup on or her jewelry that would knock your eyes out with its sparkle and shine. He knew her voice and walk. When he saw her, he lowered his head and quickly stood up and walked out the door to his truck to call Travis. Marlene watched him go, not recognizing him as a friend of Travis, and shrugged. She just went back to her usual duties.

“Found her. She’s in Pinecone Flats working at the Old Time Café. You can’t miss it.”

“How’d you do that? I’ve been looking for her for a year.”

“I’ll tell ya later, good buddy. I’m leavin’ now before she notices my truck or remembers seein’ me in Kansas. I think she went into the back of the kitchen, but she’ll be out soon. I gotta get outta here right now!”

“Okay, buddy, thanks. Call me later when you’re on the road.”

Travis was having lunch at the Railroad Inn in Prairie Junction about 50 miles away. He finished his chicken on rye sandwich, paid his bill, left a generous tip, and walked out to his truck. He took with him a hamburger patty for Russell, his Australian Shepherd who was patiently eyeing him from his place in the passenger seat.

The following week, Billy (another of Travis’ friends in Kansas) moved to Pinecone Flats and started eating regularly at the Old Time Café. He struck up a conversation with Marlene on his first visit to the café. When he came in, he always ordered a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich with fries and coffee and, because he was becoming a regular, carried on a lot of small talk with her.

Soon he was walking Marlene home whenever she claimed her car “broke down” and he loved doing it. She fed him home-made apple pie and good strong hot coffee while they talked on her porch. Sometimes, on her weekend day off, he went to see her and the two boys and took them all fishing.

After a few weeks, Travis got in touch with Billy and asked, “So, how’s it going? I haven’t heard from you since we made our deal.”

Billy hesitated to tell Travis his news. “Well, good buddy, I got to talkin’ with Marlene and we hit it off, so I’ve been seeing her for a few weeks now. I take her and your kids fishin’ on her days off.”

“That’s okay, Billy. I expected as much. I will be in town in three days so that gives you time to prepare. She’s going to try to run or hide the kids from me … you know that don’t you?”

“Yeah, about that. I’m not sure how you should approach her. I mean, I understand the court case giving you custody, and all that. I get it that when you were locked up for two days for a DUI, she came into town and took the kids, but they’re all doing real well, Travis.”

“I don’t care! They’re my kids and I was given custody for a reason! She had no right to take them. Like I said, Billy, I’ll be in town in three days.”

Billy hung up and thought about what he should do. It all smelled bad to him, and he would have to think about the situation. He had agreed to set up Marlene and the kids for Travis so he could steal them back and take them home to Kansas, but now he wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do. After all, Marlene had only been arrested on a misdemeanor.

I’m beginning to think that giving custody of the boys to Travis was the fault of his eager lawyer and a too-strict judge. Marlene might be right to hide those kids from him.

Little did he know…

The day arrived when Travis pulled his rig into town. He parked on the outskirts of town at the local motel and walked to the Old Time Café. He saw Marlene in the window. He slowly sauntered into the café and sat at a booth near the door with his head looking down at a menu.

Eventually she came to his table and when he looked up, she choked and spat out, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I came for my kids, Marlene. You know, the ones you took from my mom’s house while I was, you know, getting an education?”

“Travis, you can get in your damn truck and ride on out of town. You’re never getting those kids. Never. In fact, get out of here right now before I call Sheriff Davis.”

“We gotta talk, Marlene. Anywhere you want, but it has to be today. I’m willing to do anything to get my kids back. I know what you were doing back home when you got arrested for possession, which is only a misdemeanor, and you think you should have been given custody of the boys. But, after you left, the authorities found out more about your activities. I’m not letting my kids grow up around that. I mean it. We have to meet as soon as you get off work today.”

Marlene stared at him for a few seconds.

“Okay. Meet me at the bridge at four o’clock and we’ll settle this.” Then she turned around and moved quickly behind the counter near the grill. Travis picked up his hat and walked out of the café and down the road to his truck.

That was way too easy. She’s planning something.

Travis called Billy and told him to meet him at the old bridge by the river south of town at three o’clock.

When Marlene arrived, Travis was standing in the middle of the bridge. Billy was nowhere to be seen. That is, Marlene didn’t see him, or anyone else, there except her ex-husband. Travis stood looking at her like he always did, striking a pose of authority with his weight on one leg and his hands in his pockets. Marlene walked toward him.

God, I hate that man. I don’t know if he knows how much I hate him. He’s going to spoil everything for me again.

Marlene walked to within three feet of Travis when two deputy sheriffs came out from behind trees and stood still at either end of the bridge. Marlene shouted, “You Bastard! No way are you taking those kids! I’m not letting you near them!”

She withdrew the kitchen knife she had just taken from the café and lunged at Travis who swiftly stepped to his left, turning his shoulders left at the same time which caused him to swing his right arm around. The instant defensive reaction of Travis caused Marlene to suck in her breath, stop her forward motion, drop the knife, look down, and trip as she turned to her left to avoid his swinging arm and fell forward over the railing and into the river below.

Marlene hit her head on a small boulder just below the bridge and blood immediately gushed out of her wound as her body, face down, bounced over the rocks in the rapidly moving water. The deputy sheriffs ran down each side of the river but could not find a place to wade in and catch her body before it rounded the bend and disappeared. It didn’t matter. They could see that she was dead as soon as she hit her head on the rock.

Billy came out from behind a bush where he had been observing everything. “What the hell, Travis? What were you thinking meeting her here?”

“It was her choice, Billy. I’m glad the deputies were here. They knew about Marlene and were only too happy to come here to make an arrest, but then she lunged at me with a knife. I won’t lie, Billy. She scared me.”

“But, Travis, why?” What were you going to do to get the kids back? Kidnap them like she did?”

“No, Billy. I had no choice. Back home, Marlene was arrested on possession charges, but she and her friend, Rose, were also selling drugs, a fact the judge in our divorce case wasn’t aware of at the time. Rose was caught a month later and confessed to the crimes she and Marlene had committed. Apparently, she continued selling and didn’t know that Rose had fingered her back in Kansas. The deputies were here to arrest her for selling drugs in this town. Old habits never die, I guess.

I made a mistake and hinted to Marlene that I knew what she was doing, and she probably decided she wanted to get rid of me…forever. That’s why she chose to meet me on the bridge. After calling you, I called the Sheriff Davis and we set her up to be arrested, Billy. It was supposed to be a simple arrest. There was nothing I could do. They had known about her for months.”

“Jeez, Travis, ya think ya coulda told me some of that before now?”

“Sorry, Billy, no I couldn’t.”

Travis shrugged and looked at his friend. “I had to cooperate with Sheriff Davis. I had no choice.”