Ozark Angel

[23] Country Folk

Everything had finally settled down, for a little while at least. We'd gone from being on the run from the authorities, to living in the lap of luxury in this amazing mountaintop home. The house was fully furnished. All it was missing was the owners. I guess we'd have to do for now.

The house had everything. I counted seven bedrooms, five bathrooms, and three different living areas. It had an indoor pool and an amazing view of Los Angeles from all the back windows. I heavily doubted that I would ever live in a place like this, since I could be staring at a jail cell for my remaining years if we were ever caught.

After exploring the house for another hour or so, I decided to take a little catnap in one of the big guest bedrooms. It was a little strange, falling asleep in another person's home. But I was so stressed out from the day's events that I didn't have any trouble sleeping once my head hit the goose-down pillow. The thread-count on the sheets had to have been somewhere in the thousands, or possibly millions? Clearly, I have no idea of what constitutes a decent thread count, but then again, what teenager does?

I wanted to stay here forever, never having to face the harsh reality before us. I imagined waking up and finding myself back in sleepy Eureka Springs, where everything was peace and quiet and life was simple. We had to get back there. It was nice here on the coast, but I longed to be back home and have everything return to normal. If we were going to have to keep on running and hiding, I felt we had a much better chance back home in the Ozarks, where I knew every twist and turn through the woods and every hidden cave and foxhole. Out here we were in unfamiliar territory. We had to get back – somehow.

I was certain that the airport would have our names on alert status, seeing how we had just fled from being arrested earlier in the day. We didn't have much money, so getting back to Arkansas was going to be difficult. To make matters worse, we didn't even have a car. To rent a vehicle, our names would have to be run through a system, which might trigger a red flag, resulting in yet another police chase, which was the last thing I wanted to happen. As I sat pondering our options in my new room, I wondered what Charlie was up to. I hadn't heard from him in a few hours, so I decided to search the house and find him.

After strolling through the rooms, I finally found Charlie sitting in a big leather chair in the upstairs office. He had all sorts of books laid out across the massive oak desk, as well as some information pulled up on a computer.

"Whatcha up to, mister?" I asked playfully.

"Oh hey," he said, "how was your nap? Looks like the sandman came to visit."

Slightly embarrassed, I rubbed my eyes free of two pellet sized eye boogers. Oops.

"It was nice," I said, looking away to clear out some extra ocular debris. "So, are you doing research for Mrs. White's English class or something?"

Charlie laughed. "Not quite. English is the last thing on my mind right now. I think I've got a plan for us to get back home. Looks like whoever lives here, or is gonna live here, is quite the railroad buff. I've done a little research and found there's a system of railroads that will eventually lead us back to Arkansas, or at least get us close. With my speed, I think we'd be able to get on each train without being seen."

"So, you're gonna give me a piggyback ride?" I asked with a smile. "Sounds great, but what are we gonna do about food? All we have are debit cards. If we use them, they're bound to catch us."

"I've already thought about all that, too. I've searched online and found all the cities along the railroad lines where amateur rodeos are going on. I can ride and get us enough cash for meals and a place to stay each night."

"Charlie," I said, "you've never even been to a rodeo. It's not like riding horses at Red Bud Farms. You're gonna have to ride an actual bull and it's gonna be in front of a huge crowd."