LA Song
Then Shannon did laugh. A musical sound that made Stacy's mouth widen in a hopeful smile. But Shannon shook her head.
"Not a chance." She said.
Stacy frowned, "No chance? But Shannon...I broke up with David tonight."
"...Assuming that I'd want to get back with you." Shannon wearily pushed herself into a semi-crouching position. "Stacy, your mind's not working on all of the necessary levels it needs to to have a relationship with me. You're not thinking straight."
She smiled, her lashes lowering, "I've never really thought 'straight'." She joked lamely. She straightened her blouse firmly, with both hands.
Shannon allowed her own lips to form a semblance of a smile. She watched Stacy as she reclined over her side of the seat. "Are you going to lobby Bisch for your job?"
Stacy laughed without a note of mirth in her voice and reached into a candy dish settled on a black enameled end table. Shannon repressed an old spark of desire as Stacy leaned back, recrossed her legs, and popped a hard candy into her mouth, pressing her lips closed behind it. "I told him that I was going to tell the press about his little 'exchange program' with Page. If I didn't get my full release." She said.
Shannon sniggered knowingly, "You got it the next morning?"
"Signed, sealed, delivered," Stacy yawned and stretched, "Where is this train going to?"
Confusion crossed Shannon's face, "You just booked into the same train I did without looking where it was going?"
Stacy smiled pathetically. "Yup."
Shannon stood and walked to the compartment's doorway. "We're going to Nevada," She said, "And I'm thinking of getting a car and driving to the desert. But maybe I'll check out the prospects in Vegas first."
Stacy smiled, and rose to follow Shannon, "Well, then, we should water up. Would you like to get a drink?"
******
A few moments later Shannon sat sipping a Lemon Drop as a cactus whizzed by her line of sight. They were riding through a desert, perhaps Nevada wasn't too far away now.
Many, many old memories flooded back as she watched Stacy delicately pick at a salad. It had been three years since they'd gotten together, and six months since Stacy had left her for David. In that time, she had become Shannon's first female lover, her confidante, best friend, and finally an object of her rejection.
To see her standing there beside her, after having suggested to their boss that perhaps they couldn't work together compatibly after all and getting her fired was a mixed curse; unwelcome visitation marred with curiosity. What would it be like to be together again?
Probably disastrous, Shannon thought, and once again she focused upon her original goal; to get out from under. To find herself.
Gradually, the scenery became more urban, and Shannon switched to soda and steak. Rocks became trees and cacti became cars, and finally the train came to it's slow stop.
Shannon collected Stacy from the jazz lounge and picked up the one bag she'd taken with her.
"Is that all you own now?" Stacy asked, hauling the two suitcases and one rolling cart with her.
"I don't need that much," Shannon explained, "I'm going exploring. As a matter of fact, my friend is probably going to be picking me up. I just want to leave my bag at their ranch."
Stacy followed Shannon, two paces behind, squinting at the bright sunshine and roasting heat of early afternoon in Vegas.
Passengers flooded past them and milled around the station, Shannon disembarked and followed their lead, searching for someone.
Finally, a head of red hair and popped up out of the dust-colored crowd; she wove a single hand and shouted, "Shannon!!"
Shannon smiled, plowing through the crowd and leaving Stacy to struggle behind her. "Jeulie!" Shannon called.
The redhead grabbed her friend in a tight hug, "Are you OK? I heard you were released and..." She snarled, looking down at Stacy, "You!"
Stacy flinched and tried to appear smaller. The redhead was an amazon to Stacy; about six-feet, with high, big red hair, a bright-green dress, fat heeled shoes and six bangles on each arm. They jangled together disquietingly.
"What's the Slut doing here?" Jeulie asked.
Shannon bit her lip, "Stacy might be staying with you, for awhile, instead of me; I was wondering if you'd just hold my suitcase for me if I promise to come back..."
"Out of the question!" Jeulie shouted, "I thought you wanted to spend time with ME."
Shannon shook her head, "I just wanted to leave my stuff with you for awhile. You know what it is to be 'downsized.'" She remembered Stacy's presence and said, "Oh my manners, Stacy, this is Jeulie. We knew each other in high school."
"I'm her best friend," Jeulie said. She leaned down and whispered to Shannon, "You want me to harbor the one woman who turned you into a sniviling fool for months?!"
"Cool it!" Shannon hissed, then led Stacy off the platform and through the crowd, to the parking lot.
Stacy's eyes bugged out when she saw Jeulie's car. It was a bright Aqua Ford Hatchback, spray painted in black, in elegant script, were the words, "The Lucky One."
"My gimmick," She explained, stacking their luggage in the car's trunk, "Dwight got it done for me on our fifth anniversary."
Stacy made a noise in acknowledgment, sitting in the back seat as she allowed this strange woman to drive them away.
For the ride, out of the little town of Las Mendocino, Nevada and through miles of rough desert, all three women sat in silence. At last, the car slipped down a divide in the land, pulling through acres of dusty land, irrigated in spots, growing wild, green things, flowers. A horse watered itself in a tiny lake, tethered to a bare, scorched boxwood tree.
The car came to a stop, and Jeulie looked over her shoulder and said, with all of the fondness of a mother rattlesnake of her hatchlings, "Welcome to Escape."
Stacy's eyes remained focused on the building before her. It was a gothic monstrosity out of Hitchcock, She couldn't believe that she would have to stay there.
But she picked up her bags and followed Shannon inside.
She's gotta gun
She got a gun she calls the lucky one
She left a note right by the phone
Don't leave a message 'cause this ain't no home
And she cried
She cried so long her tears ran dry
Then she laughed, and she laughed, and she laughed and she laughed
'Cause she knew she was never comin' back
She said
Man I'm gonna get outta this town
Man I'm gonna get outta this pain
Man I'm gonna get outta this town
Outta this town & out of L.A.