The American Café

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45 8 “Let’s go, Sonny.” Sadie opened the car door and the wolf-dog jumped into the backseat. When she pulled onto the highway, the clock on the dash registered 4:06 p.m. She should be in Liberty before five o’clock. The red Ford Explorer hugged the curves as she drove across the Lake Eucha Dam and through the Spavinaw Hills State Game Refuge toward Kenwood where she turned south. After she crossed the overpass on the Cherokee Turnpike, she decided to take a shortcut, the back roads through Teresita. The landscape flew by as the winding curves straightened one after another in front of the vehicle. This new adventure in Liberty was taking a turn she didn’t like. Why would anyone want to be so hostile toward her? She didn’t even know anyone in Liberty besides Tom Duncan at the bank, and she couldn’t imagine him wanting to cause trouble for her. She had barely known Goldie, and now Goldie was dead. She quickly turned onto the final shortcut to Liberty, a dirt road that would lead her up Billy Goat Hill. She rarely took this route because the county didn’t maintain the road very well. But today she was in a hurry. After climbing the rocky rise, the road flattened and she made the turn that would take her into the north side of Liberty. At the curve, her attention strayed to a herd of goats huddled near the fence. On any other day, she would have taken the time to stop and watch the nanny goats and their kids. They reminded her of Billy, the pet goat she’d had as a child. He was banished from the farm after he rammed Sadie’s mother from behind, and Sadie had never forgiven her mother for giving him away. Suddenly, Sadie noticed a man on the right edge of the road. She swerved, stomped on her brakes, and came to a stop only a few feet from 46 him. It was Red. He walked up to her window and waited for her to lower it. Sonny moved to the edge of the seat and growled. “Eluwei, Sonny. Quiet.” The dog backed off but remained alert. Sadie sat and stared at Red, waiting for the dust to clear and the pounding of her heart to subside. Then she hit the button on her armrest and lowered the window halfway. “Hello,” he said. “What is wrong with you?” Anger lit up her voice. “Do you have some kind of a death wish?” “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I thought you saw me. Haven’t you ever seen goats before?” Sadie frowned and shifted the vehicle into park. “What are you doing all the way out here? And where exactly did you disappear to this morning?” Red ignored both of her questions. “Are you on your way back to Liberty? I need a ride into town.” Sadie silently weighed the pros and cons for a moment, then reluctantly agreed. “Okay, but don’t touch the dog. He’ll take your hand off.” She tapped the control to unlock the passenger-side door. Red got in, pulled the door closed, and ignored Sonny. “Nice car,” he said. “I gave up cars, you know. I’ve got two good feet and that’s all I need. They get me where I need to go.” “Obviously. That’s why you need a ride, right?” Sadie checked the rearview mirror, pushed the gearshift into drive, and drove forward. “You know, our ancestors walked everywhere they went,” he said, “and they were healthier than people are today.” “Well, my ancestors were smarter than yours. They rode horses.” Red looked around at the interior of the vehicle. “This is no horse.” He pursed his lips and nodded. “Everybody’s in a hurry.” “Everyone except you, I guess.” “If you’re going back to Liberty to find out what happened at your café, I can tell you.” “Oh, yeah?” Sadie looked at her passenger. “And what exactly do you know?” “Pearl just went a little berserk, that’s all.” “A little berserk?” Sadie glanced at him again with eyes wide. “You call shooting someone in cold blood a ‘little berserk’?” 47 “I didn’t see her shoot Goldie, but I did see her heave a rock through your front window.” “Pearl threw a rock...